Epigraphia Indica Vol 12

SR No.: 032566
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sten Konow
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1913
Total Pages: 464
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

Page 414

No. 38.]
ARIVILIMANGALAM PLATES OF SRIRANGARAYA II.
341
temple, now gone out of existence and of which there exists at present only & mandapa; in this is placed now a modern figure of Gaņēša. Long time ago the copper-plates on which the inscription under consideration is engraved were found in this ruined Vishnu temple, and they have been preserved in the family of Svāminātha Ayyar of that place. They were got on loan from their owner by Mr. Kuppasvāmi Śāstri, and from the impression prepared under the supervision of Mr. Gopinātha Rao the inscription on them is edited below.
The set consists of three plates of the usual size and shape of the Vijayanagara documents. The plates are bound together by a ring, which was cut when they came to us for examination. Along with the plates, there is strong in the ring a seal which bear's on it the representation of a boar facing the proper right, the sun and the moon, a dagger, and two clubs placed V-wise. The preservation of the record is tolerably good. The alphabet is Nandināgari and the language Sanskrit. At the end of the inscription is the sign-manual of the Vijayanagara emperors, the name Sri Virūpāksha, in the Telugu alphabet. The first and the second plates are marked with the Telugu-kannada numerals, 1 and 2; in the first plate it is in the left margin of the reverse, and in the second, in the same margin of the obverse, but much nearer the ring-hole. The third plate bears no number at all.
This record, instead of employing the usual single and double vertical strokes at the end of half and full verses, uses horizontal strokes (or hyphens). The secondary i-symbol resembles in form the secondary i-form of the Tamil alphabet ; that is, the free end of the curve does not reach the bottom; e.g. in dhatri, 1. 3; in kshira., 1. 5; in - Sripati., 1. 10, etc. Iustead of ri we often find rri; thus wrripatis for nri patis, 1. 8. The consonant dh has a slightly different form from the same letter occurring in other Vijayanagara documents of the same period; compare - Ganadhi-, 1. 1; dadhau, 1. 4; Budha-, 1. 7, etc. The dot representing the anusvāra is placed by the side of and not, in the usnal way, on the top of the consonant to which it belongs ; compare Etuinga., .churbi., and -chandra-, l. 1; -ārambha-, 1. 2; damshtra-damdas-, 1. 3; -bhūtam panchasya-, 1. 5, etc. The letters y and p are almost similar to each other : the only difference observable is that the latter has a larger loop than the former; compare the p and y occurring in -patayē, 1.1; p in-napi and y in jayati, 1. 5, etc. The compound ss looks like és, that is, the cross line in the first s is omitted ; cf. -damdas=sa, 1. 3 ; -soutah, l. 16; -kais=sanii, 1. 24; mahaujās=sāmrajyē, 1. 36 ; chatussimā., 1. 76; jas=sürya-, 1. 93 ; bhūsurds=sartē, 1. 103; svayambhūs=sarasa-, and -patēs=sūnuh, 1. 106.
As far as it is known to us at present, this is the first copper-plate document of tho Nayaka kings of Tanjore hitherto published. The inscription records that, at the request of Sevvappa Nayaka, the first prince of this dynasty, the Vijayanagara emperor, Srirangadē. yarāya, granted the village of Arumolimangalam to the Madhva guru, Vijayindra Tirtha. The date of the grant was a Monday, the first dvadasil in the bright half of the month of Ashicha, in the year Dhätri, which corresponded with tho Saka year 1499 (expressed by indu (the moon), payodhi (the oceans), graha (the planets) and ratna (the gems). The grant was made in the presence of the god Rāmachandra of Ponugonda.? The grant had already been
This is the first dvadati of the four months of the Chaturmäsya-vrata and hence called the pratkama. dvadar.
Tirumals transferred the sent of government to Penugonda (Ep. Ind., Vol. III, p. 238 ff.). His second son, Bsøga II., the same who figures in our record, is actually called the king of Penugoods. The present inscription has (1.61) Perumkadapura, that is, the secondary e symbol of ko and the anusvāra after the same letter are wanting to make it read Perunkondapura, which might be taken to be a mistake for Penugondapura. It is of coarse possible that we have to do, not with a temple in Penugonda, but with a templo of Ramachandra in an unknown place that might have been known by the name Perungadu or Perubkādapura. But at present we know of no such place, and hence we choose to take Perungadapura as a mistake for Penngondapura, the capital of Ranga II, where the king bad every facility for making the grant.