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No. 39.]
NADUPURU GRANT OF ANNA-VEMA.
287
plates (vv. 9 and 11), Hemadri, the author of the Danakhanda, is repeatedly referred to (vv. 5, 9 and 17).
Anna-Vôma's sister, V@masini, is stated to have been the queen of a certain Nallantinka (v. 16), whose name I have not found elsewhere. For her spiritual benefit, Anna-Véma granted to twenty Brahmanas the village of Nadupuru (v. 18), which received the surname Vémapura in commemoration of Vēmasåni's own name (v. 19). The grant was made in the temple of Vijayêsvara on the bank of the Gautami (i.e. Godavari) river (v. 18). The temple of Vijayê vara is probably identical with the village of Vijayavaram in the Tanuku taluke of the Godavari district, which is situated "close to the west end of the Godavari anient" and contains "two old temples, held very sacred."The village granted, Nadupuru, was situated on the eastern bank of the Godåvari (1. 43 f.). A number of other villages, which I am unable to identify, are mentioned in the description of its boundaries (1). 39 to 46). The Madras Survey Map of the Godavari district shows a village named Nadupadi in the Narsápur taluks on the right bank of the Godavari, and another village, named Vemavaram, about 5 miles S.-S.-W. of Nadupäại. I hardly think that one of these two villages can be identical with Nadupuru alias Vêmapuram, whích motust be looked for on the opposite bank of the river. The country or district to which Nadupuru belonged, was called Konasthala (v. 18). This may be the same as the KÔnamandala, which had been ruled over before the time of Anna-Vêms by a dynasty of chiefs whose names are given in the second inscription on the Pithapuram pillar and in inscriptions at Palakol, and with Kônasima, a local name of the Godavari delta.8
The date of the grant (v. 18) was the day of a lunar eclipse on Kärttiki (1.e. the fullmoon tithi of the month of Karttika) in the Saka year 1996 (in numerical words and in figures) Saka-Samvat 1296 28 & current year would correspond to A.D. 1373-74, and as an expired year to A.D. 1374-75. Mr. Dikshit kindly informs me that both in 1373 and in 1374 A.D. there was a lunar eclipse in Bhadrapada, but not in Kârttika, and that no lunar eclipse in Karttika is possible in the years 1375 to 1379 and 1362 to 1369; but that there were lunar eclipses in Karttika of A.D. 1870 and 1371, and that a very small lunar eclipse, not visible anywhere in India, is possible in Asvina (the month preceding Karttika) on Wednesday, the 13th October, A.D. 1372.
A Telugu inscription on the wall of the garden of the Koppeśvara temple at Palivela in the Amalapuram tálake of the Godåvart district records a grant of land by a sertant (lerika) of Ana-Vêmáya-Reddi on the 5th tithi of the bright fortnight of Phálgupa of the Saka year 1999.
The Vanapalli plates and the Nadupura grant furnish the following short pedigree of the Reddi dynasty of Kondavidu
1. Prôla.
2. Vema.
3. Anme Vête.
4. Anna-Véma or Ana-Vêma (Šaka 1296 and 1800).
Vèm'a såpi; married to Nallanabka.
1 Mr. Sewell's Lists of Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 98.
See my Anmal Report for 1898-94, pp. 3 and 6. ! Godavari Manual, p. 5.
No. 505 of 1893 in my Annual Report for 1899-94. Another Teloga inscription in the Bhimefvara temple at DrákshArama (No. 446 of 1899) records the erection of buildings by Ana-V@ma io Sakatare 1800, Vwillkba su 10, but it remains uncertain if this As-vêum in identical with Anna-Vama of Kondavida.
