Epigraphia Indica Vol 21

SR No.: 032575
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1931
Total Pages: 398
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XXI.
No. 40.--KOLAGALLU INSCRIPTION OF KHOTTIGA; SAKA 889.
By N. LAKSMINARAYAN RAO, MA., OOTACAMUND. The stone which bears this inscription was found at Kolagallu, which is a railway station on the Guntakal-Hubli section of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway. A very brief note on its contents has appeared in the Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for the year 1913-14. This is the earliest record of the Rāshtrakūta king Khottiga so far discovered and I edit it below from the estampages kindly placed at my disposal by the Government Epigraphist for India.
The inscription is written in ordinary Sanskrit and in Nāgari characters closely resembling those of the Dēbli and the Karhādi plates of Kţishna III. The average size of the letters varies from * to 1". The e sign is written in two ways—(1) by a slanting stroke at the top of the letter and (2) by a stroke beginning at the top of the letter and running down to its bottom on the left side. With the exception of lines 1 to 3, which give the date, the whole of the record is in verse. It may be remarked here that the syntax of verse 5 is faulty. The word hemayashtyäsano stands by itself without any connection with the rest of the verse and the verse has no predicate. The form sik-sāmaih (1. 29) is grammatically wrong. The rules of sandhi are not observed in purusho kumāro (1. 31) and grāmë abhishiktaḥ (1. 33). Apparently this is due to the requirements of the metre. The scanning of the first pāda of verse 21 is not in conformity with the rules of prosody for it has one syllable in excess of the actual number required. The text of the inscription contains some technical expressions like dandāsana and lõhāsani (1. 35), the exact import of which is not quite clear. Neither löhäsana nor dandāsana finds place in the verse which enumerates the five yogic āsanas, viz.,
पद्मासनं स्वस्तिकाख्यं भद्रं वचासनं तथा ।
वीरासनमिति प्रोक्तं क्रमादासनपञ्चकम् ॥ The word Kapardin which generally means Siva is here possibly used for Kärttikēya. Verse 18 would show that this epithet was applied to the sage Gadādhara also. In respect of orthography,' the following points may be noted : (1) A superfluous anusvāra is sometimes used before double n or before n followed by a consonant(e.g., tasmiṁn-ādhipatyam in l. 20, vidvāın in 1. 38, kamny-ēva in l. 42, anannyāšsitā in l. 50 and sāmāṁnyo in l. 68); (2) the dental sibilant is used for the palatal in saravane (1.23); (3) the letter v is used in place of b in Ativala (1.72) and vrahmachāribhih (1. 79); (4) the consonant ri is used for the vowel si as in rik-sāmair (1. 29) and vice versa as in anamnyāšsitā (1. 50) and dēvapriya (1. 52); (5) the letter sh is used for the jihvāmuliya as well as for the upadhmaniya as is seen in mallashukurutē (1. 63), pritish-kapardinah (1.77), chakshush-Purusho (1. 31) and vāpyash-Pārcati (1. 55); (6) the corrupt or Prakrit form somuachhans is used instead of samvatsara in lines 1 and 2.
The record is dated Śaka 889 expired, the year Kshaya, Sunday, the Sixth (tithe) of the bright halt of Phålguņa, when king Kțishna had died and Khottigadēva was 'ruling. This Khottiga is no other than the homonymous Rashtrakāta king of Malkhēd, the half brother and successor of Krishna III.
The object of the inscription is to record the installation of the images of Kärttikēya and other gods at the village of Kolagala by the Brahmacharin Gadadhara. Verses 2 to 8 glorify
* No. 236 of 1913 of the Madras Ephigraphical Collection * Part II, para. 36. Above, Vol. V, pp. 188 ff.
Above, Vol. IV, pp. 281 f. Bee Subda kalpadruma under deana.