By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The inscribed Sati stone in the premises of Rajendra University History department, Balangir, was deciphered by Bishnu Mohan Adhiakri, member of Epigrphical socity of india which was noticed by Raj Kumar Rate, lecturer in history, Khariar (autonomous) College, Khariar.
. During Rate’s Ph.D. field study, he got to know about this inscribed Sati stone in December 2021, and with the help of his colleague Dr. Subhransis Barik, Mr. Chitta Ranjan Jena and university staff Dr. Rupdhar Gomango and Mr. Pruruba Swain informed the then Vice Chancellor.
With the help of VC, the Sati stone, which was in dilapidated condition, was recovered from a open drain by the team and shifted to the university’s dept. of History. Mr. Raj Kumar informed Mr. Adhikri about this discovery in November 2024. The three- panel Sati stone is adorned with the symbols of the sun and crescent moon and, in Abhayamudra, two female palms in the upper part.
In the middle section we saw the depiction of two human figures worshipping a shivalinga, one male figure holding a chhatra. In the lower section we saw the four-line Nagari script inscription. According to epigraphist Mr. Adhikari, these inscriptions are about a lady who performed Sati rites dedicating the divine god.
It is noteworthy that in the month of November 2024, Mr. Raj Kumar and Mr. Adhikari deciphered the first inscribed Sati stone of Odisha, which was discovered from Diaton village of same Blangiar district. The discovery of two inscribed Sati stones from the Balangir district and their decipherment gave a unique place to the Balangir district in the study of Odisha’s Memorial Stones tradition.
