1. Introduction The hill of Ramtek (210.28'N, 790.28'E), c. 45km. NE of Nagpur
(Maharashtra), merits special attention because it appears to be one of the
very few places in India where an uninterrupted historical development from the
fourth century A.D. to the present day can be investigated through a series of
archaeological monuments which, although partly restored or built over in later
periods, seem never to have been exposed to destructive and iconoclastic
forces. From at least the fifth century onwards the hill, also known as
Ramagiri, Sinduragiri, or Tapamgiri (Tapogiri), served as a regional centre of
religious activity and probably, also had a more secular function as an
outstanding strategic base controlling the highway that connected, and still
connects, the central and eastern part of the basin of the Ganges with the
northern Deccan. This could possibly explain, at least in part, why the
religious structures on top of the hill have attracted the attention and care
of the rulers of the area from a very early date. Archaeological explorations
in the Nagpur Plain during the last two decades have brought to light a great
number of interesting sites belonging to the culture of the Vakatakas
(fourth-fifth centuries), notably Nagardhan and adjacent Hamlapuri (7 km. south
of Ramtek), generally considered to be the area of the Vakataka capital,
Nandivardhana. In Hamlapuri, a splendid collection of Buddhist bronzes was
recently found which seems to prove, in the words of Jamkhedkar, 'that Buddhism
was a living faith under the Brahmanical Vakatakas'.2 Whereas other Vakataka
centres of culture fell into decay and were gradually obliterated,3 Ramtek survived
and to date still has four intact and one impaired Vakataka temples (four of
them still containing the original idol), besides a small cave-temple and a
cave-reclusory, probably also dating back to this period. Moreover, at least
one stone tank situated on the top of the hill appears to preserve very old
cloister constructions which could likewise go back to the Vakataka period. In
addition, the hill and its immediate surroundings contain at least one
undamaged temple that may go back to the Calukya period (the Kalika temple c.
200 m. NW of the hill), and temples and tanks constructed during the Yadava
period (twelfth-thirteenth centuries), the Vijayanagara period
(fifteenth-sixteenth centuries), as well as the Maratha period (eighteenth
century and later). In view of this astonishing richness in historical
monuments, it is surprising to discover that the hill has been systematically
ignored in all standard works dealing with the history of Indian art and
architecture.4 In two forthcoming articles the present author has described the
archaeological remains of Ramtek hill on the basis of an inventory made during
field-work in November 1986; and secondly, has evaluated the
'I am grateful to Prof. Dr. J. Ensink and Prof. Dr. R. Salomon for their
valuable suggestions, and to Prof. Dr. A. W. Entwistle for correcting the
English of this article. 2Jamkhedkar, 1985, 18. 3 Nagardhan: IAR, 1981-82, 49
f.; IAR, 1982-83, 137; Jamkhedkar, 1986, 339. Mandal: IAR, 1975-76, 36; IAR,
1976-77, 39. Mansar: Nagpur Gaz. 57, 303; Hunter, 1934; Mirashi, 1959, 22.
Nagara: IAR, 1979-80, 56; IAR, 1980-81, 40: IAR, 1981-82, 49. Markandi:
Jamkhedkar, 1974. Paunar: Mirashi in CII, v, 23 if.; Deo and Dhavalikar, 1968;
Jamkhedkar, s.d. 4I looked in vain in H. Cousens, 1931, Brown, 1976. Deglurkar,
1974, Verma, 1973, Deshpande, 1985, Huntington, 1985, Harle, 1986. A short
treatment of two of the Vakataka temples is found in Williams, 1983,
225-7.
historical development of the religious structure of the Ramtek complex by
making use of this inventory.5Among the collected data are several inscriptions
which could be only referred to in the above-mentioned articles, but which
deserve a more detailed treatment. This is the purpose of the present paper.
For an historical evaluation of the religious content of these inscriptions the
reader is referred to the second of the two articles mentioned. To the best of
my knowledge there are four Sanskrit inscriptions to be found in temples on the
Ramtek hill, as well as two ancient pieces of graffiti. Three inscriptions and
the graffiti are found on the walls and pillars of one of the two Narasimha
temples, the so-called Kevala-Nrsimha temple (pls. I(a) and (b)); the other
lengthy inscription is found in the Laksmana temple. The latter has been
published by Mirashi and Kulkarni in Epigraphia Indica, xxv, 1939-40. However,
that edition does not attempt to restore the original metrical composition of
the text, nor is a translation given. Unfortunately, the oldest inscription,
found in the Kevala-Nrsimha temple, cannot be presented here. Its publication
is envisaged by the Archaeological Survey of India, and here we can only note
what has been published about it so far. In a recent article Jamkhedkar
observed: 'During conservation (i.e. of the Kevala-Nrsimha temple), an
inscription, covered with lime plaster, was discovered on the temple wall
beneath the thick layers of white wash. This 14-line record in nail-headed
Gupta Brahmi characters, caused to be carved by Prabhavati Gupta herself, refers
to the god as Prabhavatisvamin. On the basis of the internal evidence the
temple as well as the image can be dated to c. 415-425 A.D.... The presence of
a cluster of stone temples enshrining different avatdras of Visnu (viz.
