________________
DECEMBER, 1890.)
CHELLUR GRANT OF VIRA-CHODADEVA.
423
nirata nódi hondisi sarata nôdi håkera hůvina har hattu-yentu såvirad-honnina mattina gondegaļu suttalibigadaru selu jaratara satt-antha Sravawa târi wa hottu-kondu nadadam hârastara mêle chbatrachyâmara | butti-buţtili bukkitta kattav-illada hårasta hidada hoytara maligi bajara | haligi kaļi karni karadi sambâļa samparadâni bårast=honta munda saradárå | dikka-dikkina nandi yellà akka Travvana nodi dukhkha madyar-eshtu janaru II Chyê li Dharwadada mandi bhôr-idut-aluvaga paharadagwidda maga 'Sankarana statisuta nûr-onda dukkha madidana yetta-bhandigaļu hattawa kudurigaļu satta gravada munda sági hôguda kaņda sôdhisi dukhkha mâ didanû dana-dharmava kottu nêma-nitteva tirsi munda muktiya koduwa Basavana stutisuta maņņ-olageita tiragidarů 11 Yêra 11 Sundara Hebballi Basava kaņd-ashtu kaviya hondisi madida vistârå 19 11
SANSKRIT AND OLD-KANARESE INSCRIPTIONS.
BY J. F. FLEET, Bo.C.S., M.R.A S., C.1. E. No. 192. - CABLLUR COPPER-PLATE GRANT OF VIRA-CHODADEVA.
DATED IN HIS TWENTY-FIRST YEAR. I edit this inscription from the original plates, which belonged to Sir, Walter Elliot, and are now, I understand, in the British Museum. I had them for examination in 1879. A transcription of the text, with a partial translation of it, is given in the Elliot Telugu Sasanams, p. 131 ff. And the inscription has recently been edited by Dr. Hultzsch, in his South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I. p. 49 ff. I give my own version of it here, because it is required, with some other grants of the same dynasty which I have had on hand for a long time unpublished, in connection with a paper on the Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings.
Chellar is a village about two miles to the west by south of Ramachandrapuram, in the Ramachandrapuram Taluků of the Godavari District, Madras Presidency; it is entered in the map, Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 94, as Chelloor,' in Lat. 16° 49', Long. 82° 3'. It is mentioned in line 98 below, as the Chellaru agrahara. The grant appears to have been obtained from the Karnam of this village.
The plates, of which the first is inscribed on one side only, but the last partially on the second side also, are five in number, each measuring about 10" by 5%". The edges of them were raised into rims; and the writing is in a state of fairly good preservation throughout, except where it has been intentionally interfered with, in lines 103-109, and except for one small breakage at the lower proper right corner of the first plate, and three such on the fifth plate. - The ring on which the plates are strung, is about " thick and 6" in diameter; it had been cut before the time when the grant came under my notice. The seal on the ring is circular, about 21" in diameter. In relief on a countersunk surface, it has, - across the centre, the legend SriTribhuvan[ *]kusa; in the upper part, a boar, standing to the proper left, and surrounded by the sun and moon, an elephant-goad, two chauris, two lamp-stands, and a conch-shell; and in the lower part, a water-lily, with a drum, a svastika, and a device which on a previous occasion (ante, Vol. XIV. p. 49) I have described as being "something like the letter ga, which may perhaps be meant for the makaratorana," but which may possibly be intended for the sivihásana or throne, which also is mentioned among the insignia (line 24 below). 2 - The weight
1 In the Telugu Sasanams, it is only described as "appertaining to Chellar;" while, in a separate list, it is entered as being "from Draksharam temple." But the name of Chellur, though subsequently cancelled, was written on a label fastened onto the plates. The grant was made to # Vaishňava temple at Chellar. And Sir Walter Elliot himself, referring to other notes of his, has said distinctly that, with the grant of Kulottunga-Chodadeva II. (edited by me, ante, Vol. XIV., p. 65 ff.), it was obtained by Mr. G. A. Smith from the Karnam of Chelldr (ante, Vol. XIV. p. 204). -Under any circumstances, it is better to call it uniformly a Chellur grant. than to introduce confusion by sometimes speaking of it is as the Dråksharama grant.
For a representation of the device, see the proper right side of the lower part of the seal of RAjarkja, No. 1 in the Plate, ante, Vol. VII. p. 258. In the present case, the device is more rectangular, and does not sbew the curved parts
