Epigraphia Indica Vol 04

SR No.: 032558
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: E Hultzsch
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1896
Total Pages: 458
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 46

No. 4.]
PITHAPURAM INSCRIPTION OF PRITHVISVARA.
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The purpose for which the inscription was engraved, is to record that, at the vernal equinox (Masha-sankranti) of Saka-Samvat 1108 (in numerical words, 1. 136, and in figures, 1. 139), the village of Navakhandavida in the district (vishaya, Il. 148 and 151, or desa, 1. 135) of Prolunându was granted to the temple which contains the inscription, by J&yambiks (v. 53), Jâyamâmbà (v. 66), Jayamadevi (1. 143), or Jayama-mahadevi (1. 150), the queen of Gorka III. and mother of Přithvisvara. This grant was communicated to the inhabitants of the district by her son Přithvi vara (1. 147), who accordingly appears to have been the ruling prince at the time of the inscription.
The date of the insoription does not admit of verification. The current Saka year 1108 corresponds to A.D. 1185-86, and the expired Saka year 1108 to A.D. 1186-87.
The boundaries of the village of Navakhandavada are specified in lines 154 to 159. Mr. H. Krishna Sastri was informed at Pithaparam that Navakhandavida is close to Pithapuram itself and is still in the possession of the Kunti-Madhava temple. That the district of Prolunându included the country on the southern side of Pithapuram, is proved by the inscriptions of the Bhavanarayana temple at Sarpaveram, according to which Sarpavaram belonged to Prolunându, a subdivision of Gangagonda-Chôda-valanându. The Madras Survey Map of the Pithapuram Division shows, about 15 mile E.S.E. of Pithapuram, a village named “Narakhandravada." This is probably a mistake or misprint for Navakhandavada and identical with the village granted by the subjoined inscription, the names of whose boundaries, however, cannot be traced on the map.
The remainder of the inscription contains the usual imprecations (1. 159 ff.) and the names of the composer, Ayyapillarya (1.168), and of the writer, Kantâchâri of Sripithapuram (1.169).
The grant proper is preceded by a long account, in Sanskrit verse, of the dynasty from which Prithvisvara traced his descent, and which it may be convenient to call the chiefs of Velanându; for, the Teluga genitive Velanánţi is prefixed to the name of Prithvisvara's grandfather in line 141, and occurs in many unpublished inscriptions from the Telugu country in connection with the names of Prithvisvara's predecessors. Velanându is twice mentioned in the Ganapêśvaram inscription of Ganapatj. According to Mr. Gordon Mackenzie's Manual of the Kistna District, p. 214, it is an old name for all the Tsandavôlu country. This statement is confirmed by the Elavarru plates of the Eastern Chalukya king Amma II., according to which Elavarru, a village north of Tsandavālu in the Rêpalle tâluka of the Kistna district, belonged to the district (vishaya) of Velanându. In an inscription at Dråkshåråma,' the 17th chief of the Table on page 35, Gonka: III., is stated to have resided at Sanadavrôlu in Velanându. This enables us to fix the modern Tsandavôlu, a name which closely resembles Sanadavrôlu; as the former capital of the chiefs of Velanându.
Like the Reddis of Kondavidu, the chiefs of Velanända trace their descent from the Chaturthânvaya, i.e. the fourth or Sadra caste (verse 2). The earlier portion of their genealogy is perfectly fictitious.' Thus we are told that the first ancestor who is mentioned by name, Indrasena, was adopted by, and received the emblems of a sovereign from, the mythical king Yudhishthira and ruled at Kirtipura in Madhyadega (vv. 2 to 5); that, after an interval of unspecified duration, there ruled Kirtivarman I. (v. 6); and that, after another interval, he was
1 Sarpavaram is 4 miles north of Cooronda and 74 miles south of Pithapuram. The Bhavanarayana temple is in ita inscriptions called Vira-Choda-Vinnagara, i.e. 'the Vishņu temple of Viry-Choda,' to whom it probably owes ita foundation; see my Annual Report for 1893-94, p. 6.
Above, Vol. III. No. 16, verses 17 and 84.
Ind. Ant. Vol. XIL p. 91. * No. 268 of 1893 in my Awwwal Raport for 1893-94. * See above, Vol. III. pp. 59 and 286. VOL. IV.