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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. XXV.
by king Visvēsvara. As has been pointed out by the editor, there is a covert allusion to the date of a battle fought by Visvēsvara in the text of the inscription, in the verse quoted below :
Gati-bāhu-sakti-bhū-mitim-api ganayat-Sarvasidhdhi(ddhi)-patha-bhagnar sati Chitrabhānu-säkshiņi Dharanivarābād=adā(dha)vad=Andra(dhra)-balam ||
Dr. Nobel discloses the pun contained in the verse and brings to light the bistorical fact, namely, that king Vißvēsvara defeated the Andhra army, near Sarvasiddhi, in the cyclic year Chitrabhānu, represented by the Saka year gati (5), bāku (2), sakti (3), and bhū (1), i.e., 1325.
An exact Telugu rendering of the above verse is found in canto vii of the Telugu work Kāvyalankára-chüdāmani, without, in any way, spoiling the flesha. It is as follows:
Chatur-upāya-bahu-hakti-ksban-ávali bäravidichi Chitrabhanu sikshi
bäre Sarvasiddhi-padam-ēdi Dharanivarāhamunakun-odi Racha-kadupu || For the expressions gati and bhu in the Sanskrit verse the words chatur-upāya and kshamā were used respectively in Telugu. These are the only differences that could be found between the Sanskrit verse and the corresponding Telugu verse. The occurrence in Kävyälankára-chüdāmani, of a faithful rendering of the verse occurring in the inscription, leads us to surmise that the composer of the Panchadhārala inscription night be Vinnakota Peddana. He would not have incorporated in his work the exact Telugu version of the Sanskrit verse, if he were not the composer of the inscription as well. Hence, it may be concluded that the author of the Panchadharala inscription could be no other than Peddana, the court-poet of king Visvēsvara.
The editor of the inscription deserves great praise for discovering the real import of the verse waen many Telugu pandits and Sanskrit scholars who printed and edited the Kävyälankära-chudamani were not able to disclose this fact, just because their outlook was more literary than historical. When, however, the verse in the Kavyālarkāra-chūdāmani and the corresponding verse of the Pañchadhārala inscription are closely examined, we find that there is a small discrepancy in the date of the battle, arrived at by the editor of the inscription. He has taken gati to represent the numeral 'five'. But, that its value is four', is now ascertained by the Telugu verse, wherein the term chatur-upāya denoting the number four' was expressly used in the place of gati of the Sanskrit verse. Hence, the date given by Dr. Nobel should be corrected to Saka 1324.
Sankhyārthanāmaprakā fika written by the erudite scholar, Kanuparti Venkatarama SriVidyānandanátha, assigns the value four' to the term gati and enumerates four gatis, namely Déva-gati, Manushya-gati, Jantu-gati and Naraka-gati.
The value given to gati even in epigraphical literature is four as is evidenced by an inscription from Simhachalam, Vizagapatam District. The date of this inscription is given in the Telugu portion as Saka-varshambulu 1294 and in the Sanskrit portion as Sakābdē gati-randhra-Bhanugenitë' etc. Another inscription in Telugu from Yenamadala (Guntur District) which gives the date in chronogram guna-bāna-gati-chandra' in verse and in figures in prose, equates gati with four. Thus, we find that gati represents four.
The existence in the Kāvvälarkarachudamani of the Telugu version of the verse mentioned above proves, beyond doubt, that this work had been composed after Saka 1324, the date of the battle referred to therein.
1.8. 1. I., Vol. VI, No. 74%. *8.1 1., Vol. IV, No. 930.
