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No. 16.)
SIX EASTERN CHALUKYA GRANTS.
131
The boundaries are (1. 29): On the east, the Pótaryangari-cheruvu (tank); on the southeast, the Paruvula-gunta (tank); on the south, the Châki-cheruvu (tank) ; on the south-west, the boundary-line of (P)'; on the west, the Chintereni-cheruvu (tank) ; on the north-west, the Juvvi-gunta (tank); and on the north and north-east, the Airiviya-gunta (tank).
The root of the inscription warns the people not to obstruct this grant; quotes five beuedictive and imprecatory verses, ascribed to Vyasa; (in verse 7) gives the name of the Ajťapki of the grant, Kadeyaraja, whose grandfather was Påndaranga; and records the name of the writer, Kondäch&rya.
D.-MASULIPATAM PLATES OF AMMA I.
(A.D. 918-925.] These plates were found, some twenty years ago, in the vernacular record room of the Collector's office at Masulipatam, in the Kistna district of the Madras Presidency, and they are preserved now in the Madras Museum. The inscription which they contain has been already published, by Mr. R. Sowell, in the Indian Antiquary, Vol. VIII. p. 77 ff.;' I re-edit it from an oxcellent impression, taken and supplied to me by Dr. Fleet.
These are three copper-plates, the first and last of which are inscribed on one side only, and each of which measures about 84" broad by 45" high. The plates bave raised rims, and are strong on a ring which had been cut before this record came into Dr. Fleet's hands in the year 1884. The ring is about 5t' in diameter and thick ; it is joined to a circular seal which is about 34" in diameter. The seal bears, in relief on a slightly countersunk surface, the legend &ri-Tribhuvan[4]inkusa; below the legend, a floral device; immediately above the legend,
boar, standing and facing to the proper right; and above the boar, an elephant-goad surmounted by the moon's crescent. With the exception of a small part of the first plate the writing of which is somewhat corroded, the plates are well preserved.---The writing and engraving are good. The characters belong to the southern class of alphabets, of the time and part of the country to which the inscription belongs. For kh, j, b and I we have throughout the later, cursive signs. The initial i does not occur in the text. Of the three final consonants which occur, n and m are denoted by special signs (in másán, 11. 9 and 13, trimsatam, II. 10 and 11, and chatvarimsatam, 11. 12 and 14), while for t the ordinary sign for ta is used, with the sign of viráma above it (in Kumaravat, 1. 27, and anine(na)sat, 1. 29). The size of the letters is about 7.-The language is Sanskřit. Besides two benedictive and imprecatory verses, the text contains eight verses treating of the donor and the donee and their ancestors; the rest is in prose. In respect of orthography, it may be noted that the rules of samdhi have been frequently neglected, and that there is a fairly large number of other minor mistakes, omissions of letters, etc. A special point which may be drawn attention to is, that after an anusvåra # CODBodant is doubled in Manggi, 1. 8, Vénggi and Trikalingga, 1. 17, patchohacifati, 1. 8, kimchoha, 1. 30, and in vatsarandi rinija-, 1. 16, but not in other places where the same rule might have been followed.
The inscription is one of the Eastern Chalukya Ammaraja [I.] Vishnuvardhana. It records that the king granted the village of Drujjúru in the Pennataviči-vishaya to Mabakala,
general, and son of a foster-sister, of (Ammaraja's grandfather) Chalukya-Bhima (or Bhima I.). The Ajñapti of the grant was the ?)* Katakaraja.
* See above, p. 129, note 11.
. Compare also Dr. Fleet in Ind. Ant. Vol. XX. p. 266, K. . The same role is observed once in regard to m) in the preceding inscription C. We also find it occasionally observed 6.g. in the inscriptions publisled in South Ind. Insor. Vol. L. P. 39 ff., and Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII. p. 213 1. See also above, p. 107.
• See nbove, Vol. IV. p. 809, note 1.
