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No. 29.)
HALDIPUR PLATES OF THE PALLAVA CHIEF GOPALADEVA.
No. 29-HALDIPUR PLATES OF THE PALLAVA CHIEF GOPALADEVA.
By N. LAKSHMINARAYAN RAO, M.A., OOTACAMUND. The existence of these plates was brought to the notice of Mr. K. N. Dikshit, M.A.. Officiating Government Epigraphist for India, by Mr. S. V. Haldipur, B.A., LL.B., M.B.E., Officer Supervisor, Judge Advocate General's Department, Army Headquarters, Simla. They were discovered Beveral years ago when digging in the garden belonging to Mr. Haldipur's family in Guddehittal at Haldipur, a village in the Honavar Taluka of the North Kanara District, Bombay Presidency. I now edit the inscription engraved on them from ink-impressions as well as the origiDals kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. K. N. Dikshit who obtained the plates on loan from the owner.
The plates which are in an excellent state of preservation are three in number, each measuring about 61" in length, 21" in breadth and " in thickness. The first and the third plates bear writing only on one side while the second is written on both the sides. Their rims are slightly raised in order to protect the writing from damage. They are strung together on an almost circular ring which has a diameter of about 21". The ends of the ring are soldered on to the back of the seal which is circular in shape, with a diameter of about 1". Together with the ring and the seal the plates weigh 96 tolas.
On the seal is shown in bold relief the figure of a rampant lion facing the proper right. The head of the animal is erect, its mouth open, the right forep&w raised and the tail twisted over its back. The Uruvapalli' grant of the Pallava king Vishņugõpavarman and the Pikira grant of Simhavarman of the same dynasty bear on their seals the figures of the same animal. In the monolithic shrine at Siyamangalam excavated by the Pallava king Mahēndravarman I and the Undavalli caves, also attributed to the Pallavas, we find representations of the lion. The figure in the Undavalli caves bears a striking resemblance to that found on the seal of the present grant. Thus the emblem of a Pallava chief on the present seal confirms the view expressed by the late Mr. V. Venkayya that " along with the recumbent bull usually associated with the emblem of the Pallavas, the lion was also the Pallava crest at some period of their history."
The characters of the inscription belong to the southern type which were in use in the Kanarese country during the eighth century A.D. The writing is beautifully executed and there are hardly any mistakes in engraving. The characters are round and upright unlike the longish and Blanting ones found in Early Chālukya grants. In general appearance the alphabet of our grant is certainly earlier than that of the Manne Plates? of the Rashtrakūta king Govinda III dated Saka 732, and the plates of the same king bearing the date Saka 7268. It closely resembles the characters of the Alupa inscriptions of Udiyāvara' in the South Kanara District which the late Dr. Hultzsch has assigned to about A.D. 800 and those of the Kovalavettu grantio of the Wostern
Above, Vol. XI, p. 338 and Ind. Ant., Vol. V, plate facing p. 50. * Above, Vol. VIII, p. 160. • 4. 8. R., 1906-07, p. 232, f. n. 6. • Longhurst: Pallava Architecture, Pt. I, p. 6.
. Dubreuil, The Pallavas, p. 33; the author is, however, of the opinion that the caves wero the work of the Vishnukundins.
• A. S. R., 1906-07, p. 232, f. n. 6; see also above, Vol. XI, p. 343.
Journal of the Mythic Society, Vol. XIV, plato facing p. 82. • Ind. Ant., VOL. XI, plato facing p. 126.
Above, Vol. IX, pp. 15 ff. and plates. 40 Mys. Arch. Report, 1927, plates facing Pp. 106 and 107.
