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No. 20] NINGONDI GRANT OF PRABHANJANAVARMAN
113 In 1930, the Raja Saheb of Tekkali published a paper on the above inscription in the June issue of the now defunct journal Vaitarawi (Vol. IV, 1930) which was published from Cuttack by Messrs. L. N. Sahu and B. Singh Deo. Unfortunately the paper (without any facsimile of the inscription) failed to attract the attention of scholars, which it so highly deserved. In spite, therefore, of the fact that the record in question reveals very valuable informations regarding the ancient royal family of the Mātharas of Kalinga, writers (including myself) on the early history of Kalinga, who published the results of their study during the last two decades, had to work in absolute ignorance of its existence. My attention was recently drawn to the Raja Saheb's paper on the AdabāKännāyāvalasā plates in the Vaitarani, Vol. IV, June, 1930, pp. 293 ff., as well as to a few sets of impressions of the inscription lying in his possession. Unfortunately my attempts to trace the original plates were not crowned with success. Considering therefore the importance of the inscription as well as the fact that the Raja Saheb's paper on the subject is neither free from errors of reading and interpretation nor easily available to scholars, I am editing the record in the following pages from a set of impressions kindly supplied to me by the Raja Saheb, a few months before his sad demise in August 1953.
The three plates, on which the inscription in question is incised, measure 7.1 inches by 2.15 inches each. Their thickness and weight are not recorded. Apparently, however, the thickness was not very considerable. All the plates have a hole about the left margin for the seal-ring to pass through ; but, as said above, the ring with the seal was never traced. The first and third plates have writing only on the inner side, while the second plate is inscribed on both the sides. There are altogether sixteen lines of inscription, four lines on each one of the inscribed faces of the plates. The preservation of the first and third plates is not very satisfactory.
The characters employed in the record belong to the Southern Class of alphabets and may be assigned on palaeographical grounds to the fifth or sixth century A. D. They closely resemble those employed in other records of the same period coming from the ancient Kalinga region lying in the eastern coastal area of India, especially the inscriptions of the Matharas and the Pitçibhaktas. The language of the inscription under review is Sanskrit and, with the exception of three benedictory and imprecatory verses about the end of the charter, the entire record is written in prose. As in point of palaeography, so also in regard to language and orthography, our record resembles such other inscriptions indicated above as the Rāgõlu plates of Saktivarman and nothing calls for special mention. The date of the inscription under review is quoted in lines 15-16 as the twelfth tithi of the bright half of Kārttika without the usual reference to the regnal year of the issuer of the charter. The absence of the year seems to be due to the inadvertence of the scribe of the document or the engraver of the plates.
The charter begins with the word srsti and the reference to the victorious city of Simhapura whence it was issued. It then introduces the reigning monarch who was responsible for the issue of the grant as the illustrious Mahārāja Prabhañjanavarman. The king is described as the son of Saktivarman and grandson of Sankaravarman. Mahārāja Prabhañjanavarman was a devotee of Bhagavat-svami-Nārāyaṇa, i.e. the god Vishnu. He is also described as the increaser of the
1 See Suc. Sat., 1939, pp. 74 ff.; A New History of the Indian Peopie, Vol. VI, 1946, pp. 79 ff.; B. V. Krishna Rao, Early Dynasties of Indhraděsa, 1942, pp. 384 ff., etc.
After the preparation of this paper, I came to learn that the second of the three inscribed plates of the set, which contains only details regarding the grant, was received for examination by the Assistant Archaeological Superintendent for Epigraphy from the Collector of Ganjam and was registered as C. P. No. 1 of 1928-29 (see ARSIE. 1928-29, pp. 4, 65). One of the impressions of the said plate, prepared by that officer and now preserved in the office of the Government Epigraphist for India, has been utilised in illustrating my paper.
See above, Vols. IV. pp. 142 ff.; XII, pp. 1 ff.; XXIII, pp. 56 ff.; XXIV, pp. 47 ff., etc. For other references, see . New History of the Indian People. Vol. VI. pp. 76 f.
*Above, Vol. XII, pp. 1 ff.
