The Rāmtek Kevala Narasiṃha temple inscription is an epigraphic record of the Vākāṭaka dynasty, documenting the construction of a temple dedicated to the Narasiṃha or lion-man incarnation of Viṣṇu. The inscription dates to the 5th-century CE. The inscription is presently built into an interior wall of the Kevala Narasiṃha temple at Ramtek, in Nagpur district, Maharashtra, India. The inscription is written in 15 lines of Sanskrit but is damaged. It records the lineage of the Vākāṭaka rulers and the foundation of the temple. The inscription is composed in Puṣpitāgrā, Upajāti and Śloka metres. According to Hans Bakker, the temples complex features several avatars of Vishnu, and there is "a perfect match between the opening verse of the inscription and the Trivikrama sculpture preserved in situ amidst the temple ruins to the north-east of the Narasimha temple".
Historical Significance
The Rāmtek Kevala Narasiṃha temple inscription is a key and unique record for the history of the Vākāṭaka kings and their interrelations with the Gupta dynasty. Like many eulogistic inscriptions it provides the genealogy of the donor's family, in this case a daughter of Prabhāvatīguptā, herself the daughter of Chandragupta II. Of particular significance is the fact that the inscription records the marriage of Prabhāvatīguptā's daughter to Ghaṭotkaca, the king of central India who made a bid for supremacy and who is mentioned in the Tumain inscription of Kumāragupta. This daughter returned to the Vākāṭaka realm after the death of her husband.
Publication
The inscription, first reported in 1982-83, was mentioned by Hans T. Bakker in 1989. Bakker published a critical reading in 1993 with Harunaga Isaacson. Further improvements were published in 1997.
Translation
Note: The translation here loosely follows that published by Bakker in 1993; for the latest version, readers are referred to that published by Bakker in 1997. He is victorious, whose the depths of a water-laden raincloud, who clarified butter in a stream , whose limbs are swollen at the occasion of a sacrifice, and who is looked at with gazes that tremble with fright . royal seer . To whose feet the crowned heads of kings pay tribute: whose receptacle for holding from footstool, that arises from might . To him the edge of the ocean . , being worshipped in the residence of her father like a deity , grew up like a flame of a fire in which abundant ghee has been poured. Her raised . After had been born to them in succession, famous and furnished, a daughter called MUṆḌĀ, resembling the lustre of the moon, was born as younger sister. streak . At all times the conduct of this King, CANDRAGUPTA, lord of the three oceans, was perfect: the sovereign his daughter to the illustrious RUDRASENA virtues. To great hero, who was like a beast of burden, the entire burden of kingdom which was very difficult to bear, a son named GHAṬOTKACA. woman . Then, after he had seen that niece , who was a palace Lakṣmī, king paid his respects and married her. The lord of the gods . the minds of wise men with refined language, of whose eyes were like lotuses , mendicants with floods of wealth and the peoples with fame. He king . When at a certain time he of desirable appearance by/with Indra, brother brought the proud woman , back to his own residence with force. There, whatever ,, the king's daughter performed, of those this share . And she caused to be made the Lord of the Earth and Master of PRABHĀVATĪ the sake of everlasting merit . the origin of the world . After she of extreme, had made in the villageKADALĪVAṬAKA a water reservoirSUDARṢANA and the beautiful god, whose hair is yellow, for the sake of merit . Half of the merit assigned to the gods, for father and mother accruing from the deed . Of of infinite might who is the cause of the sustenance and destruction of the world, the of the seers . Reflecting that that temple for her beloved is transitory, she, free of sins, for the sake of a mass of merit for her mother alone, stone , resembling stone , for a long time . By him, who was chosen by her and is carrying out her orders, to proclaim this fame that will last so long as there is light, a great kāvya .
