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No. 35.]
MALEPADU PLATES OF PUNYAKUMARA.
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No. 35-MALEPADU PLATES OF PUNYAKUMARA;
THE FIFTH YEAR OF HIS REIGN.
BY H. KRISHNA SASTRI, B.A.
Mr. J. Ramayya Pantalu, B.A., B.L., while he was Deputy Collector in charge of the Jammalamadagu Division of the Cuddapah district, in 1904, bronght to the notice of the Madras Epigraphical Department a set of copper plates and a number of stone inscriptions relating to a family of kings whose existence was not known till then. These copper plates and stone records were secured by Rai Bahadur V. Venkayya, through the kind offices of Mr. Ramayya Pantulu, and a brief account of their contents was given in bis Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1904-5, p. 48, paragraphs 5 and 6. I publish below, with the permission of the Editor, the inscription on the copper plates and also append in a postscript, as a specimen, the text and translation of one of the well-preserved stone epigraphs whose importance will be recognised when it is stated that they are the earliest Telugu records from the Cuddapah district and belong to a dynasty of kings who, though claiming Chola descent, had, nevertheless, their dominion in the Pallava territory.
Regarding the discovery of the plates, Mr. Ramayya Pantulu writes :-“They were given to me by a man of the Sāli caste named Varadappa, who told me that he found the plates while digging foundations for a mutt at Mālēpādu. He preserved the plates in the temple of Emteruman at Vēlpucharla whither he had removed himself and gave them to me when I visited that temple." The plates are three in number, and measure, roughly, 71" by 27". "They are held together by a ring whose ends are secured in an oval-shaped seal which measures about 11 by 1%", and which bears in high relief, a tiger which stands to the proper left, raises the left for-paw, opens the mouth and has a twisted tail." The first and last of the plates are written only on their inner sides and show traces of having had raised rims, which were apparently meant to protect the writing on these plates from coming into contact with the written sides of the middle plate. The circular copper ring which holds the plates together, measures 31 in diameter and is about " thick. The plates with seal and ring weigh 93 tolas. They have been presented to the Madras Museum-again through the kind intervention of Mr. Ramayya Pantulu- and will be deposited there after the final proof of the sabjoined article has been passed for printing.
The seal with the emblem cat on it in bold relief-evidently the crest of the kings to whom the record belongs-deserves special consideration. The posture of the animal, the sharp twist of its tail above the back, and the profuse mane round its neck- all considered together
- make the figure look more like a lion than a tiger, although the possibility of the latter was suggested by Mr. Venkayya when he first discussed the question, from the supposed connection the kings mentioned in the Málēpādu record bore to the Cholas of Tanjore whose crest was the tiger (vērgas). Similar figures are engraved on the top of a broken slab at
1 Some of the stone records which were not either set up in temples or otherwise properly cared for, were removed to the Madras Museum for preservation in the year 1905.
• Madras Epigraphical Report for 1904-5, p. 48.
See the accompanying plate.
• E.. in the historical introductions of Virarājēndra I. the king is stated to have "despatched (the banner of the ferocious tiger into all directions" (8.-I. I, Vol. III, Part I, p. 37), see also, above, Vol. III, p. 125, note 3. Fine specimens of the Chola tiger are depicted on the seal of the large Leyden Grant, the Tiruvalangadu plates and the Madras Museum plates of Uttama-Chols (Ep. Ind., Vol. III, Plate facing p. 104). They are seen slao on the coins of Uttama-Chola and on the Chola pillar on the top of Mabēudragiri in the Ganjam district (No. 396 of the Madras Epigraphical collection for 1896).
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