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No. 38-SHIGGAON PLATES OF CHALUKYA VIJAYADITYA, SAKA 630
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(2 Plates)
G. S. GAI, OOTACAMUND These plates were discovered by me in December 1945 in the course of my official tour in search of inscriptions in the Shiggaon Taluk of the Dharwar District in the present Mysore State.
They were found in the house of one Dr. Faruqui at Shiggaon, the headquarters of the taluk. It was through the kind efforts of my friend Dr. K.G. Kulkarni, who was then Medical Officer at Shiggaon, that I was able to secure the plates. They are registered as No. A 49 in the Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy, 1945-46. The inscription on the plates is edited here for the first time.
The set consists of five copper-plates, each measuring 10.5 inches by 5.25 inches. To the letv margin of each plate is a hole 75 inch in diameter, through which passes the ring about 3.5 inches in diameter. The ends of the ring are secured by a seal, the countersunk surface of which bears the figure of a standing boar facing proper right. The seal is rather oval in shape and measures about 1.65 inches by 1.5 inches. The rims of the plates are slightly raised in order to preserve the writing. The first, fourth and fifth plates are incised on one side only while the second and third plates have writing on both sides. This is a rare case of two consecutive plates being engraved on one side only. Apparently this was done in order to prevent the writing being exposed, if the second side of the fourth plate had been used. In such caser, a blank plate is often used at the end. The plates, together with the ring and seal, weigh 329 tolas.
The characters belong to what is known as the southern class of alphabets and are regular for the period and the region to which the grant belongs. They resemble the characters of the other known grants of the king. In respect of orthography, the following may be observed; the sign for jihvāmüliya is used in line 48 and that for upadhmāniya in lines 16, 23, 25 and 27 ; nha is written for hna in chinha, lines 19 and 24; Ihā for hlā in pralha", line 36. Dravidian ? is found in lines 43 and 45 and I in line 31. Final m occurs in line 40. The language is Sanskrit and except the invocatory verge at the beginning and the benedictive and imprecatory verses at the end, the text of the record is in prose. Sandhi rules have not been observed in some cases. The construction known as sati saptami is used in passages like Vanavāsimāyātavati Vijayadityavallabhēndre (line 32).
The inscription belongs to the reign of Mahārajadhirāja Parametvara Bhaffäraka VijayadityaSatyasraya of the Western Chalukyas of Bādāmi. The text giving the genealogy of the family, from Pulakēbin I to Vijayāditya, is identical with that found in other records of the king as well as those of his successors. The plates are issued when the victorious camp was at Kisu volal. The object of the record is to register some grant made by the king when he had gone to Banaväsi in order to see the Alupa ruler Chitravāhana. The grant was made, at the request of Chitravāhana, to the Jaina monastery, which was caused to be constructed by Kumkumadēvi at Purigere.
The state of preservation of writing is not satisfactory in many places and the fourth plato has suffered much damage in the lower part so that lines 57-59 of the text cannot be read satisfactorily.
Cf. Above, Vol. X, pp. 14 ff. and plates; ibid., Vol. XXV, pp. 21 ff. and plates; of. also the Kendur plates of Kirtivarman II, abovo, Vol. IX, pp. 200 ff. and platos. . Cf. Abovo, Vol. X, pp. 14 f. ; ibid. Vol. XXV, pp. 21 ff. and ibid., Vol. IX, pp. 200 €.
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