________________
248
• THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
( NOVEMBER, 1924
find in the Tanu Iravi plates. The symbol of Taņu Iravi is decidedly more developed than that of our copper plate. There is a bending on the left side which, if extended further down, makes it like the modern r. Out of the 12 m symbols in our copper plate, two are fully developed. We find only three of that character in Tâņu Iravi, and they are like the undeveloped ten of the Vira Raghava copper plate. Taking the whole into consideration, Vira Raghava is older than Taņu Iravi.
(2) If we compare e, ch, sich, t, r, and 8 of our plate with those of the Tamil country inscriptions of Nandivarman (eighth century, column 10), we shall find those of the latter are more developed than those of the former. This is presumptive evidence that Vira Raghava is older than Nandivarman, eighth oentury.
(3) The symbol ker in Nandivarman, Jatila varman, eto., is uniform and has some resemblance to its modern equivalent. But the kr of Vira Raghava's plate has no resemblance to the modern kr. It is written twice in the Vira Raghava plate, exactly in the same form. This affords presumptive evidence that our copper plato is earlier than the eighth century.
Again, comparing Rajasekhara with Nandivarman, the symbols kh. 1. dh, and n of the latter are just like their Malayalam equivalents, while those of Rajasbkara are archaic. Rajasekhara, therefore, must be earlier than the eighth century.
Is there any evidence against an early date from the Vatteļuttu characters ?-Now let us turn to the Vatteluttu portion of the copper plate. Though Mr. Venkayya has said that it may not be quite safe to base any conclusion on the Vatteluttu portion, he says that "the Vatteluttu characters of this grant appear to be more modern than those of the Cochin plates of Bhaskara Ravivarman and of the Tirunelli plates." As usual he does not tell us his grounds.
I have examined almost all the available ancient Vatteluttu inscriptions. Many of the characters are the same in all of them, but there are differences in a few. The sub. joined plate shows these characters as they are written in 23 inscriptions. The first column shows the characters of the Vira Raghava plate; the second those of the Tirunelli plates of Parkara Iravi (facsimile, Indian Antiquary, Vol. XX, p. 290); the third those of the Cochin plates of Parkara Iravi (facsimile, ibid., Vol. III, p. 334); the fourth those of the miscellaneous inscriptions of the same king (facsimile Trav. Arch. Series, Vol. II, pp. 34-46); the fifth those of the Rajasekhara copper plate (facsimile, ibid., p. 12. I have traced the characters from the plate itself); the sixth, those of the first set of the Kottayam plates of Tanu Iravi, ninth century; the seventh, those of the second set of the above (facsimile of both, ibid., pp. 66-82); the eighth, those of the Mûvatattu Matham plate of Tâņu Iravi, ninth century (facsimile, ibid., p. 68, I have traced the characters from the plate itself); the ninth, those of the inscriptions of Marafichataiyan, eighth century (facsimile, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VIII, p. 320; Trav. Arch. Series, Vol. I, p. 286); the tenth, those of the Madras Museum plates of Jatilavarman, c. eighth century, (facsimile, Indian Antiquary, Vol. XXII, pp. 70, 71); the eleventh, those of the Mampalli plate, A.D. 973 (facsimile, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IX, p. 236); the twelfth, those of the Parttivapuram inscription of A.D. 923 (plate, Trav. Arch. Series, Vol. I, p. 286); the thirteenth, those of the Kantiyar inscriptions of 936 A.D. (plate, ibid., p. 286); the fourteenth, those of the Kaviyûr inscription of 949 A.D. (plate, ibid., p. 288); the fifteenth, those of the inscription of Rajaraja I, tenth century (plate, ibid., p. 288); the sixteenth, those of the Rajendra Chola inscription A.D. 1003 (facsimile, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. V, p. 146); the seventeenth, those of the Kaņțiyûr inscription of A.D. 1221 (plate, Trav. Arch. Series, Vol. 1); the eighteenth, those of the Chittaral inscription of A.D. 1374 (plate, ibid., p. 296); the nineteenth, those of the Návåyakkalam inscription of A.D. 1439 (plate, ibid., p. 296); the twentieth, those of the
