South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

TELUGU CHOLA RECORDS FROM ANANTAPUR AND CUDDAPAH

A. The Kalamalla Inscription of Erikal-Muturaju Dhananjaya

This inscription^[1] is engraved on two faces of a broken pillar in the courtyard of the Chennakēśava temple at Kalamaḷḷa, Kamalapuram taluk.

It is damaged and several lines of the inscription are completely effaced and lost.

It is engraved in bold characters, and, in its palaeography resembles the Siraguṇḍa stone inscription of the Western Gaṅga king Nirvinīta (i.e., Avinīta)^[2] of the last quarter of the 6th century A. D. The present record may also be assigned to that period. Apart from considerations of palaeography, we have to assign to king Dhanañjaya some date about c. 575 A.D. on other grounds as will be explained in the sequel. King Dhanañjaya is, without doubt, the same as Danañjaya, the father of Chōla-Mahārāja Mahēndravikrama, mentioned in the Mālēpāḍu plates of Puṇyakumāra.^[2]

The resemblance noted above between the present inscription and the Siraguṇḍa record is noticeable in almost all test letters like r, n, k, ṇ, y, and l both in their style and stage of development. Attention may be drawn to the medial long ū sign in bū of l.6 and nū of l.8. The medial ē sing in rē of l.7 resembles the same sign in the Tamil-Grantha script.^[4] Final n in l.5 is distinguishable from n by the absence of the serif, the presence of which signifies the voiced consonant.

The inscription is one of the earliest completely Telugu records so far discovered ; and consequently of great value for the history of Telugu language and orthography. It may be noted that at this early date Telugu had already begun to develop as a language distinct from Kannaḍa although the script continued to be common. Although several Pallava records earlier in date than the present inscription contain Telugu words^[5] this is the first complete inscription in Telugu so far known.

The inscription has unfortunately suffered damage at many points resulting in the loss of several archaic Telugu words. It seems to record a gift to (or by) a certain Rēvaṇakālu of Chirumbūru when [Eri]kal-Muturāju Dhanañjaya was ruling Rēnāṇḍu.

The king Dhanañjaya (Dhanaṁjayuru as in the inscription) bears the epithet Erikal-Mutarāju, which is also borne by several of his successor, e.g., Puṇyakumāra (Puṇyakumārunru as in the inscriptions E and F below). A prince bearing a similar epithet, Erigal-Dugarāju, figures in the inscriptions of Chōla-Mahārāja edited below (inss. C and D). The word Erikal or Erigal which occurs as a prefix in these descriptive compounds seems to be the name of a place, while the suffixes Muturāju and Dugarāju seem to signify some official dignity, especially as Dugarāju may be taken to be a form of Yuvarāja or heir-apparent (vide B below, Erraguḍipāḍu inscription of Erikal-Mutturāju). This place, Erigal, finds mention in a more complete form as the name of a territorial division, viz., Erigalvāḍi-six hundred in the Maddagiri inscriptions of Dhanañjaya II^[6] and in the Chikka-Madhura inscription of Pallavādhirāja. Nolaṁba who^[7] is stated to have

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^[1] No. 380 of 1904 of the Madras Epigraphical collection.
^[2] Ep. Carn., Vol. VI, Cm. 50, plate opp. p. 105.
^[3] Above, Vol. XI, p. 341.
^[4]Cf. S.I.I., II, pl. X, Vallam cave ins. l.4, Kandaśēnan.
^[5] Above, Vol. XXIV, p. 138.
^[6] Ep. Carn., XII, Mi. 92-3, 97, 100 : 94 and 101 are also his records. There is some difficulty in determining the exact form of the name of this territorial division. Rice read the portion relating to the country as either Ālvāḍi 600 or Erigālvāḍi 600, while H. K. Sastri (above, Vol. XI, p. 341) preferred the reading Ālvāḍi 600 treating the term ‘ Eriga ’ as part of the personal name of Dhanañjaya. But an examination of the record shows that ‘ Erigal ’ should be taken as part of the name of the region─witness the nominative singular form Dhanañjayan (Mi. 92-3). Further the same territorial division is called Irigalvāḍi (with short a in ‘ Irigad’ which may well be a corruption of ‘ Erigal ’) in the Chikka Madhure inscription of Pallavādhirāja Nolaṁba (Ep. Carn., XI, Cl. 34). According to the inscriptions edited here, the term has to be read either as Erigal or Ērigal, the initial vowel being read as long ē or short e for the form in which the initial vowel is written in both the cases is alike. But in view of the existence of the term Irigalvāḍi with short i, the form Erigal has to be preferred. The long ā in Erigāl as read by Rice need not be considered a difficulty. The existence of the form Irigal with rough r and short a, the suffix-kal, meaning rock, and the probability of the name of a place being Erigal or Erigal like Kunigal, Dōrigal (Chittoor Dt.) and Kaṇeyakal (Anantapur Dt.), all render it very probable that the name of the territorial division is Erigalvāḍi or Erigalvāḍi 600 ; the distinction between ordinary r and rough r being not strictly observed, e.g., in Rēnāḍu and Rēnāḍu.
^[7] Ep. Carn. XI. CI. 34.