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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. XIV.
(11. 17-20) He who revokes this will have committed the five deadly sins; he who protects will share the fruit (arising) from the religious merit (of the donation); as has been Baid: 'By many kings, Sagara and others, has the earth been enjoyed; he who at any time possesses it also gets the fruit. He who deprives (another of) land given by himself or by others will be tormented in hell for sixty thousand years, together with his forefathers. Let there be success!
(1. 21) A bow to (the gods) Hari, Hara, and Brahmi (Hiranyagarbha)! Hail to the subjects !
No. 12.-UDAYAMBAKAM GRANT OF KRISHNA-DEVA RAYA: SAKA 1450.
BY S. V. VENKATESWARA, M.A., AND S. V. VISWANATHA, M.A., KUMBAKONAM. The grant is on three copper-plates bored at the top and secured by a ring, attached to wbich is the seal, bearing the Vijayanagara emblem of a boar and the figures of the sun and the moon on the upper half, and on the lower balf some characters, probably corresponding to Sri Verikatesa, as suggested by Dr. Hultzsch' in regard to the seal attached to the Kaniyir plates of Venkata II. The plates, which are in good preservation, belong to the Sankaracharya of the Conjeeveram matha, who very kindly lent them for examination.
The plates measure 8 in. by 7 in., except in the middle, which is 104 in, by 7 in. on account of the arch at the top. The ring has a diameter of 1 in., and the seal of 2 in. The holes through which the ring passes have a circumference of 1 in. All the plates have raised rims. The writing is legible and runs right across the breadth of the plates, as usual. Ag in other Vijayanagara plates of the period, the first and third plates are inscribed only on one side, and the middle one on both sides. The plates are ruled. The inscription contains 99 lines in all, and the average height of a line is in.
The language of the inscription is Sanskrit, or Sanskritized Kanareve, as in the birudas of the king (11.25 to 29). The inscription is in verse, and the usual metres are employed, the Anushtabh, the Sārdüla-vikridita, Sragdhară, etc. Not only is the poetry of a low order, but the rules of metre are transgressed here and there; e.g. in verses 34 and 32 the halves Chandrafēkhara-Sarasvatyah fishyayāmitatējasē and fitoshnādi-dvandvaduhkhātītāya cha mahātmanē, which are out of accord with the Anushtubh, the metre of the verses. In many places where the metre is faulty, however, it is due to a mistake of the scribe, e.g. friyam iha likritya in verse 28, which should be read friyam iha bahalikritya. If in this case the scribe has left out letters in a word, elsewhere he has added superfluous ones, e.g. jaladhi in verse 21, prati and nuta in verse 22.
The characters are Nandināgari, except the signature, or rather the name of the tutelary deity at the bottom, which is written in Kanarese. There are several orthographical peouliarities. There are many instances of a redundant anusvara, especially before conjunct consonante, as in other Vijayanagara plates.-purnyath for punyaih (1. 7), annyān for anyān (1. 20), hirannya for hiranya (11. 36, 37). But we have also instances of redundant visarga in sirahs-chumbi (1.1) for firas-chumti, bhuvanah-stüyamāna for bhuvana-stūyamāna (1. 18). In conjunct consonants the former member is often omitted. This error is specially noticeable in connection with the consonants ta and da. Cf. mayādévao formayad dēvao (1.5); tasy. asitanayao for tasy-isit tanayao (1.6); udabhūtasmānarao for udabhūt tasman narao (1. 11); bhuja-balatan for bhuja-balat tam (1.16); tadhāma for taddhāma (1.4); chatu-simd for chatussima (1. 84); a.gajo-bhitar for a-gaj-odbhūtam (1.4); nisinh-endra tasmat for nsisimh-andrat
Ep. Report for 1891, p. 6. See Ep. Ind., Vol. III, pp. 236 f.
