________________
JUN, 1873.)
NÅGAMANGALA COPPER PLATE INSCRIPTION.
155
NAGAMANGALA COPPER PLATE INSCRIPTION.
BY LEWIS RICE, BANGALORE. THE inscription of which a translation is to them, in his literal translation of the Konge
1 given below was found in a temple at Desa Rájdkal, expressly says, "Throughout the Nagamangala, the chief town of a taluq document the word used is Congu.desa.ll" of the same name, and 30 miles north of To return to the grant. It confirms the Seringapatam. It is well engraved on six plates statement in the Merkara plates of an alliance of copper, about 10 inches by 5, held together between the second Madhava and the Kaby a thick metal ring bearing on the seal the damba king Krishna Varmma, the former figure of an elephant.
having married the latter's sister. There is not The grant which it records was made by A word about the adoption of a son by Vishnu Prithivi Kongaại Maharaja of Vi.Gopa, nor of the reign of a king named Dinjaya Skandâ vârâ in the 50th year of his dikaru Raya, both of which are mentioned reign, the year of SAlivahana 699 (A.D. 777), in the chronicle. From this period of the Meron the application of Prithivi Nirg. kara plates to the date of the present grant the ganda RAJA, for the support of a Jain list of kings agrees with that generally received, temple erected in the north of Śrîpura by his as far as Bhd Vikrama, whose reign began wife Kundavvi, a grand-daughter of the in A. D. 539. His successor appears from the Palla vådhiraja.
grant to have been Vilanda, having the title The inscription begins with an account of the of Raja Sri Vallabh & kh ya, which in Kongu or Chera kings, almost identical the chronicle is given as the title of the brother with that given in the Merkara plates* as far as under whose advice he acted in the government these date, namely, to A. D. 466. The varia- of the country, (younger brother and named Valtion is principally in the name of the first king, la vagi Raya according to Prof. Dowson, who is here called Kodgani Varmma elder brother and named Vala Vicya Raya Dharmma Mahadhirajá, while the sixth according to Mr. Taylor). In reality he was king is called Kogaại Mahadhiraja. king de jure as well as de facto. The younger The form Kongani occurs but once, in the brother, on the other hand, is here called Nava name of the king who made the grant. The Kama. If this be the next king, he must be different ways of spelling this name may be of the same as Raja Govinda Ra ya of the little importance, but are interesting in connec- chroniolo. We then have mention of a Ko. tion with yet another form which struck me at gani Maharaj & whose other name was the time I saw it as suggestive. This was on Simeshwara (?). This evidently points to a stone inscription in Coorg, containing a grant the Sivaga Ma ha rå yå of Dowson and by Satya Vå kys Kodgiņi Varmma Siva Rama Râyå of Taylor. His grandson, Dharmma Maharajadhirajá, whom I according to the chronicle, was a Prithivi take to be the third in succession after the Kongani Mahadhirkjå ruling in A. D. donor in the present instance, and ruling about 746. This is the name of the present donor, A.D. 840. If from the similarity in the names and by taking the intervening names of Bhima Kongu and Kongaņi we may infer that Kopa and Raja Kesari as mere epithets they were liable to the same changes, and that of this king, which is permissible, the grant and the former was sometimes written Kodgu, we the chronicle are brought into agreement. have a very near approach to Kodagu, the Prithivi Kongani must have began existing name of the country which Europeans to reign in A. S. 649 (A. D. 727). It is no have corrupted into Coorg. I am aware that small matter to obtain a fixed date for the comProfessors Wilsont and Dowsont give the name mencement of a reign, and also to learn that it as Kongs, but the Rev. W. Taylor replying was prolonged to the unusual term of 50 years• Ind. Ant. vol. I. p. 864.
Mad. Jour. Lit. and Sc. vol. xiv. pt. i.p.3; & conf. p. 45. t Mack. Coul. I. 196, and Ind. Ant. ut rup. p. 860..
As Dindikara Raya does not fall in the line of descent, Jour. R. 4. Soc. vol. VIII. p. 2. or Ind. Ant. uts, D. 861. it wm scarcely to be expected that his name should be Cat. Rais. Or. MSS.
