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99
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
(VOL. XXXII ankura, Kāmarāga, Anugrasila, Kālakāla, Samaradhananjaya, Atiranachanda, Vidyāvinita, Lokāditya and Ugradanda.
It will be seen that, in spite of the bull emblem, the seal described above does not resemble those attached to the Sanskrit charters of the Early Pallava kings as they do not bear any legend." It is interesting to note that the seal of the Rēgūru grant of Narasith havarman II resembles in this respect the seals of the Early Pallavas of the Sanskrit charters, whereas the seal of the Kurram plates of Paramośvaravarian I, who was the father of the said king and issued the present charter as well, bears a legend. Still more interesting is the fact that the seal of the Kurram plates and that of the present charter, both issued by the same Pallava king, do not exhibit any close resemblance between them. The seal of the former grant has been described by Hultzsch in the following words: "The seal is about 21 inches in diameter and bears a bull which is seated on a pedestal, faces the left and is surmounted by the moon and a linga. Further up, there are a few much obliterated syllables. A legend of many letters passes round the whole seal. Unfortunately it is so much worn that I bave failed to decipher it."
The date of the record is quoted (lines 23-24) as Sunday, Pausha-su. 13 in the ninteenth regnal year of king Paramēśvaravarman I. In line 13, the Ayana or Uttarāyaṇa (i.e. the Makara-sankrānti) is mentioned as the occasion of the grant. The importance of the date will be discussed later on.
The characters belong to the Telugu-Kannada alphabet of the seventh century A.D. They generally resemble the characters employed in the Rēgūru grant, although some aksharas, e.g. nich, y, I, etc., have different forms, and on the whole the present record exhibits an earlier look. Of initial vowels, a occurs in lines 12, 15 and 17; ä in lines 13, 22 and 24 ; i in line 19; u in line 13; and in lines 17 and 23. The upadhmānīya has been employed many times in lines 4 (twice), 8 (twice), 9 (twice), 14, 15 and 18, while the jihvāmüliya only once in line 8.
The language of the inscription is Sanskrit. The major part of it is written in prose, although there are three stanzas in the Anushţubh metre in lines 19-23. Two of these are the usual imprecatory and benedictory verses. Tbe third stanza contains the name of the executor of the dooument and is also found in a modified form in the Rēyūru grant.
Among orthographical reculiarities, mention may be made of the general reduplication of many of the consonants following r. The rules of Sandhi, which are optional in prose composition, have not been observed in some cases. Cases of Sandhi in expressions like pāpat=śārirao in line 19 are interesting. The writing exhibits a general tendency to use the class nasal and, excepting a few cases (cf. samra[r*ljana in line 8, sambhūto in line 29), the anusvāra has been changed to class nasals in Sandhi. The final m at the end of a stanza has in one case (line 20) been wrongly changed to anusvāra. In another case (line 24,) it has been similarly changed before a vowel. Double nasal has been used in saṁncharantah in line 18.
Ip style, the record under discussion closely resembles that of the Sanskrit charters of the Early Pallava rulers. Among copper-plate charters of the Later Pallavas of Simhavishnu's line,
Cf. above, Vol. X, pp. 8-12 ; SII, Vol. I, pp. 13, 150 ; Sewell's List, p. 376. Hultzsch (SI1, Vol. I, p. 147) Becms to be wrong in taking Vidyāvinits to be the name of a relative of Paramēśvaravarman I. Some of these birudas aro also known to have been assumed by his grandfather Narasimhavarman I and son Narasimhavarman II. See SIT, Vol. I, p. 13; A.R.Ep., 1913, paragraphs 8-9; Sewell, loc. cit.
See above, Vol. XXIV, Plate facing p. 297. The Prakrit charters of the earlier Pallara ruler Sivuskandavarman (about the first quarter of the fourth century A.D.) have, however, seals bearing legend (cf. Select Inscrip.ions, pp. 433, note 3, 437).
SII, Vol. I, pp. 144 ff. Ibid., p. 144. See SII, Vol. XII, Plate VII.
Cf. the Chendalur grant of Kumāravishnu II (above, Vol. VIII, p. 233 ff.); Udayendiram 'plates of Nandivarman (ibid., Vol. III, p. 142): Omgodu grant of Skandavarman II (ibid., Vol. XV, p. 246); Uruvupalli grant of Vishnugopavarman (Ind. Ant., Vol. V. p. 60); Omgodu, Pikira, Mangalur and Vilavatti grants of Simhayumin (above, Vol XV, p. 240 ; Vol. VIII pp. 159 ff.; Ind. Ant., Vol. V, p. 184 ; above, Vol. XXIV, p. 301).
