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178
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. VII.
surfaces, except the last, were raised into rims, to protect the writing. The outer side of the last plate, having no such rims, is somewhat worn; and a few letters there are more or less illegible. But the rest of the record is in a state of very excellent preservation; and the text of it is quite clear and certain, throughout, except in one place in line 36.- The ring, on which the plates are strung, is about 3" thick and 4" in diameter. It has been cut; but it seems to be the same ring which was attached to the plates, and which had not then been cut, when the record first came under my observation, in 1877 or 1878. The seal, in which the ends of the ring are secured, is circular, about 3" in diameter. It has, in relief on a countersunk surface, across the centre, a boar, standing to the right (proper left), and the legend &ri-Tribhuvan[de] inku[sa]h, which presents a motto of the kings of the dynasty and means "the glorious elephant-goad of the three worlds:" the sa, which is considerably damaged, stands behind the boar, and the visarga is in front of the boar; the rest of the legend is in one line above the boar. Above these, there is an elephant-goad, with the sun and moon above it. And, below the boar, there is a floral device, apparently an expanded water-lily shewing seven or eight petals. The characters belong to the southern class of alphabets, and are of the regular type of the locality and period to which the record belongs. They range in size from a little more than 1" to nearly *". The engraving, though good, is not very deep; and, the plates being substantial, the letters do not shew throngh on the reverse sides. Marks of the working of the engraver's tool can be seen in many places, both in the interiors of the lettera, and in the copper which was pushed up by the tool at the sides of them; such marks on the sides of the letters, caused in the same way, can be seen very clearly in the lithograph of the Korumelli plates of Rajaraja I. The lingual d' is distinguished from the dental d by a slight but marked prolongation upwards of the end of the character. The record presents final forms of k in line 17, oft in lines 8, 29, 31, 32, 42, 60, and 73, of n in lines 11 and 31, and of min lines 10, 12, 13, 14 (twice), 15, 35, and 71. In line 15 it presents a peculiar mark of punctuation, regarding which reference may be made to the foot-note to that passage. As regards palæography, -the gutturali does not occur. The kh, j, b, and 1, all present the later cursive forms, throughout. The initial short i occurs three times; once in line 43, and twice in line 66. In cach instance, it is of the old square type, but the actual form of it presents the following abnormal feature. The full form of the old square initial short i of the alphabet with which we are concerned, consisted of an upper component which may be likened to the outstretched wings of a hovering bird, and of a separate bottom part which consisted sometimes of two circles, as may be seen very clearly in iti, the last word of the Haidarâbâd plates of Pulakasin II. of A.D. 612.8 and sometimes of two points or dots, as may be seen in iva, line 15, No. 15, and in io, line 40. the last akshara but four, of the Diggubarru grant of Chålukya-Bhima II. of the period A.D. 934 to 945.) The peculiarity in the present record is, that the ends of the upper component have been brought right down to the lower line of the writing, and the bottom components have been omitted. The form of the letter thus presented is not a transitional form, but is a variety of the old square type. It may be characterised as more or less of a freak. But it cannot be stamped as a mistake. I have found one similar instance, in the word ili in line 23 of the Kolavennu plates of the period A.D. 934 to 945;" and there it might perhaps be treated as a mistake, because the two bottom components are duly shewn in that record, as points, in indur. line 19, and itham, line 22. In the present record, however, there is no such contrast: the abnormal form only is presented ; and it was plainly intended. - In lines 73, 74, there is a Telugu fassage, for the translation of which I am indebted to Dr. Hultzsch ; and lines 65, 66 present some Telugu words, including the genitive Idiyûri. But, with those exceptions, the language is Sanskrit throughout. There are two of the customary benedictive and imprecatory verges in
1 Ind, Ant. Vol. XIV. p. 62, Plate iv.a, the last four or five lines, and Plste v. • Id. Vol. VI. p. 73, Plate.
Id. Vol. XIII. p. 214, Plate. South-Ind. Insors. Vol. I. p. 45. A lithograph, however, has not been given there, and I am ink-impressions.
quoting froin
