Epigraphia Indica Vol 18

Author(s): H Krishna Shastri, Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 16

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
VOLUME XVIII
No. 1.-KONDANAGURU GRANT OF INDRAVARMAN.
BY PROFESSOR E. HULTZSCH, PH.D.; HALLE (SAALE).
Ink impressions of this inscription were sent to me by Rao Bahadur H. Krishna Sastri, along with the following description of the original plates:
"This set of five copper-plates was received from Pendyala Subrahmanya Sastri, National College, Masulipatam, through the President, District Board, Godavari, in June 1921. The plates are held together by a circular ring rivetted into the back of a circular seal, on the countersunk surface of which are cut, in relief, a crescent, the word śri-Tyagadhēnu, and an expanding lotus-flower of six petals. The plates bear writing on eight faces in all, the first and last plates having writing only on their inner sides, and have no raised rims. They measure about 7" in breadth, and a little less than 2' in height. The ring-hole is bored at a distance of about " from the left margin of the plates and measures about " in diameter. The ring has a diameter of about 4", and the seal is a little more than 2" in diameter. The plates, with the ring and seal, weigh 100 tolas. The ring was cut in this office."
The writing on the plates is on the whole in a state of very good preservation. The alphabet resembles that of other early Eastern Chalukya inscriptions. The secondary forms of i and i are not always clearly distinguished. The Jihvämaliya occurs in yake kaśchid (1.30). A final form of m is frequently used; one of t is found in pradat (1. 18) and vaset (1. 34), one of n in raja[r]shin (1. 26), and one of in -Bol (four times in 1. 28 f., and once in l. 37).
The language of the inscription is Sanskrit prose; but three verses of Veda-Vyasa are quoted in lines 31-35. The Telugu plural -Bol occurs four times in line 28 f., and once in line 37. Lingual is used also in Chalukyanam (1. 6), -yugalah (1. 16), and in the Telugu villagename Vellekki (1. 29). The Telugu r occurs in the two village-names Cheruparu (1. 20) and Irrala[r] (1. 22). The vowel ri after consonants is generally expressed by the syllable ri. After r, consonants (except sibilants) are doubled, and dh is doubled before y in maddhye (1. 21). In -vaksha-sthalasya (1. 9 f.) is elided before sth. In line 28 the group j is employed instead of jf in viñjapanaya and äñjäpti (for ajñapti). In line 21 the adjective niv[a]sin seems to be used in the sense of lying, situated.'
4
The inscription records the grant of the village of Kondanaguru to the Brahmana Chendisarman by the Mahārāja Indravarman, surnamed éri-Tyagadhēnu, i.e. the (celestial) cow in liberality,' who was a son of the Mahārāja Vishnuvardhana and a grandson of the Mahārāja Kirtivarman, and who belonged to the family of the Chalukyas. The donor's father, Vishnuvardhana, has to be identified with Vishnuvardhana I, the founder of the
[The inscription has been reviewed in the Epigraphical Report for 1922; App. A, No. 2, and p. 96.-Ed.] The same surname forms the legend on the seal of this grant which is reproduced on the back of Plate of the Niduparu grant of Jayasimha I, infra.