Epigraphia Indica Vol 34

SR No.: 032588
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1961
Total Pages: 384
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 243

178 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXXIV The record is trilingual having four sections, the first and the third of which are in Sanskrit (written in Telugu characters), the second in Sanskrit verse and Telugu prose, and the fourth in Oriya prose. There are a few interesting words in the Telugu part of the second section. In the compound words Bayyarāju-kode (line 21) and Nāṁgaļa-kodu (lines 27-28), the word kodu means a rivulet or an artificial canal. The word adusu in adusuń-gäluva (line 25) is used in the sense of 'dirty water'.
The date of the charter is quoted in two places. At the beginning of Section II (lines 15-16), it is expressed by the chronogram Rām-ēbha-loka-dvijapati, i.e. Saka 1383, Vrisha, Bhadrapada, Kuhu (i.e. amäväsyā) and Bhrigutanaya-dina, i.e. Friday, regularly corresponding to the 4th September 1461 A.D. Again in Seccion III (lines 72-73), it is quoted by a different chronogram chandr-ākshi-nāg-ārnava and the cyclic year Vpisha without further details. The word akshi in this chronogram refers to the three eyes of Siva and is popular in this numerical sense in Eastern India. It is also interesting to note that the principle of vāmā gati has been ignored in the formation of this chronogram. The Saka year quoted here is 1384 which has to be regarded as current since it is equated with the cyclic year Vpisha corresponding to the expired Saka year 1383.
Section I contains adoration to gods and the description of the donor and his ancestry. It consists of 7 stanzas in lines 1-14 on the first side of the first plate. Section II begins with the date and describes the gift village and its boundaries in lines 15-32 engraved on the second side of the same plate. It ends with some benedictory and imprecatory verses. Section III gives the list of the donees and their shares (in lines 33-96) on both the sides of the remaining two plates. The fourth section in Oriya was intended to give the gist of the grant as in the Veligalani charter of Kapilēsvara referred to above. But, as will be seen below, the contents of the Oriya part suggest that it belonged to a different grant.
Section I begins with the auspicious sentence fubham-astu which is followed by two verses, one in adoration of the Boar incarnation of Vishnu and the other invoking the protection of the crescent moon worn by Siva. Verse 3 describes the Sun, in whose race, according to the following stanza (verse 4), a great king named Kapilēsvara was born. Verse 5 referring to Kapilēsvara's military prowess states that, as a result of the noise of his drums filling up the whole universe, Hampa trembled, Dhāră was disturbed, the horses fled from Kalabarigā and Phillf was occupied by savage women. The same verse with slight variation is also found in the above-mentioned Veligalani grant of Kapilēsvara, which is earlier than the present charter by three years. The next two stanzas in our record (verses 5-6) introduce the donor Hambira-kumāra as the son of the said Kapilēsvara and describe his heroism and valour. This section ends with mangalamahābri-sri-frī[l*).
The name of the donor is spelt Hamvira in our record as well as in some other Gajapati epigraphs found in the Telugu-speaking region. But the correct spelling is Hambira which is a modified form of Hammīra, the early Indian modification of Arabic Amir. The introduction of vīra in place of bira in some records of the Andhra region is an attempt at Sanskritisation. A more drastic attempt in the same direction is noticed in the inscription under study in two stanzas (verse 6 in lines 9-12; verse 11 in lines 29-31) wherein the name has been spelt as Ahamvira. But, as will be seen below, the correct pronunciation of the name with b in place of v is also indicated in some epigraphs of the South, which in certain cases replace the initial syllable han by an. The last-noted characteristic is of course due to the tendency of non-aspiration in the Dravidian languages.
Section II (lines 15 ff.) begins with the date (verse 8) discussed above and states that Hambirabhupa granted the village of Chiruvroli together with MouAmirru, situated on the bank of the rifer Krishņā, to a number of Brāhmaṇas, the gift village being named after the donor. In the following stanza (verse 9), it it said that the boundaries of the gift village, Pratāpa-Harbirakumirasatpura (i.e. Hambirapura), are given in the language of Andhra (i.e. in Telugu). Having