Indian Antiquary Vol 18

SR No.: 032510
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 454
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1889.
hidadano hatti ninta tanna tikana || Chyê li Gallige hâkyâra koraligi saraka swargada dari hidadáno Kailasak akka-tangera anna-tammara tâyi dukkha suttagatti nintita jana-lôka | naka tingala hannerada dinaka | awarâtri amâsi tarikh 11 Jļava | Tra Bail-Hongala dodda sahara 1 já hîra sutta rajyada walaga hesara Hanumanta-devará avaga namaskara Tukarama namma wastadara sayira-kavi Apu mâdida tayâra | Dêmannan-akshara illad-anga kasara avara dabbida mêga muttina türk 1 jartará Santu Basaņna jîvada geneyara wairigi madyâra jêra 1 iļita kaligigi nirà 11 Yêra 11 Madurawa kaligige biddâna gantål håļina walaga mukapata 11 10 11
SANSKRIT AND OLD-KANARESE INSCRIPTIONS.
BY J. F. FLEET, BO.C.S., M.R.A.S., C.I.E. No. 184. - KOMARALINGAM COPPER-PLATE GRANT OP RAVIDATTA. This inscription, which, I believe, is now edited in full for the first time, was originally brought to notice by Mr. Rice in this Journal, Vol. XII. p. 13. His remarks on it have been reprinted by Mr. Sewell in Archæol. Suru. South. Ind. Vol. II. p. 226. And in the same volume, p. 27, No. 185, the original plates are described as being in the possession of Kômaralingam Ramayya, residing at Komaralingam in the Udamalpet Tâluka or Sub-Division of the Coimbatore District, Madras Presidency. I edit it from the original plates, which I obtained for examination, through the District authorities, in 1883.
The plates, of which the first is inscribed on one side only, but the last on both sides, are three in number, each measuring originally about 8}" by 31". The second plate is entire. Of the first plate, small portions have been broken away at the ends of lines 1, 2, and 5 to 7. And of the third plate, about an inch has been broken away, all the way down, at the ends of the lines. The plates are quite smooth, the edges of them having been neither fashioned thicker nor raised into rims; but the writing is in a state of very good preservation, and is quite legible throughout. - The ring on which the plates are strung, passes through ring-holes at the proper right end of each plate. It is a plain copper ring, about " thick and 27" in diameter. It had been cut, when the grant came under my notice. No seal is forthcoming; and the ring presents no indications of having had a seal attached to it, or of having been soldered into the lower part of a seal. — The weight of the three plates is about 1 lb. 2 oz., and of the ring, 2 oz.; total, 1 lb. 4 oz.-The characters belong to the southern class of alphabets. The average size of the letters is a little over ". The engraving is good ; but it is not very deep, so that, though the plates are rather thin, the letters do not show through on the reverse sides of them at all. A few of the letters shew marks of the working of the engraver's tool. - The language as far as line 15 is Sanskrit, very bad both idiomatically and from an orthographical point of view. This portion of the record, as far as line 11, is in mixed verse and prose; but the only complete verse is the first, in lines 1-2; the other metrical passages are mere fragments of verses, plainly quoted from some other source or sources, and mixed up in the most remarkable manner with the prose passages that complete the sentences. A perusal of the text by anyone who can understand it, will satisfy him that these metrical passages really are fragments of verses; not words which only incidentally have assumed a metrical shape. In line 16, in the middle of a sentence, the language changes abruptly to & dialect of Old-Kanarese, with a curious mixture of Sansksit words and inflections in it; and from that point, as far as line 28, the record is in prose. The remainder of it is in Sanskrit, with four of the customary benedictive and imprecatory verses in lines 32 to 36. - The orthography is so bad throughout, that it is useless to select any points for special notice, except the occurrence of the Dravidian ! in the village name Kolûr, line 14, and in a few words in the Kadarese portion, and of the Dravidian ? in two words, lines 25 and 26, in the same portion. I will only remark that the use of singa