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No 26-CHIKKALAVALASA PLATES OF VAJRAHASTA III, SAKA 982
(2 Plates) D. C. STRCAR, OOTACAMUND
(Received on 16.9.1957) The copper-plate inscription under study was dug up more than three decades ago by a farmer of the village of Chikkalavalasa while tilling a field. The village lies between Urlām and Kambakāya in the Taluk and District of Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh. It is stated that the plates were found in a field near the border of the village of Kuddamu in the same neighbourhood. The inscription was secured from the farmer by Bhairi Appalaswami Naidu of Chikkälavalasa, who sent them to Pandit Somasekhara Sarma for study and publication. Pandit Sarma published the inscription in the Bhārati (Telugu), Vol. II, 1925, Part I, pp. 138 ff., with illustrations. The text of the epigraph was also quoted by R. Subba Rao in the Kalingadēgacharitramu (Telugu), Appendix, pp. 50 ff. The record was noticed in the Annual Report on South Indian Epigraphy, 1924-25, C.P. No. 5. I edit the inscription in the following pages from a set of excellent estampages preserved in the office of the Government Epigraphist for India, Ootacamund.
The set consists of five plates, the first of which is inscribed only on the inner side while the next three have writing on both the sides. The fifth plate bears no writing and was apparently used for the protection of the writing on the reverse of the fourth plate. The plates were strung on a ring bearing the Ganga seal with the bull and other emblems on its counter-sunk eurface. The charter together with its seal resembles other such records of the early Imperial Gangas, especially those of Vajrahasta III Anantavarman (1038-70 A.D.) to whom it belongs. The plates are rectangular in shape ; but their length is less in the sides (8.4 inches) than in the middle (8:7 inches) while their breadth is more in the sides (3.7 inches) than in the middle (3-3 inches).
The characters belong to the Gaudiya or East Indian alphabet and the language of the record is Sanskrit. As regards palaeography, orthography and style, the inscription closely resembles other copper-plate grants of Vajrahasta III, several of which have been published in this journal, some of them very recently. The introductory part of the charter in lines 1-41 is & copy of other such grants issued by the king. The major part of this section (i.e. lines 1-38) is also copied in the copper-plate records of Rājarāja I Devëndravarman (1070-78 A.D.), son and successor of Vajrahasta III, and we had occasion to discuss the section in our paper on the Galavalli plates (cf. lines 1-35) of the said monarch, which have been recently published in the pages of this journal. Remarks on the palaeography and orthography of the Galavalli plates also apply to the present record.
The date of the charter is quoted in lines 41-45 as the Saka year counted by the words kara (i.e. 2), tasu (i.e. 8) and nidhi (i.e. 9), i.e. 982. The tithi is stated to have been the third of the first fortnight of the month of Kārttika. The week-day is given apparently as Monday. The date reminds us of that of another charter of the same kiny, which was issued on Monday, the 7th of the first fortnight of Asbūdha in Saku 991. This date was equated with the 9th of
Soo abovo, Vol. XXXI, pp. 305 ff. and Plates: Vol. XXXII, pp. 308 f. and Plates. Cf. Vol. IV, pp. 189 ff. and Platcs : Vol. IX, pp. 96 ff. and Plates ; Vol. XI, pp. 149 ff. and Plates; Vol. XXIII, pp. 67 ff. and Plates.
1 Abovo, Vol. XXXI, pp. 191 ff. and Plates. Tbid., Vol. XXIII, p. 69.
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