The Tosham rock inscription, dating from the 4th or 5th century, on Tosham hill in

Tosham Tosham is a town and a Gram Panchayat on the foot of Tosham Hill range in Bhiwani district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Haryana. It has been awarded the title of "Adarsh Village". It is situated in the foothill of Tosha ...

town of

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

state in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, is an epigraph documenting the establishment of a monastery and the building of water tanks for followers of the Satvata in ancient

Yadava The Yadava (), not to be confused with Yadav, were an ancient Indian people who believed to have descended from Yadu (legendary king), Yadu, a legendary king of Chandravamsha lineage. The community was formed of various clans, being the #T ...

Kingdoms. They also built the Kalayat Ancient Bricks Temple Complex and may have been vassals of the

Satavahana dynasty The Satavahanas (; ''Sādavāhana'' or ''Sātavāhana'', IAST: ), also referred to as the Andhras (also ''Andhra-bhṛtyas'' or ''Andhra-jatiyas'') in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian dynasty. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavaha ...

, which disintegrated into smaller kingdoms in the 3rd century, during the

Gupta Empire The Gupta Empire was an Indian empire during the classical period of the Indian subcontinent which existed from the mid 3rd century to mid 6th century CE. At its zenith, the dynasty ruled over an empire that spanned much of the northern Indian ...

Location

or Toshām is located in

Bhiwani District Bhiwani district is one of the 22 Districts of Haryana, districts of the northern Indian state of Haryana. Created on 22 December 1972, it was the largest district of the state by area, before the creation of Charkhi Dadri district, Charkhi Dadr ...

, India. The inscription is carved on a smooth rock face, high above about the town. In the immediate area are ruined brick structures and other archaeological traces. There are also Tosham Rock Paintings and Tosham Hill Fort on Tosham Hill.

Description and contents

The inscription records the lineage and building activities of a line of Sātvata religious preceptors ( ācārya) dating to the 4th and 5th centuries CE. This is an important record for the history of the Vaiṣṇava faith. The kinship and clan position of the Sātvatas is described in the article on the Yadavas. The inscription was first published by

John Faithfull Fleet John Faithfull Fleet C.I.E (1847 – 21 February 1917) was an English civil servant with the Indian Civil Service and became known as a historian, epigraphist and linguist. His research in Indian epigraphy and history, conducted in India ove ...

in his 1888 publication ''Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum''. A new translation and fresh analysis was undertaken by M. Willis in ''The Archaeology of Hindu Ritual'', published in 2009.

Text

jitaṃ abhīkṣṇam eva jāmbavatīvadanāravindorjjitāḷinā dānavāṅganāmukhāmbhojalakṣmītuṣāreṇa viṣṇunā anekapuruṣābhyāgatāryyasātvatayogācārya- bhagavadbhaktayaśastrātaprapautrasyācāryyaviṣṇutrātapautrasyācāryya- vasudattap rasya rāvaṇyām utpannasya gotamasagotrasyācāryyaopāddhyāya- yaśastrāta �njasyācāryyasomatrātasyedaṃ bhagavatpādopayo- jyaṃ kuṇḍam uparyyāvasathaḥ ku- ṇḍaṃ cāparaṃ Translation: "Verily victory has been achieved again and again by Viṣṇu – a mighty bee on the water lily that is the face of Jāmbavatī – a very frost to the beauty of the water lilies which are the faces of the women of the demons! This reservoir and the residence above, and a second reservoir, intended for the use of the feet of the Lord, (are the work) of the ācārya Somatrāta, the great grandson of Yaśastrāta – a successor of many men (of preceding generations), an Ārya Sātvata, yogācārya and devotee of the Lord – the grandson of ācārya Viṣṇutrāta (and) the son, begotten on Rāvaṇī, of ācārya Vasudatta of the Gotama gotra (and) the younger brother of ācārya and upādhyāya Yaśastrāta."

Tosham rock paintings

An Indian newspaper, the Tribune, reported that in 2013, rock paintings (dated to circa 5th century CE) were discovered at the site of the Tosham rock inscription. These rock paintings were said to include figures such as a royal family, a saint, and an orange dinosaur.Rare rock painting of dinosaur discovered from Tosham Hills in state- by Sushil Manav, Tribune News Service, dated: 2 July 2013
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References

External links

The Asia Inscriptions DatabaseCambridge University Press
Rock art in India Sanskrit inscriptions in India Gupta and post-Gupta inscriptions History of Haryana Bhiwani district