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No. 32.]
MADRAS MUSEUM PLATES OF SRIGIRIBHUPALA.
307
Hence it is likely that they were found in the North Arcot district. They are now preserved in the Madras Museum, and I edit the inscription on them from two ink-impressions kindly furnished to me by Mr. Edgar Thurston, Superintendent of the Government Central Museum, Madras, with the permission of Government.
The copper-plates are three in number. The inscription is engraved on both sides of each of them. The second and third plates are marked at the left top corner of their first sides with the Tamil numerals 2 and 3 respectively. The first two plates measure 9" by 41", while the dimensions of the third and last plate are 8" by 41". The ring, if any, on which the plates were strung, is lost; and they are now kept together by & string passed through the ring-hole, about " in diameter, bored on the top of each plate.
The alphabet in which the inscription is engraved is Grantha; but in the following cases Tamil letters have been used :-1, , 4 and nå of the word Vengadanátha in line 102; tiru of Tiruvenkața in l. 108; Pillai in l. 112; peru of Perunkai in 11. 115 and 121 f.; nearly the whole of the phrase Kuppanoullitt árulkus in l. 123; and r of Náyinar in l. 130. The colophon
Sri-Triyambaka is written in Kannada characters. A few peculiarities of the alphabet are worth noting. The secondary a-symbol is added near the bottom of the consonant in a few Cases; compare ja and nd in the word prajándi in l. 34, nd of náthasya in l. 40, ndni in l. 44, and samastânám in l. 46. The guttural of Suriginôh in 1. 65 resembles ndya. The subscript consonant in conjunct letters is in some cases added by the side of the first instead of at the bottom as in modern Grantha; compare bdé in Sakasy-abdé in l. 56, bda of pratyabda in 11. 67 and 81, Ági of Sarnginôh in I. 65, and stå of samastánari in l. 46. Finalm is in some cases not distinguished from ma; but, in order not to swell the footnotes unnecessarily, the distinction has been introduced into the text; compare e.g. m in Lakshmim (1. 3), sambhatam (1.5), vaibhavam (1. 5 f.) and bhashanam (1.7) with min ”paham (1. 4), sampao (1. 19), Pratim (1. 38) and grámam (1. 51). The group rnna is written somewhat like ntha ; compare sampúrnna in l. 59 and vistirnnam in 1. 54. The letter di of Dirákara in l. 113 resembles the Tamil vowel i of the 12th century A.D. The conjunct rgga is also peculiarly shaped; see Bhárggava in 11. 108, 112 and 124. The difference between the vowel ri and the secondary consonant is marked by making the r-symbol end in a loop in the former case; compare prithivim in l. 37, nivrid in l. 49, Bhrigu in 1. 57, vrittair in l. 72, and vyavrittair in l. 72 f. with samprapte in 1. 56 f, grámam in line 62 f., and pratyekam in 1. 76, etc. As regards orthography, it may be noted that the hard dental t is used for the soft d in Patma (1.17), vidvat bhir (1. 45), Chitambara (1.77 1.), Utbâhuo (1. 120) and bhavatbhih (1. 146). The form ranna is used for ratna in 1. 27, and the lingual for the dental l in bhápalo in the same line. Both these forms are probably due to the influence of Kanarese, which may also account for the change of d into { in Paluvat-kötfa (1. 48). Bå is substituted for vd in the word Badhala in l. 120. As a rule is doubled when it occurs in conjunction with d; see Govinnda in . 89, Utbáhusunndara in l. 120 f., and Skannda in l. 126.
The language of the inscription is Sanskrit. Nearly one-half is in verse, and the other half, enumerating the donees and the shares which each of them received, is in prose. In only one place a Tamil phrase, Kuppan=ullittårukku, occurs (1. 123). The inscription uses abbre. viated forms for the gôtras and sátras of the donees, except in the case of the chief person, Sampatkumara-pandita (11. 133-135).
The record begins by tracing the first Vijayanagara dynasty from the Moon, in whose lineage Yadu is said to have been born (v. 5). In the race of Yadu was born Samgama (I.), whose son Wes Bukka (I.) (v. 6). His son was Harihara (II.) (v.7). His son was Dêvarêya (.), and his son Vijayabh û pati (v. 8) or Vijayabhupalal (v. 9), who had two sons :
He is also called Vijayabhůbhaj (v. 16), Vijayarij (v. 21) and Vijayaraya (v. 24).
