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APRIL, 1883.] SANSKRIT AND OLD-CANARESE INSCRIPTIONS.
SANSKRIT AND OLD-CANARESE INSCRIPTIONS. BY J. F. FLEET, BO. C.S., M.R.A.S. (Continued from Vol. XI. p. 163.)
No. CXXVI.
THIS THIS inscription is edited from the original plates, which belong to 'Mallampati Mangayya' of 'Yelivarru,' in the 'Repalli' Tâlukâ of the Guntur District, and were obtained for my inspection by Dr. Burgess. The owner of the plates states that in 1864 he was building a new house, and, as he was bringing earth, the bullock put its foot into a hole in the path. On digging, he found a large jar, with a rusty iron covering. Across the jar was an iron bar, from which hung the copper-plates. 'Yelivarru,' the Elavarra of the grant, is a small village between 'Inturu' and 'Amarta luru',-the Inthûri and Amutunuri of the grant. It is thus not far from Tsandavole,' where, a few years ago, a quantity of gold, melted into a mass and in coins, was found.
The plates are five in number, each about 7" long by 3" broad. The edges of them were raised into rims to protect the writing; and the whole of the inscription is in a state of perfect preservation. The ring is about " thick and 3" in diameter; it had not been cut when the grant came into my hands. The seal on the ring is circalar, about 28" in diameter; it has, in relief on a countersunk surface, -across the middle, the motto Sri-Tribhuvan dinkusa; in the upper part,-in the centre, a standing boar facing to the proper left, with the sun directly above it, the moon on the proper right, and an elephant-goad on the proper left; and in the lower part, a floral device, an eight-leaved water-lily. The five plates weigh 67% tolas, and the ring and seal 543 tolas; total, 121 tolas. The language is Sanskrit through
out.
This grant is partly a palimpsest. Plates ib, iiia, and iiib, are engraved over a cancelled grant, beaten in so carefully that the letters of it are now mere scratches of no depth and breadth at
Srimati Śrî'matâm
[*] Svasti [*]lti-patri
all, too faint altogether to appear in the lithograph. The characters are of an older type, more like those of the grant of Prithivimûla, son of Prabhakara.' Of the original inscription there are five lines on each side, running the same way as the lines of the present inscription. Below jo to || of line 23 of the present grant there can be read tihása-puránéshu nipuna; above laḥ to va of 1. 27 there can be read ye Tungaváḍa-náma-grámô; above kya to bhe of 1. 6 there can be read allaparigati étéshám grámánam madhye; and above vi to shtá of 1. 7 there can be read parihári(ri)-kritya. These are the only consecutive passages of the older inscription that can be made out. Plates iia and iib, again, are engraved over another grant, beaten in so that no traces of it appear in the lithograph. The characters are of about the period of those of the present grant, but not so well formed. Of the original inscription there are nine lines on each side, running at right angles to the lines of the present grant, so that only about seven letters of each line remain, the rest having been cut away in re-fashioning, the plates for the present grant. A letter or two can be read here and there; but no consecutive word, worth noting, can be made out. Plates ia, iva, ivb, va, and vb, are not palimpsests.
Transcription. First plate.
The present grant is one of the Eastern Chalukya' king Amma II., also called Vijayaditya; it is therefore subsequent in date to Saka 867 (A. D. 945-6), which is given in No. XXXIV. (vol. VII. p. 15) as the year in which he succeeded to the throne. It records the grant of the village of Elavarru, in the Velanâṇḍu vishaya or district, to a Brahman named Kôramiya, of the Kasyapa gôtra, who was the head of the śrikarana or writing-department of the suvarnabhándágára or treasury of gold.
sakala-bhuvana-aa[m*]stâyamâna-Mânavyâ(vya)-angótriņiṁh
Vol. X. p. 244, No. 9.
In 1. 5 the dynastic name is written Chalukya.' The same form occurs in 1. 16. But in 1. 20 we have the older and more correct form Chalukya."
Vol. XI. p. 223, note 26.
91
Kankki-vara-prasha-labdha-jy
H&
matri-gana-paripâli
The lithograph is imperfect in respect of the there; the sa of sapta, 1. 11; the m of Gunagamka, 1. 15; the first m of trimatam, 1. 16-7; the and da of thadasa, 1. 20; the bhd of bhava, 1. 42-3; the pha of muktaphala, 1. 50; the pa of para, 1. 51; and the pha of phalam, 1. 58.