Trivikrama, Varaha) at Ramtek has established beyond doubt the prevalence of a
Bhdgavata cult on parallel lines with that popular in the Gupta court. On
architectural, sculptural and epigraphical evidence these can be firmly dated
at least to the first quarter of the fifth century A.D. The stylistic
characteristic observed in the images of Visnu found at Nagra, Nandapuri
(Ramtek) and Mandhal suggest that on art historical considerations, the
introduction of Vaisnavism in the Vidarbha area can be further pushed back, at
least by half a century.' 6 One may add that the other Narasimha temple, which
is referred to as the Ugra-Nrsimha, and is not far from the first, seems to be
older still. It is similar to the first in construction as well as in having
the huge Narasimha idol installed. It is, however, less refined, lacking the
two small windows and the ornamentation along the doorposts and on the outer
walls. However, it has eight firepits (kundas)along its sides, above which are
small pedestals constructed against the temple wall on which, originally,
dikpala deities may have been installed. Two fragments of such images have been
found and are at present stored in the Central Nagpur Museum. If the statement
of Jamkhedkar quoted above proves to be correct, we should assign the earliest
Narasimha temple to the beginning of the fifth century. However, stylistic
considerations would favour a somewhat later dating, say, the end of the fifth
century at the earliest, a date to which the two pieces of graffiti also seem
to point.7
5 The antiquities of Ramtek Hill (Maharashtra)' (to appear in the Journal of
South Asian Studies, 5, 1989) and' Ramtek. An ancient centre of Visnu devotion
in Maharashtra' (to appear in: The history of sacred places as reflected in
traditional literature, ed. Hans Bakker, Leiden, Brill, 1989). 6Jamkhedkar,
1986, 340. 7cf. Williams, 1983, 226.
2. The graffiti (Pls. II(a) and (b)) The first graffito is found on a square
pillar at the temple entrance. It is written in Deccani style characters with
solid triangular head-marks (PI. II(a)). The letter forms, which show a
tendency to roundedness, resemble the scripts of the Deccan of the
fifth-century Vakatakas and Kadambas.8 The inscription reads: srTmadanalobha
evidently the name of one of the early visitors. The other graffito is found on
the left square pillar that stands in front of the cella (PI. II(b)). Its
characters show a mixture of solid triangular and block head-marks and have
notches in the horizontal bars.9 The last quadrangular letter with a dot inside
resembles the tha of the Western Calukya script of the sixth century.'0 Hence
the inscription dates from the fifth-sixth century. It reads: bharaka(ta?)natha
probably also the name of a devotee. 3. The Kevala-Nrsimha temple inscriptions On
the same pillar on which the second graffito is found, on the side that faces
the entrance, is engraved a more lengthy Sanskrit inscription. An outwardly
very similar inscription is found on the parallel pillar at the right side of
the cella entrance. Both pillars have recently been connected by an iron frame
which fences in the entry to that part of the temple where the image is
installed. The appearance of both parallel inscriptions on the two pillars in
front of the adytum strongly suggests that they somehow belong together and
were engraved at about the same time. As it happens, photographs of both
inscriptions have been published in Indian Archaeology 1982-83-A Review (p.
167), hereafter IAR, but this might have been more or less accidental since the
description of these two plates (p. 137) confuses them with the reported
PrabhavatT Gupta inscription 'on the southern wall of the mandapa'.
Unfortunately, no photograph of the latter is given. Nothing is said as to the
contents of the two parallel inscriptions, and they certainly do not endorse
the statement made in the IAR that the temple' on the basis of these
inscriptions could definitely be dated to the fifth to sixth century
A.D.") In fact, both inscriptions belong to the Yadava period as will be
shown below. I shall refer to these two inscriptions as' Kevala-Nrsimha Temple
Ramtek Inscription No. 1 ' and 'No. 2' Kevala-Nrsimha Temple Ramtek Inscription
No. 1 (P1.III) Text: 1. 1 trivikramapadodbhutavamdanlyisarasvatl/sarvajnasyd
1.2 . sirasdrasalamkrtisobhand//kdmadevasutah 1.3.
rngadevastdrkikasekharah/trivikramakavervd 1.4
dyonautisrinrharimsaddllsimhanardjyesdrva 1.5 .
vatsare/a.mgamvaikalyatdmetirdmebhaktasya 1.6 sarvadd/2/samudgayamaka.
krtljdndtu/
8Dani, 1963, pl. XV; Biihler, 1896, pls. VII. x-xiii. 9Dani, 1963, 80 f.
'0ibid., 184f. " IAR, 1982-83, 137.
