A serpentine scimitar of letters from Udaypur, district Vidisha, M.P.

Singh, Saarthak, "A serpentine scimitar of letters from Udaypur, district Vidisha, M.P.", Studies in Indian Epigraphy (Bhāratīya Purābhilēkha Patrikā), Journal of the Epigraphical Society of India, vol. 47 (2022), pp. 115-119.

This paper presents a newly-discovered inscription from Udaypur (district Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh). Engraved on a rectangular sandstone slab in the parapet wall of the Udayeśvara temple, this inscription features a serpent’s knotted body comprising letters of the Sanskrit alphabet along with the grammatical endings of nouns and verbs. It is accompanied by 5 lines of writing on one side that refer to the diagram as varṇṇanāgakṛpāṇikā, a "serpentine scimitar of letters." The compounded designation draws attention to the unusual synthesis of aurality, visuality and efficacy in this inscription. The abraded surface of the stone does not afford a complete reading, but this very designation appears in dedicatory verses accompanying an identical composition at Ujjain, which is further described as a "unique magical sword" (siddhāsiputrikā) of the kings Udayāditya (c. 1070–93) and his son Naravarman (1094–1134). Three similar serpentine inscriptions associated with these Paramāra kings are known from Dhar and Un, allowing us to place the one from Udaypur in the late-11th century. Taken together, the epigraphic evidence suggests that such enigmatic diagrams were inscribed at royal Shiva temples as complex devices in the service of dynastic power.