Epigraphia Indica Vol 33

SR No.: 032587
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1959
Total Pages: 514
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 29 MB

Page 133

No. 15-DAVANGERE PLATES OF RAVIVARMAN, YEAR 34
(1 Plate) D. C. SIRCAR, OOTACAMUND
(Received on 10.4.1958)
A set of three copper plates strung on a ring bearing a seal was received by the Director of Archaeological Researches in Mysore, quarter of a century ago, from Mr. Nadiga Basappa who was a lawyer of Davangere in the Chitaldurg District of Mysore State. It was edited with illustration in the Annual Report of the Mysore Archaeological Department for the Year 1933, pp. 109-16, Plate XXII. Unfortunately there are numerous errors in the published transcript and translation of the record. The most serious defect in the treatment of the inscription is that the grant portion has been wrongly read and translated and consequently the very name applied to the record, viz. Koramanga grant of... Ravivarman,' seems to be a misnomer
The editor of the inscription says, " The lands granted are said to be situated near Kõrannan, a, Samaņa and Asandi. Koramanga is probably the same as Koramangala, a village situated about eight miles from Hassan and about 40 miles from Āsandi. Āsandi is a village in the Kadur Taluk of Kadur District near Ajjampur, and Asandi or Āsandi-nädu or the province of Asandi is often referred to in inscriptions. The extent of the lands granted seems to be three nivartanas..." There are several mistakes in this statement. In the first place, of the four plots of land granted by the charter, three were situated around a sētu or embankment in the southern part of Asandi and the fourth in a locality called Vēdirkāda apparently within Asandi or in its neighbourhood. Secondly, what has been read as Koramanga (line 17) seems to us to be Köravega which was moreover a locality where the above-mentioned embankment was situated. It was therefore a part of Asandi and does not appear to be a place 40 miles away. Its identification with Koramangala is thus extremely doubtful. Thirdly, what has been read as Samanë (line 19) appears to us to be samaye and the passage samayē sētu-bandhasya means ' at the extremity of the embankment'. The inscription therefore does not refer to a village called Samana. Fourthly, as our analysis below will show, the area of the four plots of the gift land, excluding the site of the embankment, was six nivartanas and not three nivartanas only. Besides these, there are numerous other errors in the published transcript and translation of the inscription. Under the circumstances, no apology is needed for re-editing the inscription in the following pages.
The three plates nieasure each 74 inches by 3 inches. The seal fixed to the ring on which they are strung does not show any representation. The characters closely resemble those of other Early Kadamba charters, especially those issued by king Ravivarman (c. 490-538 A.D.) of Vaijayanti (modern Banavasi in the North Kanara District). The record also resembles other Early Kadamba epigraphs in respect of language and orthography. The language is Sanskrit and the inscription, with the exception of the auspicious word Siddham at the beginning, is written entirely in verse. The orthography is characterised by the reduplication of some consonants following and the use of both the anusvāra and the class nasal without discrimination. Final m has been invariably employed at the end of the halves of stanzas. The jih vāmuliya has been used once in line 3.
1 Ep. Carn., Vol. VI, Kadar, No. 145. 1 Cf. above, Vol. VIII, PP. 146 ff.; Vol. XVI, p. 264 ; Ind. Ant., Vol. VI, pp. 25-26, 28, 29-30.
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