________________
No. 41.]
THREE COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE REDDIS.
in the title Appaya-Gopaya-disapatta of Vēma seem to be identical with the Hoysala generals of the Tiruvĕndipuram inscription.
269
The exploits referred to in the titles of Vêma must have been achieved by him or by his ancestors while they were the subordinates of the Kakatiyas. During the days of the decline of the Cholas all the neighbouring powers attempted to capture as much of the territory as possible. The Pallava general Köpperuñjinga who endeavoured to establish for a time an independent kingdom extended his conquests over the territories of the Chōlas of Nellore and other chieftains as far north as Draksharama where an inscription of his is found. The Cholas of the Nellore District who had the titles Madhurantaka-Potappi-Chōla and Gandagopala extended their kingdom to the south and, for a time, occupied Kanchipuram and Tonḍaimandalam. Against these Sundara-Pandya led an expedition from the South and celebrated the anointment of heroes at Vikramasimhapuram (Nellore). The Kakatiya sovereign Ganapati led an expedition first in aid of one of the Telugu Chōla chiefs of Nellore and later on to Conjeevaram, where his inscriptions are found. After Ganapati his daughter Rudramba and later her grandson Prataparudra continued the campaign on Conjeevaram. The triumph claimed in these birudas over the Pandya king and the Hoysala generals Appaya and Gopaya should also have been won during this period of constant warfare. Similarly, the victories over Kalingaraya, Oddiyaraya, the Janturnățaraya as well as the reduction of the fort of Rächüru should have been achieved in the wars of the Kakatiyas against the surrounding countries.
The inscription also says that Vêma founded many agraharas on the banks of the rivers Brahmakundi (the Gundlakamma), the Krishņavēņi, i.e., Krishna, the Godavari and the Mahanadi, and laid out gardens in the vicinity of various towns. We are further informed that he gave food in charity houses (satt ras) in many holy places and built steps to the famous shrines of Sriparvata and Ahöbala. Vema is called in this inscription the lord of the Eastern Sea, the establisher of the sole sovereign (eka-raya-sthäpän-dcharya) and the only ornament to the throne (eka-simhasan-ālaṁkāra).
B
PACHCHANI-TANDIPARRU GRANT OF ANNA-VEMA.
Next in chronological order comes the Pachchani-Tapḍiparru grant of Anna-Vema. It is registered as copper-plate No. 6 of Appendix A to the Annual Report on South Indian Epigraphy for the year 1919-20. The set of plates on which the grant is engraved was borrowed from M. R. Ry. Devi Hanumacharlu of Koditaḍiparru, in the Tenali Taluk of the Guntur District, in the year 1919.
This grant is written on five oblong copper-plates which have slightly raised rims but no ring or seal attached to them, though holes for passing a ring are to be seen in them. The plates measure 93" in length and a little over 4" in breadth and weigh 88 tolas. The inscription is written in Telugu script and Sanskrit language. The portion giving the boundaries of the village (11, 47-72) is, however, in the Telugu language. Plates iib, iiib, ivb, and vb are marked with the numerical symbols 2, 3, 4 and 5. As to the palaeography of this grant only one feature may be noticed specially: The letters of this grant as well as of the following one (C) appear more archaic than those of A although the latter professes to be much earlier than either B or C.
The donor of the grant is Anna-Voma who is here called the son of Prölaya-Vēma, i.e., Vama of the previous grant. The record opens with an invocation to the boar incarnation of Vishnu. The second verse is devoted to the praise of the Sun and Moon, The next verse says that a caste was born from the lotus feet of Vishnu which evidently means the Sudra caste
