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298
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
7 [kra]varttiga[lu]m Ballalaraya-jivaraksha-pā
8 lakarum-appa śrimad-Bhaṭṭakalamka-jiyya-[de]
9
varu
ri-Pahcha-guru-charana-smara[peyimda]
10
11 Chatu-samgha-[samaksha]dalli sva
12 rggavanyai(n=ai)didaru [[*] I[m]
13 [t-i] śrī śrī śrī [||*]
[VOL. XXVIII
ABSTRACT OF CONTENTS
Be it well! On Kärttika suddha dasami of the Salivahana Saka year 1577 and Jaya, in the second ghaṭikā after sun-rise, the illustrious revered teacher Bhaṭṭakalamkadeva attained heaven, while he was absorbed in meditating upon the feet of the Five Teachers in the presence of the Four-fold Samgha."
No. 47-TEKKALI PLATES OF MAHARAJA UMAVARMAN; YEAR 9
(2 plates)
M. VENKATARAMAYYA, OOTACAMUND
This set of three copper plates was received for examination in 1934 by the Superintendent for Epigraphy, Mylapore, Madras, from the Deputy Tahsildar of Tekkali, Visakhapatnam District. It is registered as C. P. No. 13 of 1934-35 in the Annual Report on South Indian Epigraphy, 1931-5. The Superintendent for Epigraphy reports on page 52 of the said Report, on the charter as follows:
"The plates measure 63" by 23" and have a ring-hole of about 5" in diameter near the left margin, through which passes the ring measuring 3" in diameter. The ends of this ring are soldered into the back of an oval seal which bears a worn-out legend on its oval counter-sunk surface measuring about 11" by ". The ring had been cut when the plates were received by me. The first plate is engraved on the inner side only, while the other two plates have writing on both the sides, the second face of the third plate bearing only two lines of writing. The whole set including the ring and seal weigh 79 tolas and without these only 48 tolas. The plates are reported to belong to the Raja of Tekkali, who has published an inaccurate text of the inscription in the Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society, Vol. VI, p. 53. The Raja does not mention the place, or history, of the discovery of the plates, but only states that a Karnam of Tekkali had these in his possession when they came to his notice."
The seal of the plates is very much worn out; nevertheless traces of four letters, in a single line, are visible. Of these the last can be made out as kta. The Raja of Tekkali, however, reads the whole legend as pitribhaktaḥ which is not clear in the photograph. It is not improbable that the legend might have been as read by the Raja, since we have three other instances of a similar legend which occurs on the seals of the Kōmarti plates and the Bobbili plates of Chandavarman and on the Chicacole plates of Nandaprabhanjanavarman.
1 Lines 10-13 are inscribed in the top portion of the slab.
* The Four-fold Sangha might be the Nama Jina, Sthapana Jina, Dravya Jina and Bhavya Jina, defined in the Pravachana Säröddhara; Jaina Iconography by B. C. Bhattacharya, p. 17.
Above, Vol. IV, p. 143.
Ibid., Vol. XXVII, p. 39.
Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII, p. 48. Dr. Fleet, who edited this record, could not decipher the legend on the seal. This was, however, read by Dr. Hultzsch as Piltribhaktaḥ]; above, Vol. IV, p. 143.
