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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XIX.
No. 17.-RITHAPUR PLATES OF BHAVATTAVARMMAN. By Y. R. GUPTE, B.A., M.R.A.S.
These copper-plates were discovered at Rithapur (Riddhapur of the Mahanubhavas) in the Morsi taluka of the Amaravati (Amraoti) district of the Central Provinces, along with a set of copper-plates of the Vākāṭaka queen Prabhavatigupta, and were lent to the Bharata-Itihasasamsödhaka-Mandala of Poona by Mahanta Dattaraja. The Secretaries of this Mandala handed them over to me for decipherment, and with their kind permission I edit the interesting record incised on them, in this Journal.
The grant is engraved on three copper-plates, which measure 7" long, 3 to 318" broad and thick and weigh 87% tolas. The first plate has no writing on its outer side; the second and the third plates are engraved on both the sides. The letters are well-cut and well preserved, except a few on the back side of the third plate. Their average size is 1" to 1". There is no seal attached to the plates though holes, 1" in diameter, apparently meant for the ring, are to be seen on the proper right margin of each plate.
The alphabet is of the box-headed type which was current in the Central Provinces about the 5th century A.D. The peculiarities are:-(1) the contraction of the breadth of letters, and (2) the conversion of the curves, seen in older forms, into rectangular strokes. Though the box-headed type of the alphabet used here is decidedly Southern, yet the influence of the Northern script is clear enough. The most marked Southern characteristics in the present record are: (1) The retention of the ancient forms of pa, sha, and sa open at the top, of the old ma and the semi-tripartite ya; Cf. °nripa-vamsa- 1. 2, vishayöehitaḥ 1. 11 and sadasa1. 16. (2) The right hand stroke of la is longer than the left; Cf. lobhat- 1. 14. (3) The rightangled ornamental strokes to the left of the verticals of a, a, ka, na, ra, of the subscript ra, and of the medial u and u, which are evidently developed out of the curves. (4) The da with two right angles, evidently an adaptation of the da with the round back; Ct. pindaraka. 1. 19. (5) The medial ri with a curled curve to the right; Cf. "nripa 1. 2. (6) The form of na; Cf. hirany-adayah L. 11. The influence of the Northern script is observable in the following cases (1) Ga and sa with bends at the left downward strokes; Cf. giri-grāmē 1. 3 and sadasa- 1. 16. There are two forms of the letters ga and a in this inscription, of which one is with a hook and the other has no hook, (2) Na with a loop and ta without a loop; Cf. Nandivarddhanat 1. 1 and anugrihitena 1. 24. (3) The occasional peculiar mātrās above the line, though the horizontal and the middle mātrās are most common as in the Southern script; Cf. äsmäkam- 1. 6 and samvai(e)dye 1. 5. The raised marks for the long & are seen in the Southern alphabet also. (4) The turn of the medial i to the left; Cf. °nivarttanikah 1. 16. There are alsc some examples of the medial turning to the left."
The epigraphical peculiarities of the present record are:-(1) The loop on the left side of ya is complete in some cases while not so in others, thus shewing the transition from the tripartite form to the bipartite one: Cf. yo in Yamunayos 1. 5, ya in Mäträdhyāryyāya 1.7, and yā in -tārikaya 1. 12. (2) The tha with a peculiar transitional ringlet at the base as in the
1 For a brief notice of the record see the Quarterly Journal of the Bhar. Itih. Sam. Mandala, Vol. IV, pp. 115-116. Vide ibid., Vol. III, Nos. II-IV, pp. 89-90; Ind. Ank, 1924, p. 48, J. R. A. 8., 1924, pp. 94-96 and J. B. A. S., pp. 53-62.
See Bühler's Ind. Pal,, Tafel VII, col. XIV. bid., col. X.
