________________
JULY, 1903.)
GRANT OP KUSUMAYUDHA IV.
281
GRANT OF KUSUMAYUDHA IV. BY C. BENDALL, M.A., M.R.A.S., PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT, CAMBRIDGE. CHIS inscription is now edited for the first time. Its existence was discovered by me during my
stay at Haidarabad (Dekhan) in March 1999, when the original plates were lent to me from the Treasury of H. H. the Nizam, to which they belong, for the purpose of poblication. They number five and measure 61 by 38". As is usual also in the case of MSS., the first and last were originally written on one side only ; but apparently somewhat after the main document was finished a few lines of Telugu were added in a different handwriting. The language is otherwise Sanskrit. All the rims are slightly raised. The ring is about thick and 5' in diameter. The seal securing the extremities of the ring is obliterated. It seems to have been oval. The characters are those of Chalukya inscriptions of abont the eleventh century or later ; compare Burnell, South Indian Paleography, Plates VII. and VIII., and Bühler, Indische Palaeographie, Table VIII., cols. v. to vii. The more remarkable forms of letters, as far as they can be indicated without a plate, which hardly seems to be called for, are as follows:- A (initial) is of the general form shown in cols, ii., iv., and viii. of Bühler's Table already cited; but it very closely coincides in shape with I, so closdly indeed that the shape of both letters will be best seen by reference to the forms of that letter in the Table cols. xii. and xv., linc 37. The has often a long flourish to the left, as in col. vii., line 25, of Bühler, VIII. ; in one case (Pl. I., 1. 6) the flourish is curved round so far, over the top of the letter, that the characteristic angular addition at the top, used in the Telugu country, is placed not immediately over the main part of the letter bat over the flourish. In the matter of orthography we may notice (e. g., l. 42) the use of the labial-sibilant, rare, I think, at so late a date. The lingualr and I are duly employed in Dravidian forms. A few mistakes are corrected in the text. The chief are:-n for (1.5); th for 6 (1. 7); th for t (1. 8); but ita for ttha in 52 ; ji for bi (44); vri for ori (51). The more confused spellings are duly recorded in the footnotes.
I regret that I have not identified the localities recorded in the grant. Kondapalli (1. 23) ought to be the Condapilly "1 of the Indian Atlas, near Bezwada; but I cannot find satisfactory traces of the other place-names anywhere near This Kondapalļi and also the persons addressed in the grant are described as in the region or district (rishaya) of Mamchikonda.
The most interesting featore of the record is the mention of a new line of rulers claiming to be allied to the Chalukyan. The branch of the family was called the Madugonda-Chalukya of Mudugondu (11. 8, 9). The founder of the dynasty was Kokiraja whose brother (not named) conquered Chiyyaraja The Polakési and Rañamarda mentioned in the earlier part of thu inscription are possibly ancestors of the queen-mother, Achidêvi. Tbe pedigree runs thus :
Kókirája. Kusumayadha (1.).
Bijayita. Kusumayudha (II.].
Vijayaditya. Kusumayudha (III.).
Nijjiyaraja --Achidėvi.
Malbaduraja,
Lobhachalaka. Kusumayudha (IV.]
(donor of present grant). Especially as this Condapilly' was once in the Nizam's dominions. Mogala (some 5 miles NE. of Bhimavaam) is noted by Sewell as an ancient place; but the surrounding names in the Indian Atlas, sheet 94) give no help.
? See note 23 below.
