South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

Hence it is likely that they were found is the North Arcot district. They are now preserved in the Madras Museum, and I edit the inscription on them from two ink-impressions kindly furnished to me by Mr. Edgar Thurston, Superintendent of the Government Central Museum, Madras, with the permission of Government.

The copper-plates are three in number. The inscription is engraved on both sides of each of them. The second and third plates are marked at the left top corner of their first sides with the Tamil numerals 2 and 3 respectively. The first two plates measure 9″ by 4½″, while the dimensions of the third and last plate are 8½″ by 4½″. The ring, if any, on which the plates were strung, is lost ; and they are now kept together by a string passed through the ring-hole, about ½″ in diameter, bored on the top of each plate.

The alphabet in which the inscription is engraved is Grantha ; but in the following cases Tamil letters have been used :─ ṅ, g, ḍ and nâ of the word Vêṅgaḍanâtha in line 102 ; tiru of Tiruvêṅkaṭa in l. 108 ; Piḷḷai in l. 112 ; peru of Peruṁkai in ll. 115 and 121 f. ; nearly the whole of the phrase Kuppan=uḷḷiṭṭârukku in l. 123 ; and r of Nâyinâr in l. 130. The colophon Śrî-Triyambaka is written in Kannaḍa characters. A few peculiarities of the alphabet are worth noting. The secondary â-symbol is added near the bottom of the consonant in a few cases ; compare jâ and nâ in the word prajânâṁ in l. 34, nâ of nâthasya in l. 40, nânâ in l. 44, and samastânâm in l. 46. The guttural ṅ of Śârṅgiṇôḥ in l. 65 resembles ndya. The subscript consonant in conjunct letters is in some cases added by the side of the first instead of at the bottom as in modern Grantha ; compare bdê in Śakasy=âbdê in l. 56, bda of pratyabda in ll. 67 and 81, ṅgi of Śârṅgiṇôḥ in l. 65, and stâ of samastânâṁ in l. 46.

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Final m is in some cases not distinguished from ma ; but, in order not to swell the footnotes unnecessarily, the distinction has been introduced into the text ; compare e.g. m in Lakshmîm (l. 3), sambhûtam (l. 5), vaibhavam (l. 5 f.) and bhûshaṇam (l. 7) with m in ºpaham (l. 4), sampaº (l. 19), ºvatîm (l. 38) and grâmam (l. 51). The group rṇṇa is written somewhat like ṇṭha ; compare sampûrṇṇa in l. 59 and vistîrṇṇaṁ in l. 54. The letter di of Divâkara in l. 113 resembles the Tamil vowel i of the 12th century A.D. The conjunct rgga is also peculiarly shaped ; see Bhârggava in ll. 108, 112 and 124. The difference between the vowel ṛi and the secondary consonant r is marked by making the r-symbol end in a loop in the former case ; compare pṛithivîm in l. 37, nîvṛid in l. 49, Bhṛigu in l. 57, vṛittair in l. 72, and vyâvṛittair in l. 72 f. with samprâptê in l.56 f., grâmam in line 62 f., and pratyêkam in l. 76, etc. As regards orthography, it may be noted that the hard dental t is used for the soft d in Patmaº (l. 17), vidvatbhir (l. 45), Chitambaraº (l. 77 f.) Utbâhuº (l. 120) and bhavatbhiḥ (l. 146). The form ranna is used for ratna in l. 27, and the lingual ḷ for the dental l in bhûpâḷô in the same line. Both these forms are probably due to the influence of Kanarese, which may also account for the change of ḍ into ḷ in Paḷuvût-kôṭṭa (l. 48). Bâ is substituted for vâ in the word Bâdhûla in l. 120. As a rule n is doubled when it occurs in conjunction with d ; see Gôvinnda in. 89, Utbâhusunndara in l. 120 f., and Skannda in l. 126.

The language of the inscription is Sanskṛit. Nearly one-half is in verse, and the other half, enumerating the donees and the shares which each of them received, is in prose. In only one place a Tamil phrase, Kuppan=uḷḷiṭṭârukku, occurs (l. 123). The inscription uses abbreviated forms for the gôtras and sûtras of the donees, except in the case of the chief person, Sampatkumâra-paṇḍita (ll. 133-135).

The record begins by tracing the first Vijayanagara dynasty from the Moon, in whose lineage Yadu is said to have been born (v. 5). In the race of Yadu was born Saṁgama (I.), whose son was Bukka (I.) (v. 6). His son was Harihara (II.) (v. 7). His son was Dêvarâya (I.), and his son Vijayabhûpati (v. 8) or Vijayabhûpâla^[1] (v. 9), who had two sons
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^[1] He is also called Vijayabhûbhuj (v. 16), Vijayarâj (v. 21) and Vijayarâya (v. 24).