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196
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XVII.
Southern Circle, through the kind offices of the Tahsildar of the taluka, by the then Kanarese Epigraphical Student, Mr. K. Rama Sastri. Regarding the description of the plates Mr. Krishna Sastri has made the following note on the cover of the ink-impressions he sent to me:
"Three plates with rounded tops of which the first and last are written on the inner sides only. They are held together by a ring which passes through a round hole bored at the top of each plate. On the ring, which is nearly 24' in diameter and in thickness, slides a circular seal shaped like a signet ring. The seal measures 14" in diameter and bears in relief on its surface at the top the sun and the crescent and a standing boar facing the proper left. Below it is what looks like a floral device. The plates measure 4 by 6". The circular top measures 11' from the base to the middle of the aro."
The plates are written in the Nandi-Nagari characters throughout excepting the syllables "Sri-Virapaksha" at the end which are in Kannada. The inscription is in a good state of preservation: the only places where the letters appear slightly damaged are at the commencement of lines 20 and 68.
The language of the inscription is Sanskrit verse from beginning to end. The description of the boundaries in dēšabhasha, promised by verse 46 (11, 71, 72), is left blank for reasons which cannot be guessed at this distance of time.
As is usual in the copper-plate grants of Vijayanagara kings, this record contains evident mistakes of spelling such as the frequent substitution of sa for sa (II. 1, 4) and vice versd (11. 1, 3); tha for ta (11.5, 16); dha for tha (1. 43); omission of visarga (11. 5, 8, 13) and its retention in places where it has been changed into (1.42); unnecessary insertion of anusuara (II. 37 and 38), etc. Conjunct consonants are sometimes written side by side as in (1.2), T TT (1. 37) and aa: (1. 33). In fe (1. 45) and 479 (1. 12) the rules of sandhi have not been properly observed. has been unnecessarily doubled in fuafacand visarga has been changed into double in Torado (1. 27). Other instances of mistakes are ate for (1. 45), for (i. 13) and a forge (1. 17). As all the mistakes occurring in the record have been corrested in the text or in the foot notes, they have not been given here in more detail.
The first three verses are invocations addressed to Siva, Ganapati and the boar incarnation of Vishnu. The fourth introduces the Moon, and the fifth refers to Yadu and Väsudova. The historical portion commences with Singama (v. 6). His son was Bukka. When he became king, the prosperity of the Karnata kingdom was permanently established (vv. 7 and 8). Harthara (O) was born to him; he filled the quarters with the wealth of his charity (v. 9). He had & son named Pratapa-Dēvarāya (I) by whom the Turushkas and hostile kings were overcome (vv. 12 and 13). His queen was Dómimbika and their son was Vijayabhtipati, renowned for his wisdom (v. 14). Vijayabhi pati's son by Narayanidēvi was Pratap, also called Praudhapratapa (v. 15), who obtained from his elder brother the kingdom of Ghanidri (v. 16). His son by queen Siddaladēvi was Virttpåksha. The titles Rajadhiraja (v. 18), Rajaparamësvara (1. 42), Mürurdyaraganda, Parardya-bhayaskara and Hindurāya-Suratrāna and Chhurikabhalanētra (v. 20) are given him. It is said that he obtained the kingdom by his own prowess and ascended the ancestral throne on the bank of the Tangabhadra, in the presence of god Virupaksha (vv. 21 and 22).
In speaking of the ancestors of Virdpåksha, our record refers to the valour of Bukka I, the manificence of Harihara II, the prowess of Devaraya I and the wisdom of Vijayabhupati. The mano is pithily expressed in a single couplet elsewhere thus :
m tirat a fixtu: 1 घौर्य बोदेवराजेयो जानं विजयभपतिः ॥
1 Smutf-Ind. Inser., Vol. I, p. 183, verse 16.
