This Sanskrit prose inscription, incised on a red sandstone slab at Saugor (officially spelled Sagar) in Madhya Pradesh, executed in the proto-Nagari script and Sanskrit language. It opens with an invocation to Śiva and records the sovereign rule of Śaṅkaragaṇadeva.
The text opens with an adoration to Śiva and proclaims the increasingly victorious reign of the Kalacuri sovereign paramabhaṭṭāraka, mahārājādhirāja, and parameśvara Śaṅkaragaṇadeva, who meditated on the feet of his predecessor, the imperial ruler Vāmarājadeva. It introduces the regional figure Deuka, described as the son of Rāvāryarāja, born in the Kalāireya lineage, and holding the status of parameśvara (ruler) of Kaśapura. Deuka's queen consort, Kṛṣṇādevī, who hailed from the Loṇiya family, commissioned this permanent meritorious work on earth to generate spiritual benefit for her mother and father. The record concludes with a benediction wishing the attainment of pure, stainless worlds for her parents.
1. siddhiḥ | om namaḥ śivāya | svasti paramabhaṭṭārakamahārājādhirājaparameśvara śrīvāmarājadevapādānu-
2. dhyāta | paramabhaṭṭārakamahārājādhirājaparameśvaraśrīśaṅkaragaṇadeva pravarddhamānavijayarājye ka-
3. śapuraparameśvarakalā ireyavamśodbhavajyotissantatirāvāryarājaputraśrīde ukaḥ | tasyaiva bhā-
4. ryā loṇiyavamśe prasūtārājñī śrīkṛṣṇādevī yā caitau mātāpitṛpuṇye kṣititale kīrttim prakhyā-
5. payatiḥ | tava lokā amalā iti |
Success! Om! Adoration to Śiva! Hail! During the increasingly victorious reign of the paramabhaṭṭāraka, mahārājādhirāja, and parameśvara, the illustrious Śaṅkaragaṇadeva, who meditates on the feet of the paramabhaṭṭāraka, mahārājādhirāja, and parameśvara, the illustrious Vāmarājadeva:
There is the illustrious Deuka, the son of Rāvāryarāja, the mass of light sprung from the family of Kalā-ireeya, who is the parameśvara (Emperor) of Kaśapura. The wife of the same is the queen, the illustrious Kṛṣṇādevī, born in the family of Loṇiya, who announces this meritorious work (kīrti) on the surface of the earth, for the religious merit of her mother and father. May you attain the stainless worlds!
| Dynasty: | Kalacuri |
| Ruler: | Śaṅkaragaṇa |
| Date: | c. 750 CE |
| Donor: | Kṛishṇādēvī |
| Language: | Sanskrit |
| Script: | Proto-Nāgarī |
| Religion: | Vedic |
| Nature of grant: | Religious endownment |
| Purpose: | To secure religious merit and earthly fame for the donor's mother and father |
| Provenance of inscription: | Sagar, Madhya Pradesh |
| Type of Inscription: | Stone Inscription |
| Source: |
Bibliography & Research
Hiralal, R. B. (1916 and 1931). Saugor Stone Inscription of Śaṅkaragaṇa I. Inscriptions in C. P. and Berar.
- Mirashi, V. V. (Ed.). (1955). Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Inscriptions of the Kalachuri Chedi Era. In (Vol. Vol 4 (Part 1), lxvii-cviii and 174-176. Archaeological Survey of India.
