South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

DOMMARA-NANDYALA PLATES OF PUNYAKUMARA ;
10TH YEAR

with Pennār and the villages Uruvupalle, Keṇḍukura, Karupura and Koṇḍamuruvuḍu of the Uruvupalli plates^[1] with villages of similar names like Ulavapalle, Gollakandukūru, etc., evidently on the phonetic similarity of names.^[2] While the identification of the river Suprayōgā with Pennār may be accepted for reasons pointed out by Mr. Venkataramayya, it is doubtful if the identity of the villages could be upheld─unless we consider the river to have changed its course─for the mere fact that the modern Ulavapalle identified with the Uruvupalli of the plates lies to the south of the river whereas the inscription definitely mentions the river as the southern boundary of the village or in other words, the village was located on the northern bank of the river. It is not unlikely that Muṇḍarāshṭra extended on the southern side of the Pennār also. For, if the identification made by Mr. Venkataramayya of the village Pikira situated in Muṇḍarāshṭra with the village Pigilam in the Venkatagiri Division of the Nellore District be accepted, it would be obvious that this territorial division extended far to the south of the river Pennār. And this surmise is strengthened if Takkulam, a village referred to as situated in Māndaināḍu─probably a mistake for Māṇḍaināḍu─in an inscription at Chīkavōlu, a hamlet of Erraguṇṭapālem in the Rāpūr taluk, could be identified with the village Chīkavōlu itself^[3] which also lies to the south of the river Pennār. It is thus obvious that the river Suprayōgā identified with Pennār runs through the territories of Hiraṇyarāshṭra and Muṇḍarāshṭra whose boundaries however cannot yet be conclusively fixed with the material now available.

Of the place-names occurring in the grant, the villages Nandigāma and Pasiṁḍikuru wherein the gift lands were situated may be identified with Dommara-Nandyāla, the find-spot of the plates and Paiḍēla (Paiḍi being a corruption of Pasiṁḍi) situated about 15 miles to the north of Proddaṭūru. And Pundorūr wherein Puṇyakumāra is stated to have encamped is, in all probability, identical with Proddaṭūru itself.

TEXT^[4]

First Plate

1 Ōṁ^[5][|*] Svasti śrīmat [||*] Jayati dhṛita-chandrarēkhād(khaṁ)-vipul-āmala-tārakā-śu-
2 bha[ṁ]lōkē [|*] gaganam-iva suprasannaṁ vapur-apratimaṁ Lakuṭapāṇēḥ [||*]^[6] Dinakara-ku-
3 la-Mandarāchala-Mandāra-pādapasya Kavī(vē)ratanayā-vēl-ōlagha(llaṅgha)na-praśa-
4 mana-pramukh-ādy-anēka(k-ā)tiśaya-kāriṇa[ḥ] trainrājya-sthitim=ādma(tma)-
5 vat^[7]-kṛitavataḥ Karikālasy=ānvayē Nandivarma-nāmaḥ(mā) nṛipatir=abhavat=tasya traya-
            [s*=] sū-
6 mvaḥ Siṁhavishṇu[s*]=Sundaranandō Dha[na* ]ñjavarm=ēti^[8][||*] tēshāmma(m=ā)nupūrv=
            ānubhūta-rājya-
7 śri[yāṁ] kanīyasō Dhanañjayavarmaṇaḥ putraḥ pariprāpta-Chōḷa-Mahārāja-

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^[1] Ind. Ant., Vol. V, p. 59.
^[2] Journal of Oriental Research, Research, Vol. XII, p. 361.
^[3] Inscriptions of the Nellore District, Vol. III, p. 1216, R. 8.
^[4] From the original plates.
^[5] Expressed by a symbol.
^[6] This verse is identically the same in the Mālēpāḍu plates also, and portions of it in that (Mālēpāḍu) record
which could not be made out precisely then due to the corroded state of the plates, can now be emended or restored in the light of the readings afforded by the record under review. But even then the verse is defective and with the emendations suggested in the body of the text itself it may be translated as follows :―
May the bright and matchless form of Lakuṭapāṇi (Śiva), adorned with the crescent-moon and auspicious on account of the wide, spotless pupils (of its eyes), comparable to the sky (which is similarly) crescent-adorned, expansive, spotless, starry, bright and matchless, be victorious in this world’.
^[7] The Mālēpāḍu plates correctly read ātmasāt-
^[8] Read Dhanañjayavarmā ch = ēti.