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No. 2.) RAJAHMUNDRY MUSEUM PLATES OF TELUGU CHODA ANNADEVA.
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impression that these four plates do not belong to one single set but are odd plates of different grants which have been accidentally found together. They may belong to more than one set, probably three, if we take the view that the plate marked 1 belongs to one set, those marked 3 and 4 to another and the one with No. 7 to a third'.
However, this may not be the case and it is likely that they are all of one single set. Two factors are common to the plates. They are written in the same characters and style and contain the same variety of metres employed for the verses contained in them. The failure of the engraver to number the verses on the plates III and IV bas probably to be attributed to his negligence, a tendency wbich has manifested itself even on the first plate. In the first plate, the first seven verges are correctly numbered; but the eighth verse bears the number 21, and the ninth has no number at all. This clearly indicates that the engraver has already abandoned the practice of numbering the verses. That may account for the absence of numerical figures to indicate the number of verses on plates III and IV. The seventh plate does not, however, admit of this explanation. As stated above, the verses on this plate are numbered ; it opens with the 29th and closes with the 52nd verse. Why does the engraver revert again to the practice of numbering the verses, having abandoned it once before ? A more important point which has to be taken notice of in this connection is the incompatibility of the figures attached to the verses with the number of the plate. It may be stated here that all the plates in this collection, contain 14 lines of writing except the last which has 16 lines on each of its two faces. Now, the first plate which is inscribed on only one side contains 9 verses. Taking roughly this to be the number of verses on each face of the remaining five plates, viz., II, III, IV, V and VI, they should have contained 90 verses on the whole. This, togetber with the 9 verses on the first plate, would come to 99 verses ; and the seventh should bave begun with the 100th verse and not the 29th. We have to assume that either the engraver for some unknown reason reverted to the plan of numbering the verses commencing again a fresh series somewhere about the middle of the inscription; or the plate under consideration belongs to a different set altogether. Neither of these alternatives is entirely free from difficulties. On the one band, it is hard to believe that an engraver wbo had deliberately sbandoned the scheme of enumeration had developed a fresh interest in it; and on the other the incompatibility of the number of the plate (viz., 7) with the numbers of the verses therein (viz., 29 to 52), still remains unexplained, even though we take the plate as belonging to another set for the sake of argument.
In conclusion we may leave the matter open for decision later on when the missing plates happen to be discovered, and, for the present, treat all the plates as belonging to one set since this does not lead to any complications.
Contents: The nine verses in the first plate are devoted to the invocation of several gods of the Hindu pantheon. The first three verses contain the praises of Sarasvati; verse 4 is devoted to the Boar incarnation of Vishnu, verse 5 to Gaņēša, verse 6 to the Sun and the Moon, verse 7 to Durgā Mahishasura-mardini, verse 8 to Kshētrapāla, and verse 9 to Siva. The 36 unnumbered verses in plates III and IV describe the genealogy of the donor and the schievements of himself and his ancestors.
There was a king (his name is lost) who married Annemāmbă; and to them was born a king called Eruva Bhima. He married Prolambikā; and their son was Dama who married
1 In support of this view, it may be stated that the first plate which measures 11.75' by 4.8° differs in its dimensions from the rest, each of which measures 119' by 6-3'. These measurements are obtained from the imprensions in my possession m the original which is unfortunately lost is no longer available.
