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No. 35.]
MALEPADU PLATES OF PUNYAKUMARA.
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or head-line. This stem of k is found to be in continuation of the right side of the letter r in the Edoru plates, whereas here the stem begins a little removed from the right top of r. The use of the Dravidian la (1. 9), ra (1. 20) and la (11. 8, 18 and 19) is also worth recording. As regards orthography it may be remarked that m and v coming after a répha are doubled (11. 5, 6, 7, 11, 16, 19, 21, 22 and 24), except in Pormukharāma (1. 12 f.). The consonants d and t are likewise doubled after r in ll. 17, 22 and 24, and before r in l. 23, the only exceptions being Purushasārdūla and Mardavachitta, in l. 13. The language of the inscription is Sanskrit prose. An invocatory verse at the beginning and two imprecatory verses at the end are, however, written in the Arya-Giti and Anushtubh metres, respectively.
After an invocation to Siva, the record introduces as to a king Nandivarman of the Kaśyapa-gotra. He was born in the family of Karikāla who was "the celestial) tree mandara on the mountain Mandaral - the race of the Sun, the doer of many eminent deeds such as stopping the overflow over its banks of the waters of the) danghter of Kavēra (i.e. the river Kāvēri), who made his own the dignity of the three kings of the South). Nandivarman had three sons, Simhavishņu, Sundarananda and Dhanamjayavarman. The youngest Dhananjayavarman, on whom devolved the sovereignty in regular succession, had a son " who acquired the title Chõla-Mahārāja, was well versed in grammar and other sciences and was the lord of the Pandya, Chola and Kēraļa (countries).” This was Mahēndravikrama. varman, “who was equal in prowess to (god) Mahendra and possessed many surnames such as the glorious Muditaśilākshara, Navarāma, etc." His son was king Guņamudita and the latter's brother was the prosperous king Punyakumāra. This Punyakumāra, otherwise known as Pörmukharāma, Purushaśārdüla, Mārdavachitta, Madanavilāsa, etc. thus ordered the inhabitants of his own dominion as well as those of Hiranya-rāshtra: "Be it known to you that we, in the current fifth year, of our increasing and victorious reign, on the full-moon day of the month of) Kārttika, have granted free from all molestations and taxes twice twenty-five (i.e. fifty) nivartanas of land measured) by the royal unit, in the southeast quarter of the village named Birapāru (situated) in Hiranya-rāshtra, on the southern bank of the river Suprayoga, to (a certain) Chiruvanahala-Këśavasarman of the Ātrēya-gotra, at the request of (the chief) Kottikuldarāja." The inscription ends with two imprecatorg verses (11. 23 to 27) and a short Sanskrit clause invoking felicity on cows and Brāhmaṇas (1. 27).
Of the foregoing kings, Karikāla who held sway over the three kingdoms of the south and stopped the overflow of freshes in the Cauvery, is identical with the quasi-historical Karikāla-Chöļa of Tamil literature, of whom many stories are related in the poems Puranānūru, Porunārārruppadai, Silappadigaram and Pattinappālai. Karikāla-Chola is claimed by the Chola kings of Tanjore to have been one of their famous ancestors, and to him is attributed the characteristic feat of constructing banks on either side of the river Cauvery and of renewing the town of Káñchi with gold.10 The exact time when this king flourished has not been properly made out. Inscriptions of a family of Telugu chiefs grouped by Mr. Venkayya under the name
1 I.e. an ornament to the family which was as high (noble) as the mountain Mandara. ? Literally one who delighted in stone script (i.6. in inscriptions).' : I.e. & new Rāma.
A Rama in front of battle. It may be noticed that the first component of this title, vis. por is a Dravidian word meaning battle and cannot according to strict rules of Grammar be compounded with non-Dravidian Sanskrit words.
S A tiger among men i.e. the best of men). . One whose heart is tender. 1 Amorous like (the god of) Love (Madana). 8 Mr. Kanakasabhai's Tamils, Ch. V. . Ind. Ant., Vol. XLI, pp. 144 to 149. 10 Madras Epigraphical Report for 1905-6, Part II, paragraph 16.
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