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TEKKALI PLATES OF MAHARAJA UMAVARMAN; YEAR 9
299
The four seals are now reproduced here, for the first time, for comparison.
The characters of our inscription resemble those in the first two grants cited above, all of which are engraved in the southern script. In some cases, like m and y, the letters of the present grant show a rounded appearance ay compared with those of the Bihatpröshtha grant and the Dhavalapēta plates of Mahārāja Umavarman, in which they appear angular. In all these charters including the one under study, the characters bear remarkable affinity to one another especially in the marking of the serif which is deeply cut. On palaeographical grounds the script of the above two charters of Umavarman has been assigned to the first half of the fifth century A.C. Our record may also be placed in the same century on the same grounds. The Superintendent for Epigraphy, however, remarks about its script as compared with that of the Brihatproshthā grant as follows: "From the more angular aspect of the script adopted in this inscription and also the more archaic form of certain letters and its orthographical peculiarities, this may have to be assigned to an earlier period. The forms of subscripts for y and r adopted in this inscription, resemble those found in later Kushāna epigraphs. The doubling of the consonant before the répha also suggests an earlier model like the Nala inscriptions." It is difficult to agree with the line of argument adopted above, since it is not quite correct to compare these Kalinga grants which are in southern characters with the Kushāņa records which are in northern characters.
As regards the orthography of the Tekkali plates there is nothing particular to remark. There are very few errors of composition or those committed by the scribe. A consonant after r is duplicated. The doubling of the consonant before a rëpha is found in dharmma-kkrama (line 9) and vikkrama (line 9). Yuddhishthira for Yudhishthira (lines 14-15) is evidently a mistake. There is only one instance of the use of b for v (sambatsara, line 16). The phraseology of the grant is in many respects similar to that obtaining in the allied Kalinga grants cited above except for a few differences. Thus, the passage dharmma-kkrama-vikkramābhya(maih) dänam-anupālanan=chréti ēsha kha!u sa dharmmaḥ may be compared with the following one in the Bțihatproshthā and other grants; dharmma-kkrama-vikkramāņām-anyatama-yogād=avāpya mahim=anušāsatām pravrittakamidan=dānam sad-dharmmam-anupasyadbhiḥ, etc. Towards the end of the record and before the mention of the lekhaka there is an interesting endorsement to the effect that the charter was written by the king in his own hand and was as such capable of destroying sins. It runs, rājñā sva-hastalikhitan šāsanam pāpa-nāśanam. Here the word likhitam is perhaps to be understood in the sense that the king attested the original deed of gift himself since the inscription says that the king himself was the executor (svayam=ājñā). Mention is made of another person, Kēšavadēva of Pishțapura, who is also stated to have written it. The latter evidently was the person who actually wrote the inscription on the copper plates which was later engraved over.
The language of the inscription is Sanskrit. Except the three imprecatory verses, the rest of the composition is in prose.
The object of the charter is to record the gift of a village called Astihavēra or Havēra as a taxfree agrahāra to a Brāhmana Yasafarman of the Kāśyapa götra by Mahārāja Umavarman who describes himself as pitripādanudhyātah. The date of the grant is given in words as the seventh day of the dark fortnight of the month of Māgha in the ninth year (of the king's reign). The king himself was the äjñā, i.e., executor of the grant. The record is stated to have been written (likhitam) by the king himself. It is also recorded that Kēšavadēva, a resident of Pishta pura wrote (likhitam) the charter. As explained above, the king perhaps issued the original charter in his own hand and executed it, its copy having been reduced to writing on the copper plates by Košavadevi.
1 Above, Vol. XII, p. 4 and plate. 2 Ibid., Vol. XXVI, p. 133 and plate. : ARSIE, 1934-35, p. 52. * Seo below.p. 302, foot-uole 2.
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