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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. VIII.
the village Munsiff of Nelatur, Ongole tâluka, now part of the Guntur district, to the Deputy Tahsildar of Addanki and formed part of the unclaimed property of a dend Bairagi."
Mr. Venkayya furnished me with the following description :--" There are five copperplates on a ring, weighing together 70 tolas. The outer sides of the first and the last plates, which bear no letters, as well as the edges of the plates, are smooth. The plates measure almost 7' in length and 19" in height. Plates ii. to iv. are a little thicker than i. and v. Part of the writing on plate i. shows through on the blank side of it. The ring was cut by me and rivetted subsequently. The diameter of the ring is 23" and its thickness" on the average. The ends of the ring are secured in the base of an almost circular seal, which measures 13" in diameter. The seal is very much worn, but bears, in relief on a countersunk surface, an animal with mouth open and facing the proper left. It is represented sitting on a horizontal line which is in relief, and it resembles very closely the animal represented on the seal of the Uruvapalli grant (Ind. Ant. Vol. V. p. 50). The tail of the animal is not seen, neither are its forelegs."
The engraving of the inscription is on the whole carefully done and well preserved. The language is Sanskrit prose, and three Sanskřit verses of the Rishi (Vyåsa) are quoted at the end of the inscription. The alphabet closely resembles that of the Uruvapalli and Mångalûr grants. But there is one point in which the three grants differ. In the Uruvupalli grant ta has a loop on the left, as in Tamil, and na has none. In the Många!ûr grant both the form with the loop and the one without it are used in the case of ta, while na has no loop except in kratûnam (1. 16). In the new inscription the forms with and without loop are used for both tu and na, though in the majority of cases ta has a loop and na has none. A final form of m occurs five times (Il. 13, 18, 23, and twice in l. 24). Plates i., ii.b and iv. b are marked on the left margin with the numerical symbols 1, 2 and 4, while plates iii. 6 and v. are not numbered.
The inscription opens with the same invocation of Bhagavat (Vishạn) as the Uravapalli and Mangaļor grants. It records the grant of the village of Pikira in the district named Munda-rashtra (1. 14) in the fifth year of the reign (1. 18) of the Pallava Maharaja Simhavarman (1. 14), who was the son of the Yuvamahardja Vishņugôpa (1. 9 f.), the grandson of the Maharaja Skandavarman (II.) (1.7), and the great-grandson of the Maharaja Viravarman (1.3). To the name of each of these four princes are prefixed a number of laudatory epithets which resemble those used in the Uravupalli grant, where, however, they are differently arranged and applied to the Pallava Yuvamaharaja Vishộugopavarman, his father Maharaja Skandavarman (II.), his grandfather Maharaja Viravarman, and his great-grandfather Maharaja Skandavarman (I.). In the Mangaļur grant the epithets differ, but the kings are, as in the Pikira grant, the Pallava Maharaja Simhavarman, his father Yuvarája Vishộugôpa, his grandfather Maharaja Skandavarman (II.), and his great-grandfather Maharaja Viravarman.
The date of the Pikira grant is the fifth year, and that of the Mangaļur grant the eighth year, of Simhavarman's reign. The Uruvapalli grant was made by the Yuvamaharaja Vishņugopavarman, but is dated in the eleventh year of the Maharaja Simhavarman, whose relation to the donor is not stated. Dr. Fleet concluded from this that the Sinhavarman of the Uravupalli plates was an otherwise unknown elder brother of Vishụugopa. I would propose another solution of the difficulty. The term Yuvarája or Yuvamaharaja, which is prefixed to Vishņugôpa not only in his Uruvupalli grant, but in the two grants of his son Simhavarman, suggests that he never ascended the throne, but that the succession passed from his father Skandavarman II. to his son Simhavarman. The reason of this need not have been premature deuth. If it is
Edited with photo-lithographs by Dr. Fleet in Ind. Ant. Vol. V. p. 50 ff. and p. 154 8.
