The Indian Analyst
 

South Indian Inscriptions

 

 

Contents

Index

Introduction

Contents

Contents

Topographical Index of Stone Inscriptions

List of Inscriptions arranged according to Dynasties

Introduction

Appendix A-Copper Plates

Appendix B-Stone Inscriptions

Appendix C-Photographs

Plates

Images

Other South-Indian Inscriptions 

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Vol. 4 - 8

Volume 9

Volume 10

Volume 11

Volume 12

Volume 13

Volume 14

Volume 15

Volume 16

Volume 17

Volume 18

Volume 19

Volume 20

Volume 22
Part 1

Volume 22
Part 2

Volume 23

Volume 24

Volume 26

Volume 27

Tiruvarur

Darasuram

Konerirajapuram

Tanjavur

Annual Reports 1935-1944

Annual Reports 1945- 1947

Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Volume 2, Part 2

Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Volume 7, Part 3

Kalachuri-Chedi Era Part 1

Kalachuri-Chedi Era Part 2

Epigraphica Indica

Epigraphia Indica Volume 3

Epigraphia
Indica Volume 4

Epigraphia Indica Volume 6

Epigraphia Indica Volume 7

Epigraphia Indica Volume 8

Epigraphia Indica Volume 27

Epigraphia Indica Volume 29

Epigraphia Indica Volume 30

Epigraphia Indica Volume 31

Epigraphia Indica Volume 32

Paramaras Volume 7, Part 2

Śilāhāras Volume 6, Part 2

Vākāṭakas Volume 5

Early Gupta Inscriptions

Archaeological Links

Archaeological-Survey of India

Pudukkottai

INTRODUCTION

  Andhavaram, a small village in the Narasannapeta Taluk of the Srikakulam District, Madras State, has yielded an urn containing four sets of copper plates. The urn was exposed from a mound at the foot of a banyan tree. One (No. 4) of these four sets belongs to the Māṭhara king Anantaśaktivarman, lord of Kaliṅga, and the rest to the rulers of the Eastern Gaṅga dynasty. The charter of Anantaśaktivarman was issued from Vijayapura in the 14th year of his reign while he was camping there with his army. It records the renewal of the grant of the village Āndōrēppa, i.e. modern Andhavaram, made by the king to the same Brāhmaṇas in whose favour it had been formerly granted by Āryaka-Śaktibhaṭṭāraka. In this expression, the word āryaka seems to indicate ‘ grand-father’ and Śakti-bhaṭṭāraka is probably none other than the Māṭhara king Śaktivarman of the Ragolu plates (Ep. Ind., Vol. XII, pp. 1 ff.). Anantaśaktivarman thus appears to have been the grandson of Śaktivarman. The reference to the issue of the charter from the camp at Vijayapura probably indicates that the king was engaged in a military expedition, the details of which are not forthcoming. There is, however, some evidence to show that the Māṭharas originally ruled from Pishṭapura in Southern Kaliṅga and that the Māṭhara kings extended their power to Central Kaliṅga and issued charters from Siṁhapura in that area. Vijayapura whence the present record was issued was also apparently situated in Central Kaliṅga. The inscription has been published in Ep. Ind., Vol. XXVIII, pp. 175 ff.

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  Of the other three sets of plates, two (Nos. 5 and 6) were issued from Kaliṅganagara respectively by the Eastern Gaṅga kings Indravarman and Anantavarman. The former (puiblished in Ep. Ind., Vol. XXX, pp. 37 ff.) records the grant of the village of Tōṭavā¬ṭaka in Krōshṭukavartanī as an agrahāra to several Brāhmaṇas of the village of Andōrakāgrahāra. The record is stated to have been written by Prabhākara under orders of Śrī-Lōkārṇavadēva who is described as one who vanquished many foes. The charter was issued on the occasion of a solar eclipse on the newmoon day of Śrāvaṇa in the year 133 of the Tuṁburu- vaṁśa-rājya-saṁvatsara. There is no doubt that the reckoning is identical with the era usually mentioned in the records of the Gaṅga kings as pravardhamāna- vijayarājya-saṁvatsara or Gāṅgēya-vaṁśa-pravardhamāna-vijayarājya-saṁvatsara. The nomenclature of the era in the record under study reminds us of the Santa- Bommali plates (Bhandarkar’s List, No. 2053) which were issued by the Kadamba feudatory of a Gaṅga monarch and refer to the era in question as Gaṅga-Kadamba- vaṁśa-pravardhamāna-vijayarājya-saṁvatsara. It seems therefore that Lōkārṇava, under whose orders the charter was written, was a Tumburu feudatory of the Gaṅga king Indravarman and the real donor of the grant that was ratified by the latter (cf. Ep. Ind., Vol. XXX, pp. 52-53). The date of the record is written in numerical symbols as well as in words as śatē triṁśaty-adhikē, and the word trayas before triṁśati is omitted through oversight. The village of Tōṭavāṭaka seems to be identical with modern Tōṭāḍa or Tōḍavāḍa, about eight miles from Andhavaram, the findspot of the record. Andōraka in Andōrakāgrahāra appears to be an early form of the name Andhavarman which is also called Āndōrēppa in the record of the Māṭhara king Anantaśaktivarman reviewed above.

   Copper plate No. 6 was issued by the Eastern Gaṅga king Anantavarman in the year 216 (of the Gaṅga era). It records the grant of Śakunagrāma situated in the Varāhavarttanī vishaya to the Brāmaṇa residents of Ānandapura. It may be noted in this connection that the gift village Śakunaka in Varāhavarttanī is also mentioned in the Madras Museum plates of Anantaśaktivarman (cf. Ep. Ind., Vol XXVIII, pp. 226 ff.). It is interesting to note that Dantapura mentioned in this record as lying on the boundary of the gift village was one of the early seats of the Eastern Gaṅga government (cf. No. 7). 29 DGA/55

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