Annual Reports

INTRODUCTION

  No. 284 comes from Taḷaṅgere in the South Kanara District. It opens with a Sanskrit verse in Grantha characters, which is followed by a passage in the Kannaḍa language and script, interspersed with prose and verse. The record brings to light a hitherto unknown chief named Jayasiṁha, among whose ancestors are mentioned the sage Gautama, Śaradvat, Kṛipa, Śantanu and Śalya. The record is not dated but can be assigned palaeographically to the 10th century. It registers a gift of land in the vicinity of Puttūr to Mōchabbarasi as kanyādāna. The record ends with the statement that the right of succession to the ownership of the land should devolve on the female children in the lineage of Jōgavve and not on the male offspring and that, in case there were no female issues, the right would pass on to the male children. This practice of the family property passing from mother to daughter is in vogue even today in the West Coast. The chief importance of the record, however, lies in the contribution it makes to our knowledge of the state of Kannaḍa language and prosody in the 10th century A.D., to which it belongs. Besides the verses in the Śārdulavikrīḍita and Kanda metres, it contains a stanza in the Utsāha metre which, apart from being a rare specimen, is the only one of its kind known so far in Kannaḍa literature and epigraphy. The inscription is published in Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIX, pp. 203 ff.

  Among the few places in Karnāṭak, where Buddhist antiquities have been discovered, is Kōḷivāḍ, a village in the Hubli Taluk, Dharwar District. A fine and rare specimen of the image of Tārā from this place bears a Nāgarī inscription (No. 91) on its base containing the well-known Buddhist formula (JIH, Vol. XXXII, part i, p. 90). This points to the existence of a Buddhist Vihāra at the place during the 12th or 13th century.

Inscriptions on Other Materials

   No 477 engraved on a brick deposited in a wooden box in the Sarnath Museum merits attention. It reads prābhṛitaka dhānya, meaning ‘grain which is an offering’. The brick appears to have been used as a label to mark the spot where the grain was stocked for religious offering in a temple or monastery. The epigraph may be assigned approximately to the 6th century A.D. on palaeographic grounds (see Plate facing p. 39).

   Among the inscriptions on the gold vessels and ornaments of the deity in the Raṅganāthasvāmin temple, Śrīraṅgam (Tiruchirappalli District), that (No. 344) on the heavy anklets states that the jewel was the gift of Pedda-Veṅkaṭaperumāḷ, the son of Tupākula Rāmaliṅgayya-nāyaḍu, made through his Paṭṭamahishī Lakshmīdēvamma in the Śaka year 1655. The gold pendant set with precious stones bears a short inscription (No. 347) in Nāgarī giving the name of Mahārāja Sarfojī, the Marāṭhā ruler of Tañjāvū who obviously made this donation to the god. He may be Sarfoji I (1711-27 A.D.) or II (1797-1824 A.D.).

   A later inscription of the same category but of considerable interest is No. 348 engraved in Telugu characters on a side of the gold and silver plated palanquin. It states that the palanquin called Tōḷikiniyān (Tōḷukkiniyān), i.e. ‘one that is pleasant to the shoulders’, which was an offering of Vijayaraṅga-Chokkanātha to the god, having become dilapidated, was repaired by Mr. George Francis Trevers, the Collector [of the District], in the Śaka year 1735, Śrīmukha, Kārttika śu. 11, Bhṛiguvāra, corresponding to the Christian year 1813, November 4, Thursday (not Friday).

Coins

   During the period under review nearly fifty coins were examined. Plastercasts of the originals were prepared for preservation in the office.

   All the five casts of coins secured from the Gwalior Museum are remarkable for their good state of preservation. Of these the Attic drachm of Eucratides (No. 134) is very rare and is one of the five known specimens. It is possibly the unique coin of its type in India.

   The bilingual Indian drachm (No. 136) of Antialcidas, employing both Greek and Kharoshṭhī scripts in the legend, is interesting for the minute details of the reverse device. It depicts in its small compass the result of a fight between what may be called the elephant party and the Nike party. On this coin the elephant is represented as victorious and snatching the wreath of Nike. Though noticed in many catalogues, this variety seems nowhere to have been illustrated.