RAS question
The Bijolia Rock Inscription of 1170 CE is written in which language and script, and who was the ruler in whose reign it was composed?
Correct answer: (B) Sanskrit in Nagari script — Someshvara (Chahamana king).
The Bijolia Rock Inscription of 1170 CE is in Sanskrit, with some Apabhramsha, in Nagari script, and was composed in the reign of the Chahamana king Someshvara.
Explanation
The key is to identify the inscription as a Chahamana record, not merely as a local stone inscription from Bijolia. Epigraphia Indica Vol. IX, Archaeological Survey of India describes the Bijoli, also given as Bijaoli, Bijolia or Bijholi, rock inscription as belonging to the reign of Someshvara and dates it to Vikrama year 1226, corresponding to AD 1170. The exam-relevant epigraphic details are that it is composed in Sanskrit, with some Apabhramsha, and engraved in Nagari script. Its value for RAS lies in what it records: a Chahamana genealogy, beginning with Samanta and ending with Someshvara, and the tradition linking the lineage with Vatsa gotra.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Prakrit and Brahmi point to an earlier linguistic and script context, whereas this twelfth-century Bijolia record is given as Sanskrit, with some Apabhramsha, in Nagari script.
- (C) Sharada is the wrong script for this inscription, and the Bijolia rock inscription belongs to Someshvara's reign rather than under Vigraharaja IV.
- (D) Persian in Nastaliq belongs to a different political and epigraphic setting, while the Bijolia record is a Chahamana Sanskrit-Nagari inscription dated to AD 1170.
Concept
This tests Rajasthan epigraphy, especially how inscriptions fix dynasty, language, script and chronology. It recurs in RAS because Chahamana records are core evidence for early medieval Rajasthan history.