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No. 12–KONEKI GRANT OF VISHNUVARDHANA II
(2 Plates)
H. K. NARASIMHASWAMI, OOTACAMUND This copper-plate record' was secured by Mr. G. C. Chandra, ex-Superintendent, Archaeological Survey, Southern Circle, Madras, in the year 1940, when he was touring in the Guntur District. It was in the possession of the Tahsildar of the Palnad Taluk, to whom it was handed over by a farmer of Gurazala, who is said to have discovered it while ploughing a field. Mr. Chandra made over the set of plates to the late Rao Bahadur C. R. Krishnamacharlu, the then Superintendent for Epigraphy. I edit it below with the kind permission of the Government Epigraphist for India with whom the plates now lie.
The set consists of five plates, each measuring 8" by 2 with a hole ( 1 "in diameter) at their left margin, through which passes a circular copper ring, f" thick and about 3" in diameter. The ends of the ring are soldered into a mase of copper shaped into a circular seal about 14" across, which bears on its flattened surface the legend Sri-Vishamasiddhi in a single line embossed in bold characters over the figure of a lotus in relief. Above the legend is a crescent, also embossed in high relief. The seal is similar to that of the Niduparu plates except for the difference in the legend which in the latter reads Sri-Sarvvasiddhi. The plates together with the ring and seal weigh 110 tolas.
The characters belong to the Southern variety and may be assigned to a date about the end of the 7th century A. D. The inscription is neatly engraved and is fairly well preserved except for some portions damaged on the last plate. Of the individual letters, the vowels a, a, i, è and au occur, a in lines 4 and 6, a in line 45, i in lines 2 and 39 and è in line 33. The medial sign for short i is indicated by a circular loop attached to the top of the letter as in vi in vikramasya, and its length is denoted by a sharp inward curve of the loop on its left side as in śrī in line 2 and ki in kirtti in line 6. The aspirate ph is distinguished from p by a sharp inward bend of the right hand shaft of the letter, as in phala in lines 17 and 44 ; b is of the closed type throughout; the Dravidian occurs in lines 5 and 15 and r in lines 29 and 38. The final m is written in a diminutive and cursive form and is shaped like an inverted interrogation mark with its right arm stretched upwards, as in putrānām (line 3) and rajyanām (line 4). The rëpha is denoted by & short vertical shaft attached right over the letter as in audāryya and gūmbhiryya (lines 1 and 12); but when it occurs in conjunction with the sign for i which is denoted by a circle attached to the top of the letter, it is written in two ways, viz., with the circle enclosing the shaft as in otti in Korttivarmanah (line 6) and with the circle attached to the top of the shaft as in orddhi in visparddhita (line 15).
The language of the charter is Sanskrit composed in prose throughout except for the minatory verses at the end of the document. As regards orthography the consonant after the rēpha is generally doubled except where the rēpha occurs due to sandhi as in āyur=bala (lino 30). Minor errors in syntax (duly corrected in the body of the text itself) are met with in lines 22, 29, 33, etc.
1 C. P. No. 39 of 1940-41.
! I am indebted to my colleagues Messrs M. Venkataramayya and P. B. Desai for a number of useful suggestions they offered while I was preparing this article. Above, Vol. XVIII, p. 55.
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