Epigraphia Indica Vol 31

Author(s): Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 20

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
VOL. XXXI
1955-1956
No. 1-TWO SALANKAYANA CHARTERS FROM KANUKOLLU
(3 Plates)
B. V. KRISENA RAO, RAJAHMUNDRY Two sets of copper plates were found together at Kânukollu, Gudivāda Taluk, Krishna District (Andhra), about fifteen years ago, while digging the old village site for pățimannu, 'old earth'. The spot where the two sets were found lies outside the ramparts of the old mud fort which is almost in ruins to-day. The ruined ramparts and the situation of the ancient village plainly indicate that Känukollu was an important walled town in olden days and that it lay on the highway that connected & big emporium or sea port near the northern mouth of the Krishni on the one hand and the important provincial town of Gudivada on the other with Vengipura, the capital of the Salankäyana kingdom. Even today Kinukollu lies on the trunk road that connecta Gudivada with Bhimavaram in the West Godavari District. When the plates were discovered, people fondly believed them to be of precious metal and therefore quickly divided them as spoils among themselves. Actually the ring and the seal of the second set, marked here as B, were melted down for the purpose of testing the metal. It is indeed fortunate that none of the plates was destroyed or melted down. The writing on them attracted the attention and curiosity of the more enlightened amongst the villagers. And it was in no small measure duo to the intervention of the village Karanam, Mr. Vinnakota Durga Varaprasada Rao, that the oharters were saved from any further damage. The Karanam was good enough to secure these two sets for me in 1946 when I happened to visit the place. These were later forwarded by me to the Government Epigraphist for India, Ootacamund, who kindly got their mechanical impressions prepared in his office.
A.-Plates of Nandivarman (I), Year 143 This is the earlier of the two sets. It consists of eight plates held together by a ring, the ends of which were fastened together under an oval seal. The ring had already been eut open and the plates taken out for examination by somebody even before they reached me. The diameter of the ring is about 24 inches while its thickness is about inch. The seal is 17 inches in length and one inch in breadth. The legend and the crest on it are completely worn out on account of corrosion. But we know that the emblem on the Salankāyana seals is the bull.
1 I came to learn from the villagers that several gold and lead coins along with other valuable articles were picked up but that they were secreted, appropriated or destroyed. People say that even now onins are found here and there in the ruins of the village.
[Macron over e and has not been used in this article.-A.) . See Bharati, April, 1960, pp. 69 ff. and Plato; JAHR8, Vol. XX, yp. 87 ff. and Plate. . Soe Journal of the Telugu Academy, Vol. XI, pp. 118-127; JAHRA, Vol. V, p. 22.