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298
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XVI.
No. 23.-VELLANGUDI PLATES OF VENKATAPATI-DEVA-MAHARAYA I: SAKA
SAMVAT 1520. BY THE LATE T. A. GOPINATHA RAO, M.A., TRIVANDRAM. The inscription edited below is engraved on a set of seventeen oopper-plates. There have the shape common to all inscribed plates bearing the deeds of g rauts made by the kings of the Vijayanagara dynasty of the period to which this set belongs. In the curved upper part of each of these plates is a round hole through which the binding ring is meant to pass; to the proper left of this hole and on the first side of each plate is marked the number of the plate in Telugu-Kannada numerals. The rims are raised to protect the writing from damage. When the set came to me for examination, there was no ring. The first plate is engraved on the second side, and the last ono on its first side only. Plates 7,- 13 and 14 are lost; since these belong to that part of the document which enumerates the names of donees, the historically important portion of the record is intact. The preservation of the inscription is very good. From impressions taken under my supervision, as also from the originals, I now edit the inscription.
The alphabet of the record is Nandināgari; the sign-manual of the king, the word Sri-Verikatika, is in the Telugu alphabet. There is nothing peculiar in the orthography of the insoription demanding special comment. All the faults usual in the other documents of the Vijayanagara kings are also found in this; for example, the use of the anusudra for the varga-panchama, sa for ta, etc.
The graut belongs to the reign of the king Venkatapati-dova-Mahirkya. His genealogy is traced from the moon as follows :
Moon Budha Partravas
Āya Nahisha Yayati
Pura Bharata
Santana (Fourth descendant) Vijaya (Arjana)
Abhimanyu
Parikshit (Eighth descendant) Nanda
(Ninth descendant) Chaļikka (Soventh descendant) Räjanarèndra
(Tenth descendant) Bijjalendra (Third descendant) Vira-Hemmäli-Raya,
the Lord of Mayapuri
(Fourth descendant) Tāta-Pinnama [Noticed in paragraph 59 of Part II of the A. R. on Epigraphy (Madras) for 1912.-H. K. S.)
