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No. 16.]
KOMARTI PLATES OF CHANDAVARMAN.
143
not yet been cut when I received them, is about inch thick and about 3] inches in diameter. The two ends of the ring are secured in an elliptical seal, which measures about 1} by 14 inches in diameter and bears, on a countersunk surface, in raised letters, the legend Pitri-bhaktaḥ, i.e. he who is devoted to (his) father. The weight of the plates is 1tb 6 oz., and that of the ring and seal 10 oz. ; total, 2 tb.
The alphabet of the inscription resembles the alphabets of the plates of Vijayanandivarman! and of the Chicacole plates of Nandaprabhañjanavarman, the latter of which, however, exhibit & somewhat different appearance on account of the sloping style in which they are engraved. The characters of the Achyutapuram plates of Indravarman 1. the oldest dated inscription of the Eastern Gangas-are decidedly more modern than those of the Komarti plates. In line 20, the inscription furnishes an instance of the numerical symbol for six. The language is nearly correct Sanskřit. With the exception of three imprecatory verses (11. 13 to 19), the inscription is written in prose.
The plates record the grant of the village of Kohétūra (1.2) to a Brahmans of the Våjasaneya school (1. 6 f.). The grant was made at Simhapura (1.1) by the Maharaja Chandavarman, the ruler of Kalinga (1.2), in the sixth year (of his reign), on the fifth tithi of the bright fortnight of the month of Chaitra (1. 20).
The phraseology of the grant resembles that of the copper-plate grants of the Gângas of Kalinga, but still much more closely that of the Chicacole plates of Nandaprabhatjanavarman. Another point in which the last mentioned plates agree with the Komarti plates, is that, in both of them, the title Kaling-ddhipati, i.e. lord (of the country) of Kalinga,' is applied to the reigning prince. There remains a third point which proves that both Chandavarman and Nandaprabhañjanavarman must have belonged to the same dynasty. An examination of the original seal of the Chicacole plates, which Mr. Thurston, Superintendent of the Madras Museum, kindly sent me at my request, revealed the fact that the legend on the seal is Pistri-bhakta)], just as on the seal of the Kömarti plates.
In two other respects a connection may be established with the plates of the balankAyana Maharaja Vijayanandivarman, who (1), like Chandavarman, professes to have been devoted to the feet of the lord, (his) father' (bappa-bhattaraka-pada-bhakta), and who (2) was the eldest son of the Maharaja Chandavarman. The close resemblance between the alphabets of the plates of Vijayanandivarman and of the Komarti plates suggests that Chapdavarman, the father of Vijayanandivarman, may have been identical with the Maharaja Chandavarman who issued the Komarti plates. At any rate, the two Chaņdavarmans must have belonged to the same period. An examination of the seal, which, according to Sir W. Elliot, is defaced, would probably show if it reads Pitsi-bhaktaḥ and if, consequently, the plates of Vijayanandivarman may be assigned with certainty to the same dynasty as the Komarti and Chicacole plates.
The village granted, Kohëtara, I am unable to identify. The city of Simhapura, whence Chandavarman issued the grant, is perbaps identical with the modern Singupuramo between Chicacole and Narasannapêta.
Ind. Ant. Vol. V. p. 176. The plates were found in the Kolleru lake ; see Dr. Burnell's South-Indian Palaography, p. 135, note 1. They will now probably be in the British Museum. . Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII. p. 48.
Above, Vol. III. p. 128. • See note 2.
* See note 1. See line 1 of the text of the Komarti plates.
* Compare Ind. Ant. Vol. XV. p. 274, and South-Indias Inscriptions, Vol. II. p. 358, noto 2. The ruins of the temple of ChitrarathasvAmin, whone devotee Vijayanandivarman professes to have been, still exist at Vlogt; see the Madras Journal of Literature and Science, Vol. XIX. p. 237, note 2.
. Madras Journal of Literature and Science, Vol. XI. p. 802.
Mr. Weir kindly informed me that this is the present Telugu spelling of the Dame. In Mr. Suwell's Liate of Antiquitios, Vol. I. p. 9, it is spelt Singapuram.
