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No. 40-PEDDABAMMIDI PLATES OF VAJRAHASTA III, SAKA 982
(2 Plates)
R. C. MAJUMDAR, NAGPUR
This set of four copper plates was found at Peddabammidi in the Narasannapet Taluk of the Srikakulam District, Andhra. They were forwarded by the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Guntur, to the Government Epigraphist for India. I edit the grant from a set of excellent estampages kindly supplied by the latter. The plates are now in the possession of the Andhra University, Waltair.
Each of the plates is 8" long and slightly less wide in the middle (3") than at the ends (3.2"). They are held by a circular ring with a diameter of 3-5". The seal soldered to the ring has on its surface the emblems of a bull, a conch, the moon, a goad, a fly-whisk, a flag and a tortoise. The plates and the ring with the seal weigh respectively 94 and 54 tolas. The outer side of the first plate has no writing. The inner side of the first plate and both sides of the second and third plates have eight lines of writing each. The fourth plate has seven lines of writing on the first side. The second side of this plate has traces of writing; but, though individual letters can be read here and there, no sense of this part can be made out; hence no attempt has been made to read it. There are thus altogether 47 lines of legible writing which are in a good state of preservation.
The alphabet belongs to the same type of the Gaudiya script as is used in the Nadagam, Madras Museum and Narasapatam plates and many other Eastern Ganga grants. are the forms of Ach and fichh. The sign for v has been used to indicate b.
Interesting
The language is Sanskrit and the legible portion of the inscription is written in prose with the same twelve verses in the introductory portion, which are found in several other copper-plate grants of the king who issued the charter. As a matter of fact, the whole of the introduction (lines 1-41) is a verbatim reproduction of that in the Nadagam and Madras Museum plates and varies very slightly from that in the Narasapatam plates.
With regard to orthography, we may note that the class nasal is used instead of anusvāra, although there are a few exceptions. Many of the consonants are doubled after r. T is sometimes doubled before r; but usually we have the form tra. There are many mistakes in the text of the document. Often one letter is put for another and the vowel signs are omitted or wrongly put. Sometimes letters and even words are omitted while the visarga sign is frequently omitted.
The grant was issued from a place, the name of which begins with ka and ends in nagara. The second letter is doubtful, and there is no room for a third letter before nagara. The name may be a mistake for Kalinganagara.
The grant was issued by Paramabhaṭṭāraka Mahārājādhirāja Vajrahasta (III), the overlord of the three Kalingas and a devout worshipper of Mahesvara, and records the grant of the village of Santarama (line 42) in favour of Pallaya, son of Dadōrēvāna and his wife Dalemava (lines 45 46). The village was situated in the district (vishaya) of Kōluvarttani, a name which also occurs in the Nadagam plates (line 57). The epithet sva-paurusha-paritoshita, applied to the donee,
[See below, p. 308, note 4.-Ed.].
Above Vol. IV, p. 183.
Ibid., Vol. IX, p. 94.
Ibid., Vol. XI, p. 147.
Of., for example, the plates published in JAHRS, Vol. VIII, pp. 163 f.
(305)
