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No. 43.)
NANDAMAPUNDI GRANT OF RAJARAJA I.
301
rims, and the writing, in consequence, is well preserved throughout. The plates are strung on & ring, which had been already cut when this grant was received by Dr. Hultzach. The ring is thick and 5}" in diameter, and bears on an expanded flower a circular seal, which is 24" in diameter. This seal has on a countersunk surface, across the centre, the legend friTribhugand inkuba in raised Telugu letters; above the legend, in high relief, a boar facing the proper left, with, over it, the sun and the moon's crescent between two chauris, in front of it & conch-shell, and at the back of it, a drum; and beneath the legend, an elephant-goad, with, below it, an expanded flower with a water-lily on the proper right and a throne on the left of it. The flower and the water-lily Dr. Haltzsch suggests to be symbols of the rivers Ganga and Yamuns, which are mentioned among the samrájya-chihnani, or insignia of universal sovereignty, of the Eastern Chalukyas. The characters throughout belong to the same southern alphabet, but represent two successive stages of it. Up to the commencement of line 50 (line 6 of the second side of the third plate) they closely resemble the characters of the copper-plates of AmmA II. (Ind. Ant. Vol. VII. p. 15, Vol. XII. p. 91, and Vol. XIII. p. 248, and Plates), and the same characters originally were continued to the end of the third plate in lines 50-55, where, however, they have been beaten in. On the other hand, the characters on the fourth and fifth plates, and in the last six lines of the third plate (excepting the first three aksharas of line 50) as we have them at present, are exactly like those of the Korumelli plates of Rajaraja I. (ibid. Vol. XIV. p. 48, and Plates), and were written by the writer of that inscription, Gandacharya. From this it would appear that the first three plątes of this grant originally formed part of a somewhat earlier grant, and that the statement (in line 92) regarding the writer of this inscription, and probably also that concerning the author of the verses, cannot refer to lines 1-49, nor to the verses contained in them. The average size of the letters is about *, -The language is Sanskřit, except in the description of the boundaries of the village which was granted by this inscription, in lines 80-88, where it is Telugu. The Sanskrit portion contains 28 verses, of which verses 7-20 are given continuously in lines 44-65, and verses 21-26 in lines 68-77, while verses 1-6, singly or in pairs, are scattered through lines 1-30. The rest of the text, excepting the two benedictive and imprecatory verses 27 and 28, in lines 89-91, is in prose. Of the verses 1-20, seven (vis. verses 1-6 and verse 20) occur in exactly the same, and one (verse 15) in a slightly different form, also in the Koramelli plates of Rajaraja I.; and some of the remaining verses show that their reputed author, Nanniyabhatta, knew other verses of the Koramelli plates, or verses of which those of the Korumelli plates were themselves copies or imitations. Under any circumstances, the two men who in the two inscriptions are mentioned as the authors of the poetry, very probably composed only some of the verses that are assigned to them. The language and phraseology of the text in general present no difficulty, but line 77 contains an epithet of the donee,
Dr. Haltasch informs me that, owing to the great height of the rims, it was impossible to take perfect impressions. I nevertheless believe that, with perbaps the exception of the first half of verse 18, my text may be relied on as correct.
* See line 27 of the text of the present inscription.
. I would draw attention to the fact that the same neatly drawn ornamental design which we find at the commencement of the first two inscriptious, above referred to, also octors, in exactly the same, form, at the beginning of the present inscription. Compare with it the different, mach ruder design at the commencement of the Korumelli plates of Rajaraja I.
For transcript of the Telugu portion of the inscription, with an English translation of it, I am indebted to Dr. Hultzsch's Assistant, Mr. H. Krishna Sastri.
A comparison of the poetry of the two inscriptions does not seem to me to favour the view that the verses of the Koramelli plates are imitations of those of the present plates.
• The construction of the verb pish with the Genitive case, in verse 7, shows that the author of the verse knew his grammar well; but it may be questioned whether pari-ari, which occurs in the same verse, really conveys the sense in which it is used by the writer. The construction of an with the Ablative case, in verse 10, also, can hardly be called correct Mahi for mall, in line 48, and bhujd for bhuja, in line 60, are unusun, but correct.
