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NOVEMBER, 1924 ]
KOTTAYAM PLATE OF VIRA-RAGHAVA CHAKRAVARTI
Paliyam plates, A.D. 1663 (ibid., pp. 6-11); the twenty-first, those of the Parur Church inscription of 1624 A.D. (facsimile, ibid., p. 300); and twenty-second, those of the Michirai Matham plate of A.D. 1770 (facsimile, ibid., p. 300); the twenty-third, those of the Huzur Treasury plates of the time of Pårkara Iravi (facsimile, Trav. Arch. Series, Vol. II, Part III, pp. 178-207).
A mere glance at the accompanying plate, showing the Vatteluttu alphabet of different inscriptions, will convince the expert reader that Mr. Venkayya is wrong in saying that the Vatteluttu characters of the document under consideration are more modern than those of the Cochin plates and of the Tirunelli plates.
Let us compare the characters of the different inscriptions in the accompanying plate. There are two varieties of r. We find closed and open r symbols in the Taņu Iravi plates of the ninth century; & closed, in the Parur inscription of the seventeenth century; and an open in the Michirai Matham plate of the eighteenth century.
Now let us taken. We find a closed and an open in the Taņu Iravi plates of the ninth century, and in the Parkara Iravi. We find a closed in the Nåvayakkaļam inscription of the fifteenth century, Chittaral inscription of the fourteenth century, eto., and an open in the PAliyam plates of the seventeenth century, the Parur inscription of the seventeenth century, Michirai Matham plates of the eighteenth century, etc.
Let us look at the symbol a. There are six or seven varieties of this character. We find two varieties in our copper plate. One of them is in those of PArkara Iravi, Tanu Iravi, etc. The other is almost like that of the Marañchadaiyan inscription (col. 9). All the varieties of a need not be of the same rudimentary form.
In the modern Malayalam alphabet there are two symbols for f. One is an adaptation from the Vatteluttu. In Vatteluttu í is a r with a dot on either side. In Malayalam an with dot on either sides is reedi.
The next symbol for consideration is u. The difference is only very slight in the case of this symbol. It may be stated that there are five varieties. The one variety which we find in Vira Raghava is that with two anglos. The same variety is seen in four inscriptions of the tenth century (ools. 12, 13, 14 and 15). The Tirunelli plate (col. 2) and the Huzur Treasury plates (col. 23), both of the sixth century, have almost the same form. Another variety is in the plates of Parkara Iravi, Tåņu Iravi (ninth century), Mampalli plate (tenth certury): another in Jatila varman (c. eighth century), Taņu Iravi No. 3, Tiruvalla (ninth century): another in the PAliyam plates (seventeenth century).
There are three varieties of the symbol k and two of them are found in the Tanu Iravi plate No. 3 and in the inscriptions of the seventeenth century. The third variety is found only in the eighth century inscriptions.
There are two varieties of the symbol i, and both are found in the seventeenth century inscriptions.
Symbol î is written in two forms and both are found in the Tanu Iravi plates of th ninth oentury. One is in the Rajasekhara plate, the Chittaral inscription of the fourteenth century, and Navậyakkalam inscription of the fifteenth century; the other which is in Vira Raghava's is found in all other inscriptions.
There are two forms of pe and both are found in Tåņu Iravi of the ninth century. One of them, which is in Vira Raghava, is found in Perkara Iravi, Rajasekhara, the tenth century inscription of Kaviyar, the fourteenth century inscription of Chittaral, and the fifteenth century inscription of Náv&yakkaļam. The eighth century inscription of Jatilavarman is also
