Epigraphia Indica Vol 34

Author(s): D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 42

No. 4-TWO INSCRIPTIONS FROM NAGARJUNIKONDA'
(1 Plate) D. C. SIRCAR AND K. G. KRISHNAN, OOTACAMUND
(Received on 23.2.1959) Recent excavations at Nägarjunikonda in Andhra Pradesh have brought to light several inscriptions belonging to the period when kings of the Ikshvāku family were ruling over the area. The two inscriptions edited here throw considerable light on the political and religious history of the period. They carry the genealogy of the Ikahvākus further by bringing to light two more members of the family and also reveal their religious persuasion.
1. Inscription of the time of Ehavala Chantamüla, Year 16 This epigraph is engraved on a four-faced pillar excavated from a site where originally it temple was standing. As known from the record under study, this temple belonged to the god Mahadeva or Siva called Pushpabhadrasvamin.
The inscription consists of 11 lines of writing and occupies a space measuring about 27" long and 21.5" wide. The lines of writing, except lines 1, 2 and 8, extend upto the right end of the fourth face of the pillar. The engraver appears to have taken care to see that words are not split up at the end of the line and this is the reason why the said three lines are shorter in length. The average height of a letter is inch excluding the elongated vowel-marks often added to the top or bottom. The engraving of the record is neat and the preservation of the writing satisfactory.
The characters are Brāhmi of the third or fourth century A.D. and are very much the same as found in the other records of the dynasty, which were discovered at the same place and have been edited in this journal. The following palaeographical peculiarities of the inscription may, however, be noticed. The difference between the letters da and da is not very considerable, while ku and ků are written in two ways. Ku is usually written by adding a small curved stroke at the right of the vertical of k about its middle (line 8) and kū by adding two such strokes (lines 4 and 8). But sometimes ku is written by curving the lower end of the vertical towards the right (line 8 and 10) and ka by adding a stroke to the right above the lower curve of ku (line 5). While generally the sign for anustära is placed on the top of the letter, in one case it has been placed to the right of a letter (Hee Chantamula in line 7). The last line seems to have been engraved by a different hand at a slightly later date.
The language of the inscription is Sanskrit. Expressions such as siddhan for siddkam and namo bhagavate Mahādevasya Pushpabhadrasvaminah in line 1, vājavëyao in line 3 and bhagavato (for bhagavatah) in line 10 betray Prakrit influence on the orthography and language. It is also interesting to note that the inscription makes no attempt to Sanskritise the Prakritic name Chantamūla. The word stambha has been spelt as stamba. The consonant tis reduplicated before r only in some cases, while j, n, t, etc., following r, have been reduplicated. The name of the king has been uniformly spelt as Ehavala though the spellings Ehuvula and Ehuvals are known from some other records. There are a few cases of wrong sandhi.
1 The present fashion is to spell the name as Nagarjunakonda instead of Nagarjunikonda. Macron over e and o has not been used in this article.
. See Indian Archaeology- A Revier, 1958-66, pp. 28 ff.; 1958-67. Pp. 38 ff.; 1957-58. Pp. 8 fr. * 4. R. Ep., 1967-68, No. B 4. Soe, .g., above, Vol. XX, pp. 1 ff. Soo above, Vol. XX, p. 24; Vol. XXI. p. 62.
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