________________
190
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. XII.
General Cunningham 1 and Colonel Yule pointed out that Moţupalli is mentioned by the Venetian traveller Marco Polo, who calls it Mutfli. "This was formerly under the rule of a king, and since his death, some forty years past, it has been under his queen." % By this king and his queen are meant Ganapati and his daughter (not queen) Rudrāmba. s Rai Bahadar Venkayya showed that the former reigned sixty-two years, from A. D. 1199-1200 to 1280-81, when he was succeeded by Rudramba.4 Marco Polo is supposed to have visited Sonth India about A.D. 1290; 6 as, however, he dietated his work to his fellow prisoner Rusticiano at Genon in A.D. 1298-99,6 his statement that about forty years had then passed after Rud. rāmba's accession to the throne turns out to be fairly correct. He mentions as chief produce of the country diamonds which are found both abundantly and of large size," and muslins which " look like tissue of spider's web."8 As he calls the whole Kakatiya kingdom after Mutfili, it seems that this town was its chief port in the thirteenth century. The fact that Ganapati selected Motupalli as the site of his edict to mariners points to the same conclusion,
TEXT..
A.-South Face. 1 औ० वस्ति श्रीखयंभूदेवाय न2 मः ॥ इच्छासिद्ध्ये हिमगिरिसुता- . 3 नंदथोरालवालं देवं लंबोद4. रकरिपतिं वंदनैदयामः । यस्य । क्रीडापरिणतिभुवो मेरुशृंगस्फुलिंगाम6 दश्यते दुरिततिमिरोत्सारणाकार्यसू. 7 Oः ॥ [१ *] तां विधाढचतुर्जिद्वारंगे8 कोद्योगनर्तकीं । वंदेमहि गिरं देवीं संवि9 दंबुधिचंद्रिकां ॥ [२ ॥*] जयति मुकुटगंगा[7. 10 गदंभस्तरंगनवनचतुरहंसीविधमा चं11 द्रलेखा । उपहरति दृशो- शर्वसद्धेश्व12 रत्वप्रकृतिनियतमुक्तापट्टबंधप्र
1 Ancient Geography of India, p. 542 f. · Yule, Marco Polo, 2nd ed., Vol. II, p. 346.
ct. Ind. Ant., Vol. XXI, p. 199, and a note by Mr. Prakash Rau of Cocanada, reprinted from the Hindu in the Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society (Bangalore), Vol. III, p. 132.
Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1905-06, p. 80 f. The inscriptions themselves prove that the doubts expressed by Miss Duff (Ind. Ant., Vol. XXII, p. 325 f.) are quite unjustified.
Yule, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 251. • Idem, Vol. I, Introduction, p. 50.
On the diamonds of South India see the articles of Mr. P. Sampat Iyengar and Mr. S. Krishnaswami Alvogar in the Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society, Vol. III, pp. 117-132.
8 The districts about Masulipatam were long famous both for muslins and for coloured chintzes. The fine mueline of Masalia are mentioned in the Periplus." Yule, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 349, note 3, and Hobson-Jobson, . 429. The Magania of the Periplus and the Macowala of Ptolemy have been identified with Maglipatan.
Tad. Ant. Vol. VIII, p. 149 f., and Mr. Schoff's travelation of the Periplu# (New York, 1919), p. 262. . From an Inked estampage supplied by Rao Sahib H. Krishna Sastri. 10 Expressed by a symbol.
11 Read "fadi.
