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No. 43-PENTAPADU GRANT OF CHODA BHAKTIRAJA, SAKA 1265
(3 Plates) H. K. NARASIMHASWAMI, OOTACAMUND
(Received on 7.3.1958)
The set of plates was received for examination by the Government Epigraphist for India in the year 1946-47 from the late Mr. B. V. Krishna Rao, then Assistant Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Endowments Board, Madras. The set consists of 10 thick plates each measuring 5.25" X 9.5", except the last one which is slightly smaller than the rest. The plates have a round hole in the left margin for a ring to pass through, though the ring was missing when the plates were received for examination. Of the ten plates, the first eight are inscribed on both the sides. They are numbered consecutively on their reverse. The ninth and tenth plates are each inscribed on only one of their sides. The tenth plate, as will be seen below, contains a post-script to the document and is also slightly smaller than the rest of the plates. The ninth plate contains a human figure, standing astride, with its head formed by two heads of birds facing opposite directions. It holds two elephants by their trunks, one in each hand. An explanatory passage engraved on the left of this figure says that the donor Bhaktirāja enjoyed the title Gandabhērunda, thereby indicating that the figure depicted was that of the mythical bird Gandabhērunda. This bird is usually depicted as a double-headed eagle holding elephants in its beaks or claws. In inythology, however, two more fabulous creatures which are said to be the incarnations of Vishnu and Siva respectively, intervene between the elephant and the mythical eagle. They ure the lion, more powerful than the elephant, and the eight-legged Sarabha stronger even than the lion. Although the representation of the Gandabhērunda on our record does not conform to its traditional form, it is represented in the same shape in epigraphs like the Tripurāntakam (Kurnool District) inscription (Saka 1310) of Annadēva, the son and successor of Bhaktirāja, and the Vinukonda (Guntur District) inscription. (Saka 1377) of the time of the Sāgi chief Gannaina-nāyaka. The same emblem is embossed in relief on each of the four granite pillars of an imposing gõpura at Srirangam. Perhaps the plate bearing the emblem of the mythical hird served the purpose of the seal of the charter under review and was a later addition like the one bearing the post-script. The seal of the Madras Museum plates of Bhaktiraja depicts the same figure in a very crude form. An earlier charter showing an excellent representation of this figure on its seal is the Edavalli plates of the Köta chief Kēta III.
14. R. Ep., 1946-47, App. A, No. 3.
Mr. N. Lakshminarayan Rao has explained the significance of these mythological figures sculptured in a frieze depicting the chain of destruction in the Büchēkvara temple at Koramangala in Mysore and has cited examples of different kinds of representation of the Gandabhērunda in the Kannada and Telugu areas. See IHQ, Vol. XX, pp. 341 ff.
: A. R. Ep., No. 264 of 1905. • Ibid., No. 528 of 1913. Ibid., 1936-37, p. 77, para. 42. Journal of Oriental Research, Vol. V, pp. 128 ff.
Mr. T. N. Ramachandran describes the figure as that of a man. The two heads of the mythical bird are here depicted so indifferently that they give the appearance more of a grotesque human head or that of an owl rather than that of two birde. But a closer examination clears this illusion. It must be noted, however, that the elephant usually associated with this bird is absent in the crude motiff on the real rendering its identification somewhat diffioult. .A. R. Bp., 1916-16, App. A, No. 5; of. p. 138, para. 65.
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