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No. 23.)
INDIAN MUSEUM PLATES OF GANGA INDRAVARMAN.
165
this statement is not in conflict with what had been said above; for Krishna's actual coronation asking 'must have occurred only after the death of Amõghavarsha sometime towards the end of A. D. 939, though he may have been anointed yuvarāja a few months earlier, and calculated the subsequent dates of his reign retrospectively from this initial date.
The two limits, namely, October 27, A.D. 938, and October 26, A. D. 939, between which the date of accession of Krishna III fell may therefore be accepted. They may, however, be narrowed down somewhat.
As Mr. N. Lakshminarayan Rao has shown above, Vol. XXI, p. 262, Krishna must have passed away a short time prior to February, A. D. 967, (i.e.) towards the end of A.D. 966 or in the beginning of A. D. 967. It may therefore be inferred that the accession of Krishna III was calculated from August or September A.D. 939, though his actual coronation as king' took place only in December of that year, that he reigned for 27 full years and a portion of the 28th year, and that his death may have occurred in about December, A. D. 966, or January A. D. 967.1
No. 23.-INDIAN MUSEUM PLATES OF GANGA INDRAVARMAN.
By C. C. Das GUPTA, M.A. This set of copper-plates was found in a village of the Badakhimedi estate in the Ganjam District of the Madras Presidency and was acquired, along with eight other similar sets, for the Archæological Section of the Indian Museum through Mr. S. Rajaguru, Municipal Councillor, Parlakimedi. Two of the nine sets belong to the Ganga king Indravarman', one of which has already been edited by Mr. P. N. Bhattacharyya of the Archæological Section of the Indian Museum. The other I edit here, with the kind permission of Mr. T. N. Ramachandran, Officiating Superintendent of the Archæological Section of the Indian Museum, Calcutta.
This set consists of three copper-plates, each measuring 7" x 3", strung together by means of & copper-ring at their one end which was held by a seal of 1}" diameter marked with the figure of a couchant bull. Altogether they weigh 89 tolas including the ring. The first plate is engraved on one side only, the second and third on both their sides. The inscription consists of 40 lines, each side of the plates containing 9 lines except the last which contains only 4
lines.
1 In a long footnote Mr. Altekar has tried to fix the period of Krishna's reign (Rashtrakūtas and their times, pp. 122, 123); but he has taken the Kilār record to be dated in the 30th year (instead of 20th, as revised). He has also equated the details of the Kolagallu record (No. 236 of 1913) to A. D. 988, February 17th, instead of A. D. 967, February 17th, as calculated in ante, Vol. XXI, p. 262. It may be noted that an inscription from the Mysore State (Ep. Carn., Vol. VIII, Holalkere 23) of the reign of Akälavarsha Prithivivallabhs is dated in Saks 891. Vibhava. The astronomical details therein do not work correctly for Vibhava. Further as Krishna is stated to have died at the time of the Kolagallu inscription (17th February, 967) the Holalkere record of a later dato for him is inexplicablo. There seems to be some mistake either in the actual year quoted in this document, or there must have been some jumbling of the southern and northern cycles of reckoning. Records of Khottiga dated in Saks 890, Prabhava, and Saka 890, Vibhava, are known (Ep. Carn., Vol. VIII, Sb. 531 and ibid., Vol. XI, Cd. 50).
An. Rep. A. 8. 1., 1935-36, p. 110, F. & G. Of the nine sets of copper-plates the other eight have already been edited. (Above, Vol. XXIII, pp. 73 ff., pp. 78 ff., pp. 141 ff., pp. 261 ff., and Vol. XXIV, pp. 120 ff.).
Above, Vol. XXIII, pp. 78 ff.
