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11
No. 1]
TWO GRANTS OF RAGHUDEVA the west of which there was an island and beyond it ran the bigger stream of the same river. Between these two streams of the Gautami, there was an antaripa and, from that place (adhvan) the northern bank of the Gautami formed a part of Raghu lēvapura.
The concluding section of the inscription in lines 135 ff. contains some of the usual imprecatory and benedictory stanzas. But they are preceded by two stanzas containing the prayer of Sri-Narendra (i.e. the illustrious ruler Raghudēva) to the future rulers and that of Sri-ViraChodēśvara of the solar race to the Brāhmaṇas, both for the protection of the grant stated in the verses to have been made by the Narendra or Chōdēśvara. This seems to suggest that Chõļēsvara was another name of Raghudēva, the donor of the grant. Whether this suggests that Raghudēva's mother was a Choda or Chola princess cannot be determined. The last verse of the inscription. states that the charter regarding Raghudēvapura was kathita by Aduviļa Nrisimha under orders from Raghudēva. The word kathita seems to have been used here in the sense of composed' or written'. It is found in a similar context also in some other records.
The geographical names mentioned in the inscription include : Kataka (Cuttack) the capital of the empire of Kapilēsvara, Rājamahendranagara (Rajahmundry) which was the headquarters of the province under the rule of Raghudēva, the gift village originally called Kriddēvy-uttarakhanda or Kriddēvi-khanda and re-named as Raghudēvapura, and the river Gõdā or Gödāvari or Gautami and its courses called Vșiddha Gautami and Laghu-Gautami on which the gift village Was situated. As already indicated above, the province of the Gajapati empire, which was under Raghudēva's rule, is stated to have been bounded by the Simhachala (Simhachalam in the Taluk and District of Visakhapatnam, Andhra) on one side and by what is called Giripraja (probably standing for Girivraja) on the other. This Giripraja or Girivraja was apparently situated towards the west or south-west of Rajahmundry and, as already suggested above, was probably the name applied to another province of the Gajapati empire, which had its headquarters at Kondavidu in the Guntur District.
The location of Raghudēvapura, the new name applied to the gift village formerly called Kriddēvi, has already been discussed above. In the description of its boundaries, mention is made of the Muggullu-märga, i.e. the road coming from or leading to Muggulļu which is still known to bo & village about a mile to the south of Raghudēvapuram and about 13 miles to the north west of Rajahmundry. I am unable to identify the few other places mentioned in this connection.
TEXT [Metres : Section I-verses 1-2, 6, 8-11, 16 Upajāti ; verse 3 Indravajrā ; verse 4 Hariņi; verses 5, 7, 31, 33 Anushtubh ; verses 12, 14, 25-27, 29-30 Sārdūlavikridita ; verses 13, 21-24, Malabhārini ; verae 15 Sragdharā ; verae 17 Vasantatilaka ; verse 18 Giti; Verses 19-20, 28 Prithvi; verse 32 Svāgata. Section II--verses 1-40 Anushtubh. Section III-verses 1-9, 11-14 Anushtubh ; verse 10 U pajati. Section IV-Verse 1 Sragdhara ; verse 2 Särdulavikridita ; verse 3 Salini ; verses 4-8 Anushţubh.]
Section i First Plate, First Side
1 Siddham. [l*] avighnam=astu. [l*] Siddham "[*] Pāyād=apāyāt-paramasya pumaloj
Lilāvarāhasya jaga2 mttisti) danishțrā | vata-prarõh-āgra-daļasya lakshmim yad-agra-lagna vasudhā babhāra | 11
1 Cf. the Chiruvroli grant (Bharati, November 1941, pp. 514 ff.), line 31. * From impressions. * The figure 1 is engraved in the left margin of the plate, near the beginning of line 8. • Expressed by a symbol which is precoded by a floral design. Expressed by symbol.
