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 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 on the present inscription, if it refers to the same era, should be equal to 959 AD which falls during the reign of Bhimapala, Mr Dani said.
The Mazar- I-Sharif inscription was submitted to the history congress, he added. The inscription, with 11 lines written in the “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 of Uma was built at Maityasya by Parimaha (Great) 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, Mr Dani said.
He added that, “the inscription e the name of the king as Sri Shahi Veka Raja and bestows upon 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”.
Mr Dani further said, “He maybe
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. (PTI)