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No. 12) INDIAN MUSEUM PLATES OF GANGA DEVENDRAVARMAN : YEAR 398. 75
Besides the present one, three more records are known of the same Dēvēndravarman, namely (1) Bangalore Plates,() Chicacole Plates and (3) Tekkali Plates. The first of these, like the present one, has been issued from Kalinganagara, but it contains no date beyond mentioning an ayana-sankranti on which occasion the village Sidhatā of the Varāhavartani-vishaya is stated to have been granted to an individual "in order to provide for the worship and offerings to the god) Paramëkvara." The Chicacole grant, it is reported, "records the gift of the village Virin. tika in the Pushkariņi-vishaya to four brothers." It is undated, and it has been issued from Kalinganagara. The Tekkali Plates have been edited by Dr. Hultzsch. This record has likewise been issued from Kalinganagara and it is dated. The wording of the date is, however, doubtful. The editor has supposed it to be the year 310. This supposition now becomes most acceptable in the light of the present record, as has been pointed out above. The year refers itself to the Ganga era the initial date of which has been much discussed, but not yet been quite settled. Recently Mr. R. Subba Rao has outlined a history of the Gangas of Kalinga. According to his calculation, the Ganga years 308 and 310 would correspond respectively to A. D. 802 and A. D. 804, which may not be far wrong, if not exact. This date may, moreover, be borne out by the palaeographical evidence.
The name Dēvēndravarman has been borne by several Ganga kings. That of our record stands, in the genealogical order, as Dēvēndravarman IV.? That the self-same person figures as the grantor in all the four, dated and undated, records described above, is evident from two main considerations : firstly in all the instances he is mentioned as the son of Rājëndravarman, and secondly all the four charters have evidently been engraved by one and the same person. Moreover, except for the Bangalore grant which does not mention the composer's name, the re
1 Epigraphia Carnatica, Vol. IX, Bn 140, and Plates; see also the Introduction, p. 9 (text on p. 33 of the section called Text of the Inscriptions in Roman characters, and translation on pp. 26 f. of the section called Translations of the Inscriptions). It is stated that there is the figure of an elephant on the seal'. Possibly the figure of a bull has been mistaken here for that of an elephant. Moreover, the editor assigns the plates roughly to A.D. 700, of course without the knowledge of the dated records of this Dévendravarman.
1 An. Rep. on 8. I. Epigraphy, 1918-19, Appendix A, No. 7. These plates have been published first in Telugu by R. Subba Rao in the Rao Sahib G. V. Ramamurti Pantulu Garu Commemoration Volume, pp. 294 f. and later in English by C. Narayana Rao and R. Subba Rao jointly in the J. A. H. R. S., Vol. VIII, pp. 185 ff.
. Above, Vol. XVIII, pp. 311-313, and Plates.
• According to the editors, while the name of the village is Virinika, it was granted to Hētiloka, son of Vilachi" (J. A. H. R. 8., Vol. VIII, p. 193). It may be pointed out that the text given by the editors is obviously inac. carate in several places. Their account, therefore, may not entirely be depended upon. At the same time, it may be admitted that the writing on the plates is not very clear.
* The reading is data-maye dat-oltare. The first compound is suggested to be a clerical error for sata-traye; f. above, Vol. XVIII, p. 312, and A. R. on 8. I. E., 1923-24, pp. 97-98.
.J.A. H. R. 8., Vol. VI, pp. 196-97. See also A. R. on 8. I. E., 1931-32, p. 45, where the origin of the Eastern Ganga ers has been discussed, and almost the same conclusion has been reached.
* This is sooording to R. Subba Rao, whereas according to some other views, he is Dévëndravarman IIL 100 .9., R. D. Bagerji's History of Oriana, Vol. I, p. 234.
