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No. 30-VILASA GRANT OF PROLAYA-NAYAKA
(1 Plate)
N. VENKATARAMANAYYA AND M. SOMASEKHARA SARMA, MADRAS
This grant was originally discovered long ago, nearly a century back, in the village of Kandarāda, near Pithapuram in the East Godavari District, by Sri Hundi Venkata Rao Pantulu Garu. He and his partner in business, a Vaisya whose name is said to have been forgotten, heard a metallic sound one morning while digging the earth for a brick-kiln of joint enterprise, when they further dug deep having been curious to know the cause of that sound. Then they found fourteen copper plates attached to a ring. Since it was a joint enterprise Sri Venkata Rao and his Vaisya partner both divided this new property equally between themselves, and got seven plates each. The ring also went to the share of the Vaisya partner who had copper vessesls made out of the plates and the ring. The plates which went to the share of Sri Venkata Rao were preserved in his family with superstitious care as a unique treasure. Two generations after, their existence was revealed to Sri Sabnavis Satya kesava Rao Pantulu Garu, a public worker and scholar of repute, who was connected with that family by marital ties, and who, being educated in English, knew the value of copper-plate grants in general to history. Much interested in history, he made the discovery public, and was curious to know the contents of the plates. Some two decades back, when Sri M, Somasekhara Sarma, one of the editors of the grant under study, had gone to Visakhapatnam, Sri Hundi Venkata Rao Pantulu, the owner of the plates and the great grandson of their original discoverer, was good enough to place them in the hands of Sri Sarma for decipherment and publication. Sri Somasekhura Sarma takes this opportunity to convey bis grateful thanks to all those concerned for placing this record in his hands. The inscription is very valuable specially for the history of the Andhrag, and throws a flood of light on the political conditions of the Andhra country subsequent to the fall of Warangal in 1323 A. D. The plates are now preserved in the Government Museum, Madras. It is fortunate that the seven plates that went to the share of Sri Venkata Rao Pantulu Garu, record a grant complete in itself, as the other seven plates probably do another one, and that these plates of one grant had not got mixed up with those of the other.
When these plates were with Sri Somasekhara Sarma they were sent to the Assistant Superintendent for Epigraphy for being reviewed in his Annual Report. This set is marked as No. 5 of Appendix A in the Report for 1938-39 and finds a comprehensive notice in Part II. The inscription on the plates is now edited with the help of a set of excellent inked impressions, kindly placed at the disposal of the editors by Sri N. Lakshminarayan Rao, retired Government Epigraphist for India.
The following is an extract from the description of the plates given in the Annual Report :
"This is a set of seven thick copper-plates the first and last of which are slightly bigger than the others measuring about 101" long by 4" broad, while the others (plates 2 to 5) measure about 91" by 43". Their writing, which is engraved on the inner side of the lat plate and on both sides of the other six, is well preserved and protected by broad and raised rims covering their
i The following friends, the late lamented patriot and scholar, Sri Marepalli Ramachandra Kavi Garu, Prosident of the Kavita Samiti, Visakhapatnam, Sri Gobburi Venkatananda Raghava Rao" Pantolu Garu, whose researches in Hindu astronomical lore are very widely known throughout the Andhra country and the young poet and enthusiast, Sri Puripanda Appalaswami Garu, Secretary of the above mentioned Samiti, all of whom were interested in having this charter published, deserve mention in this connection. See Bharah, Vol. XIX, pp. 307 ff.
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