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No. 41. )
THREE COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE REDDIS.
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Ponukapāți Ramayya who discovered it buried underground at Pinapādu near Tenāli and has been registered as No. 8 of Appendix A in the Annual Report on South Indian Epigraphy for that year.
The portion of the inscription preserved on this plate is in Telugu characters and contains a description in Telugu of the gift village Pinapādu and five verses in Sanskrit. The first verse gays : "The donor is king Komaţi-Vēma, the recipient of the grant is the preceptor Sankara, the village granted is Pinapaļu, the composer is the poet Srinātha-Bhattāraka, the time of the grant is the occasion of the holy Sivaratri and the witness the great Srigiri. Why should not poets extol the gifts under these circumstances ?" The other four verses are imprecations. The inscription ends with the king's signature" Sri-Viranārāyapasya".
From the above verse it is apparent that king Komati-Vēma, the donee Sankara and the poet Srinātha were at Srisaila on the Sivaratri day. According to the Siva rätri-mähätmya of this roet, which is dedicated to a scholar named Santayya, a disciple of Banta-Bhikshăvritti, Brinātha once visited the sacred shrine of Srisaila during the Sivaratri festival and paid his respects to Sānta-Bhikshāvritti. While the poet was seated in the mukha-mandapa of the temple Banta-Bhikshāvsitti, the head of the Virasaiva matha on the hill asked him to write a Saiva poem and dedi. cate it to one of his disciples. This Santa-Bhikshāvsitti Appears to have been a patron of Telugu literature. The Telugu poet Gaurana dedicated his Navandtha-charita to this pontift. His successors seem to have been treated with great respect even by the Vijayanagara kings, Siddha-Bhikshāviftti, who was the donee of the Srisailam grant of the Vijayanagara emperor Virūpäksha, was one of the gurus of the Virasaiva matha on Srlparvata.
The descendants of the donee of the grant under publioation, viz., Sankara, are found even today in the village Pinapadu. Though they are Brähmans they officiate as Acharyas to several Saives who are not Brāhmana.
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TEXT. 1 Sri-Tripurāntakēkvara [*] 2 Svasti Sri [11] Vijay-äbhyudaya-Sālivähana-saka-varshambulu 1257agun
ēţi Yuva3 nama samvatsara Kärttika-buddha 12 Guru-vāsara manyadi mahapunya
kālamunan4 du Yaju[$*]-sakh-adhyāyan-Apastaba-sūtra-Kaundinya-gotr-odbhavalumnnu (lunnu)
Srimad-yajao n-adi-shatkarma-niratal-agu Kämēsvara-bhattarakuni-vāri pautfi(tru)lurnnu(lunnu)
Koņdu-bhattārakuni6 vări-putri(ru)lunn-agu Chittamūri Tirhmmana(Timmana)-bhattu-bastrulavärili svasti [le]
sakala-guna-gan-alamkära Chamchumala-chürakara Visva-visvarbhar-ábharana-vahana-daksha-dakshapa
(kshiņa)-bhuja-damdda 8 Jaganobba-gamda Iniya(anya)-mandalikara-ganda raya-chēkõlu-gamda raya
misara-gamda 9 arthi-pratyarthi-Hēmădri-dana-nirate prajā-paripälana-chatura harana-bharana rupa10 Nārāyana Vira-Nārāyana bhuja-bala-Bhima Kodanda-Riina Aparimite-bhū-dana
Parafu. 11 tima - anka-nagar-õpākamtha-pratishthăpita-bahu-vidh-drama sa tuggadi-rakaha-pt
laka jaga-ja
