A stone inscription in `western Sarada' style of Sanskrit -

Inscription throws new light to Hindu rule in Afghanistan
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

---

Kolkata, Jan 4: A stone inscription in Sanskrit, recovered from the city of Mazar-i-Sharif of northern Afghanistan a few years ago, has thrown new light on the reign of the Hindu Shahi ruler `Veka' in that country.

The recovery and significance of the inscription, telling a story of the Hindu ruler Veka and his devotion to lord `Siva', was told by leading epigraphist and archaeologist Prof Ahmad Hasan Dani of the Quaid-E-Azam University of Islamabad at the ongoing Indian History Congress here.

If historians, preferred to revise the date of the first Hindu Shahi ruler Kallar from 843-850 AD to 821-828 AD, the date of 138 of present inscription, if it refers to the same era, should be equal to 959 AD which falls during the reign of Bhimapala'', Dani said in a paper `Mazar-i Sharif inscription of the time of the Shahi ruler Veka, dated the year 138'', submitted to the Congress.

The inscription, with eleven lines written in `western Sarada' style of Sanskrit of 10th century AD, had several spelling mistakes. ``As the stone is slightly broken at the top left corner, the first letter `OM' is missing'', he said.

According to the inscription, ``the ruler Veka occupied by eight-fold forces, the earth, the markets and the forts. It is during his reign that a temple of Siva in the embrace with Uma was built at Maityasya by Parimaha (great) Maitya for the benefit of himself and his son''.

The inscription was brought from Mazar-i-Sharif, where the tomb of Hazrat Ali, son-in-law of Prophet Mohammed is located, to Pakistan and is currently housed at the Islamabad Museum, Dani said.

Dani said ``the inscription gives the name of the king as Shahi Veka Raja and bestows on him the qualification of `Iryatumatu Ksanginanka'.... and (he) appears to be the same king who bears the name of Khingila or Khinkhila who should be accepted as a Shahi ruler''.

Dani further said ``he may be an ancestor of Veka deva. As his coins are found in Afghanistan and he is mentioned by the Arab ruler Yaqubi, he may be an immediate predecessor of Veka deva...... Both the evidences of inscription and coins suggest that Veka or Vaka should be accepted as an independent ruler of northern Afghanistan.

``Thus we find another branch of the Shahi ruler in northern part of Afghanistan beyond the Hindukush. Veka is said to have conquered the earth, the markets and the forts by his eight-fold forces, suggesting that he must have himself gained success against the Arab rulers of southern Afghanistan''.

Dani observed that going by the findings it seemed that during the rule of the Hindu Shahi ruler Bhimapala there was a break in the dynasty -- one branch, headed by Jayapala, ruled in Lamaghan and Punjab, and another branch, headed by Veka, ruled in northern part of Afghanistan.``The northern branch must have come to an end by the conquest of Alptigin in the second half of tenth century AD''.

Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. 

This is the writing system.
Letters-

Vowels

a अ	i इ	u उ	ṛ ऋ	ḷ ऌ	e ए	o ओ
ā आ	ī ई	ū ऊ	ṝ ॠ		ai ऐ	au औ

aṃ अं

aḥ अः

Consonants

k क	kh ख	g ग	gh घ	ṅ ङ
c च	ch छ	j ज	jh झ	ñ ञ
ṭ ट	ṭh ठ	ḍ ड	ḍh ढ	ṇ ण
t त	th थ	d द	dh ध	n न
p प	ph फ	b ब	bh भ	m म
y य	r र	l ल	v व
ś श	ṣ ष	s स	h ह

Unicode

Śāradā script was added to the Unicode Standard in January, 2012 with the release of version 6.1

Join this blog and enrich the sarada script.

Recently i participated in one seminar at Bangalore, which is namely,

“Application of Information Technology for conservation, editing and publication of Manuscripts” on the 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd of January 2013, at Multivision Theatre, ISKCON, Harekrishna Hill, Rajajinagar, Bangalore.

Organised by ; Samskriti Foundation,  Mysore .
[Prof .M.A.Lakshmithathachar,President],
It is estimated that there are not less than about 1 million palm leaf / hand-made-paper manuscripts, that are the source works of the Indian Knowledge systems, in various manuscript repositories (both institutional and personal) in India alone. A survey was recently conducted by different agencies to know how many of these manuscripts have been published.  It was surprising to know that only about 5% of these manuscripts have been published and only about 2% of these works in the form of manuscripts are readily available in print-form.  Thus, it can be safely said that most of these works dealing with Indian knowledge systems are yet to see the light of the day.It is well known that these manuscripts are written in different ancient scripts like Grantha, Sharada, Nandi-nagari,Nevari,Tigalari and so on.  People who know these scripts in India are very few.  Thus there is every chance that we may permanently lose the treasure of knowledge that is enshrined in these ancient manuscripts. 

 Generally, one scholar who is an expert in the concerned script and subject can copy the text of about two or three manuscripts if he works continuously for one year.  At this rate, we require about 16,000 man-years of expert scholars well-versed in the particular script and subject just to retrieve the information in these works, if it is done in the traditional manner.  Thus it is humanly impossible to have all the manuscripts deciphered.

However, even in this bleak scenario, one need not lose heart.  Since we are in the age of computers, it is possible to develop tools that can facilitate the retrieval of the texts of the manuscripts at a much faster pace.  A comprehensive plan has to be envisaged for the application of Information Technology for the preservation, propagation, deciphering and ultimately publication of all the manuscripts available in the country. The  seminar proposed to assemble experts in information technology and manuscriptology to brainstorm and after due deliberations, evolve a comprehensive strategy for the application of Information Technology for each of the aspects concerning preservation, propagation, deciphering and ultimately publication of manuscripts. 

    I have inspired by that seminar and started this blog , particularly for propagation of sarada script,so kindly join this blog and share with your thoughts .It also cooperate for sarada script scribes and readers.