________________
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXIII.
No. 10.--NARASINGAPALLI PLATES OF HABTIVARMAN; THE YEAR 79.
BY PROF. R. C. MAJUMDAR, M.A., Ph.D.. DACCA. This is a set of three copper-plates, measuring 6 inches in length and 24 inches in breadth. The outer face of the first plate has been left blank while the two other plates bear writing on both the sides. The writing is distinct and in good preservation. The plates are strung on a ring, the ends of which are soldered to the bottom of a circular seal showing indistinctly a couchant bull, facing right.
The plates were discovered in a field in the village of Narasingapalli, Chicacole täluk, Ganjam District, by one Suran Nayudu, while digging earth. He gave it to Mr. Byri Appalagwami Nayudu, from whom it was obtained by Mr. M. S. Barma and sold to the Madras Museum. The inscription has been published in the Telugu Journal Bharati, Vol. XI (September, 1934), pp. 461 ff., whieh is not accessible to me. I edit the inscription from an excellent ink-impression supplied by the Government Epigraphist for India.
The alphabet is of an early southern type and closely resembles that of the Urläm plates of the same king and the copper-plate grants of Indravarman II. This is only what could be expected, for Vinayachandra, who wrote the present plates, is also the writer of all the plates of the Kalinga kings Hąstivarman and Indravarman II, viz. (1) Urlām plates of Hastivarman;' (2) Achyutapuram plates of Indravarman II ;' (3) Santabommali plates of Indravarman II ; and (4) Parla-kimēdi plates of Indravarman II.
If we compare the alphabet of our grant with that of the Jirjingi grant of Indravarman 1, dated in the year 39, we find that the latter belongs to a distinctly earlier class, and indeed the difference appears to be far greater than would be warranted by the interval of 40 years between the two. Attention may be specially drawn to the forms of kh, g, h, n, bh, m, v and 6.
The final form of m occurs at the end of the inscription, while it is replaced by anusvāra in phala (1. 23), "nupālanan (1. 24), and dvādaśyāṁ (1. 27). The two numerical symbols 70 and 9 are used in the date (1. 27).
The language is Sanskrit, and with the exception of five verses, the inscription is written in prose. The influence of Prakrit may be traced in the form ekūnāfiti (1. 27). As regards orthography, anustāra is represented by guttural si in Rajasirihasya (1. 28) and sanghatzḥ (for sarhatah, 1. 29), while dental - is represented by anusvāra in gitāti (1. 21). Consonants are doubled after 1, with the exception of sh in varsha (L. 25), and dh is doubled before y in anuddhyāta (1. 8). Seperate signs are used for b and v.
The inscription records the grant of a piece of land for defraying the expenses of the worship of god Nārāyana and repairing his temples. The land included four nivēšanas (which means houses or probably sites for the same) and was situated in the village Röhanaki in the district of Varahavartani. Mahārāja Hastivarman of Kalinga, who makes the grant, belongs to the Ganga family. As noted above, this king is already known to us from the Urlām plates, dated in the year 80. The present grant is dated in the year 79, and is thus earlier of the two. Except
1 Above, Vol. XVII, p. 330. 1 Above, Vol. III, p. 128. • J. A. H. R. 8., Vol. IV, p. 21. • Ind. Ant., Vol. XVI, p. 134. .J. A. H. R. s., Vol. III, p. 49.
• The difference is, no doubt, partly the result of difference in the style of writing, but as the two records belong to the same locality, we may assume, with a tolerable degree of certainty, on the basis of the palmogrophio examination alone, that the Jirjingi grant is earlier than the present ono.
Above, Vol. XVII, p. 330.
