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{{Short description|Historic rock inscription in Haryana, India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2017}}
[[File:Tosham rock.JPG|thumb|Hill at Toshām showing the site of the ancient monastery and water cascade]]
{{HistoryOfSouthAsia}}

The '''Tosham rock inscription''', dating from the 4th or 5th century, on [[Tosham Hill range|Tosham hill]] in [[Tosham]] town of [[Haryana]] state in [[India]], is an [[epigraphy|epigraph]] documenting the establishment of a monastery and the building of water tanks for followers of the [[Yadava#The Satvatas|Satvata]] in ancient [[Yadava]] Kingdoms. They also built the [[Kalayat Ancient Bricks Temple Complex]] and may have been vassals of the [[Satavahana dynasty]], which disintegrated into smaller kingdoms in the 3rd century, during the [[Gupta Empire]].

==Location==
[[Tosham]] or Toshām is located in [[Bhiwani District]], [[Haryana]], 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#Tosham Rock Paintings|Tosham Rock Paintings]] and [[Tosham#Tosham Hill Fort|Tosham Hill Fort]] on Tosham Hill.

==Description and contents==
The inscription records the lineage and building activities of a line of Sātvata religious preceptors ([[Acharya|ācārya]]) dating to the 4th and 5th centuries CE. This is an important record for the history of the [[Vaishnavism|Vaiṣṇava]] faith.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://siddham.network/inscription/in00111/|title=Toshām rock inscription of Somatrāta|date=14 Feb 2020|website=SIDDHAM|access-date=14 Feb 2020}}</ref> 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]] in his 1888 publication ''Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=HON9OAAACAAJ Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, 1988 by John Faithfull Fleet]</ref><ref>J. F. Fleet, ''Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings'', Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, vol. 3 (Calcutta, 1888): 269.</ref> A new translation and fresh analysis was undertaken by M. Willis in ''The Archaeology of Hindu Ritual'', published in 2009.<ref>Michael Willis, [[The Archaeology of Hindu Ritual]] (Cambridge, 2009). {{ISBN|978-0521518741}}, available online: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1400173.</ref>

==Text==
<poem>
jitaṃ abhīkṣṇam eva jāmbavatīvadanāravindorjjitāḷinā
dānavāṅganāmukhāmbhojalakṣmītuṣāreṇa viṣṇunā
anekapuruṣābhyāgatāryyasātvatayogācārya-
bhagavadbhaktayaśastrātaprapautrasyācāryyaviṣṇutrātapautrasyācāryya-
vasudattap[u]trasya rāvaṇyām utpannasya gotamasagotrasyācāryyaopāddhyāya-
yaśastrāta[ān]ujasyācāryyasomatrātasyedaṃ bhagavatpādopayo-
jyaṃ kuṇḍam uparyyāvasathaḥ ku-
ṇḍaṃ cāparaṃ
</poem>

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 (Chandigarh)|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.<ref>[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130702/harplus.htm#3 Rare rock painting of dinosaur discovered from Tosham Hills in state- by Sushil Manav, Tribune News Service, dated: 2 July 2013]</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[https://siddham.network/object/ob00102/ The Asia Inscriptions Database]
*[http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item2427416/?site_locale=en_GB Cambridge University Press]

[[Category:Rock art in India]]
[[Category:Sanskrit inscriptions in India]]
[[Category:Gupta and post-Gupta inscriptions]]
[[Category:History of Haryana]]
[[Category:Bhiwani district]]

Tosham rock inscription - Revision history

Svetlanabpd: Made Details