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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XIV.
The inscription abounds in orthographical irregularities. Stops are often omitted at the end of a verse, though the half verses are always marked off by a single vertical stroke. The omissions have been marked and supplied in the text below. There are innumerable instances of confusion between the use of the long and the short i and . Noteworthy among these are mula-stambhaya for müla-stambhulya in line 2; navanitam for naranitam in line 9; Pururava for Purüravao in line 12; Tippajt for Tippajt in line 34; Sivarupine for Sivarūpina in line 72. These mistakes could hardly be due to the ignorance of the engraver, and are partly accounted for by the fact that both long and short vowels are represented by similar kinds of marks over or under letters. The letters ya, va, pa, ta and na assume forms which are capable of passing into one another. In a few instances the terminations for the Imperfect and the Pluperfect third person singular are left ont, e.g., vyatāni for vyatänit in line 33. As in other plates of the Vijayanagara dynasty, a conjunct consenant is expressed by combining the full form of the first with the secondary form of the second consonant; 0.g., rya. The confusion of consonants to be compounded is seen in line 41 (ahra for raha), 1. 77 (ura for rua), 1. 84 (mradhye for xmadhyā). The influence of the Dravidian languages in the prononciation of Sanskrit words is clear from irāja (for rāja) in 1. 55, yidamo (for idamo) in l. 80, Mallanāšari. and Viranāsäri (for Mallanáchärya and Viranehārya') in 11. 82, 83, and in Achchata (for Achyuta) in l. 85.
The inscription is very important, as the first copper-plate record that we have of Virs. Nrisimha of the second Vijayanagara dynasty. It makes the king the son of Narasa Avanipālaka by Tippāji. This Narasa, better known as Narasa-Nāyaka, is supposed to be the founder: of the Toluva dynasty. Bat the plates before us have the genealogy thus:--Timmy Bhüpati, Isvara KshitipAlaka, and Narasa Avanipālaka.
The titles seem to imply that the nearest ancestors of Narasa Nāyaka' were ruling kings and not merely local chieftains. The king Vira-Nộisimhēndra, alias Vira Sri Nārasimha, sabumes the titles Rajadhiraja, Vira-pratăpa, etc. It is interesting that Krishna-Rága is referred to as mahipati, while his brother was yet ruling. This circumstance lends weight to the view that the brothers were ever friendly, and that Krishna-Rāya Bucoeeded to the throne only after the demise of his elder brother Narasimha. Cf. T'asmin ganëna vibhyata kshitör indrë divania gatë tatopy avārya-virya-frih Krishna-raya-Mahipatih in the Udayam bakam grant of Krishnadova-Raya (Pl. II, Sido 1, 11. 8, 9). At the same time this passage enbanoes the credibility of the tradition ombedied in the Krishnarajavijayamu of Kamira-Dharjati, a Telugu poet who lived later in the same contory. He states that Krishna-Raja buc obeded his father directly. It is quite posible that Narasa left the throne to his sons, who were both apparently crowned in his lifetime.
The village granted is Kudiyantaņdal in the Chingleput district. The boundaries of the uillage are not clearly engraved on the grant. The village is situated in the Varakkātarn sima, Kállyar-koshtha, Kanchi thadu, Padavida räjya, in Jaya(mkonda)-Chola mandala. It. was bounded on the north by Kalakattāra, on the east by Suriţțiloru, on the south by Sittelep pakkam, and on the west by Kunantāgal.
The donee is Mahadeva Sarasvati, the disciple of Sadasivs Sarasvati, a teacher nodoubtedly belonging to the matha of Sankarãohārya. This point has to be made out here at some longth. Remarking on the plates. of Krishnadēva-Rāya. lent for examination by Mr. Venkateswara, the Epigraphist to the Madras Government states as follows:" . . . it. hooks suspicious why the name Sankarāchārya is not mentioned even incidentally in any one of the copper-plates under reference." (Enclosure to G. O. No. 1260-Pablio, dated 25th Angos: 1915, page 117) Nowhere in the same report he remarks on the grant of Vijaya-Gandagopala as foHuwe-*" Mr: Venkateswara Ayyar is editing in the Ep. Ind. an earlier copper--
As we find in other Vijayanagara cop per-platou.
