________________
162
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXIII.
sides. The first plate contains nine lines and the remaining three ten lines of writing on each side. Thus the inscription runs into sixty-nine lines in all. The writing on the plates is well preserved. The characters are Telugu and belong to the tenth century and to the later cursive type, except for the primary forms of vowels a, ā and i which still retain their earlier forms. The final n (lines 10, 20 and 28) and m (lines 11, 16, 21 and 31) have special signs but not the final
(lines 7 and 8), which is denoted by the ordinary sign for ta with the sign of virūma above it. The sign of the medial au is almost similar to one of the signs of the medial 7, so that it is somewhat difficult to distinguish between the two signs. The language is Sanskrit, except the passage in lines 48 to 51 which contain names of the localities which are in the Telugu language. Besides the usual benedictory verses at the end (lines 64-67), the inscription contains 19 verses, and the rest is in prose. The text in general is fairly free from clerical errors and doubtless incised with great care and neatness. In respect of orthography, it will be sufficient to note that the visarga before the labial surd is changed into upadhmānīya (line 59).
The inscription belongs to the Eastern Chalukya king Ammarāja II, who reigned from A.D. 945 to 970. It opens with an invocation to god Siva. The inscription consists of two parts. The first part deals with the usual Eastern Chalukya genealogy and the charity made by the king (lines 3 to 51). The second part (lines 51 to 65) is devoted to the description of the spiritual lineage of Vidyēsvara-Pandita and his pupil Prabhitarăsi (III) of the Kālamukha school of the Pasupata-Saivas founded by Lakuli. The genealogical account of the Eastern Chalukya kings found in this record corresponds to what is given in the Elavarru, Padamkalūru' and the Maliyapūņdi grants of the king. It contains no more historical information about the dynasty than what is known to us from the other charters of the king.
The record is not dated; but the scribe seems to have committed a very curious, perhaps a serious, mistake in giving the date of the king's coronation. He was apparently confused. He probably had the year of the grant in question in his mind in numerical words as nabhatasu-vasu, i.e. (Saka) 880, when he engraved the date of the coronation of king Amma II, which in numerical words is given in the other charters of the king as giri-rasa-rasu, meaning 867. There is reason to believe that the grant was made on the occasion of the Uttarāyana-saņkrānti (winter solstice) in the Saka Samvat 880. The expression of the purpose of the charity mentioned in line 44, namely," for the increase of long life, good health and prosperity of my kingdom, i.e., people", seems to give us the clue for our conjecture. The Māngallu plates of Amma II' inform us that the king after eleven years of his victorious reign proceeded to Kalinga in wrath against Krishna (Krishna-kopāt), and that at that time the kingdom " was protected by the king's elder brother Dānārņava, to the great joy of the people". Aimarāja's expedition into Kalinga seems to have been occasioned by a hostile coalition of kings led by the Rashtrakūta king Krishna III who wanted to uproot him (i.e., the reigning king Amma Il) and place his own protégé Budapa on the throne of the Andhra country. The turbulent kingdom of the Eastern Ganyas of Kalinga on the north-east might have readily joined Bädapa and his adly Krishna III
* Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, pp. 91 ff. ? Ibid., Vol. VII, pp. 15 ff. * Above, Vol. IX, pp. 47 ff.
• The expression asmad-dada-sanlaly-ayur-drogy-aifuaryy-abhivriddhy-arttham should literally mean for the increase of our country, progeny, life, health and prosperity'. Therefore, it does not soem to contain reference to any of the king's wars and does not afford any clue for fixing the date of the grant.-Ed.]
.C.P. No. 1 of 1016-17 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection. • ibul., text, line 23. *Abore, Vol. XIX, p. 140, and p. 142 text, lines 17-18.
