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No. 24.]
PENU KONDA PLATES OF MADHAVA II (III).
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No. 24.-PENUKONDA PLATES OF MADHAVA II (III).
By Lewis Rios, C.I.E. These plates are of special interest as being an admittedly genuine record of the early Ganga kings of Gangavādi, or Mysore. They were brought to notice by Rao Sahib H. Krishna Sāstri in his Epigraphical Report for 1913-4, and belong to a resident of Penukonda, or, more correctly, Penugonda, in the Anantapur District of Madras, which borders Mysore on the north-east. It was the seat of government of the Vijayanagar kings after the loss of their capital. The plates have been among the family records of a purðhit of Penugonda, named Adem-Bhatta, for a very long time, his ancestors being hereditary purðhits of the place. They were produced for examination by the Karnam Venkatarayappa of Kanchasamndram in the Hindupur tāluq.
There are three plates, of which the two outer ones are engraved on the inner sides only. Four faces are thus inscribed, each containing five lines. The whole inscription is in a good state of preservation. The characters are of an ornamental type and well formed, similar to those used in the best engraved Ganga grants, of which we have examples in Nos. 1, 18, 27, 28, 31 and others in the list below. The letters in the present case, measured by the single ones within the lines, are exactly in height. Except for the partial omission of one step in the pedigree, the engraver's work is remarkably free from errors. But in the word mati (1.4) the ma is formed like che ; and in the word dushkham (1. 18) an m has been put for sh [or for the fihva-mūliya.-Ed.], but these two letters closely resemble one another. According to Mr. Krishna Sastri -" The plates measure roughly 87' by 24, and are strong on an oval ring, whose major and minor axes are 25 and 27" respectively. The edges of the ring are secured at the bottom of a circular seal, 14' in diameter, which bears at its top, on & countersank surface, a standing elephant, facing the proper left, with its trank hanging down between its tasks. The ring was not out when the plates were placed in my hands. The plates, ring and seal weigh 83 tölas."
The record is in Sanskrit prose throughout, except for three of the usual imprecatory verses at the end. It contains the pedigree (to be noticed below) of four Ganga kings, from Konganivarman (the first of the line), here spelt Kookanivarman, which is a Tamil forin, to Madhava II, and announces & grant by the latter, to a Brahman named Kumāragárman, of 65 paddy fields, having & sowing capacity of 27 khandukas, below the big tank of Paruvi in the Paravi rishaya. The only date given is the full-moon day of the month Chaitra. The engraver was A pápa, son of the goldsmith Arya.
Paruvi is the modern Parigi, 7 miles north of Hindupur in the Anantapur District, still noted for its capacious tank. Parivi is mentioned in early inscriptions as the capital of the Bānas; and in the time of the Chola king Räjarāja I it was the chief place of the Parivai nadu in the Nuļambapāļi (i.. No!ambavăļi) district.
• Dr. Fleet's opinion of the plates was as follows:-"In the characters, language and orthography the record stands all the usual tests, and its execution is good throughout ... My conolusions about it are that we have here at last a genuine early Ganga reoord, and that on the paleographic evidence... A.D. 475 seems a very good date for it.”
1 The impressions were sent to me by Mr. Krishna śāstri, with a request that I should pablish the inscription in the Epigraphia Indica. But, finding that the Iste Dr. Fleet had slready made preparations for doing so, I left it to him. He issued a preliminary notice in the Journal of the Royal Asiatio Society for July 1916, bạt appears to have got a farther. Hence, by the courtesy of the Editor, I have undertaken the task.
• The Bendiganbal} plates have both forms.
More properly Madhava III, as the original Kongapivarman was also named Midhavs. But I retain II in order to be in conformity with the heading given to the facsimile.
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