South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

The characters are Nāgarī of the thirteenth century being on the whole identical with those of the Pēṇḍrābandh charter. Some of the peculiarities noticed^[1] in the case of the latter, such as non-distinction between p and y as the second members of conjunct letters, scoring off of the superfluous syllable by vertical strokes at the top, besides others, can be detected in this inscription also. The avagraha sign is not used in many places ; for instance, Ratnadēvō=bhavat in line 12 and tatō=bhūt in line 13. It is, however, used in vadanō=’jani in line 8 and a few other expressions. As the first member of a conjunct letter, n sometimes looks like t, e.g., -anvayē in line 2. The subscript ṭh is not generally distinguished from ṭ ; e.g., ºpratishṭ-ō- in line 27 and vishṭāyāṁ in line 33. The form of cerebral ṅ is made up of three vertical strokes─the first being slightly curved, the second a wavy line and the third a straight line, similar to its later counterpart. This kind of ṇ is not met with in the Pēṇḍrābandh charter. In the Pēṇḍrābandh inscription it is represented by a symbol resembling l without its top joint.

In regards to orthography we may note the following. In rare cases the anusvāra is replaced by the class nasal, e.g., ºgaṅga in line 13. V is substituted for b ; e.g., Vrahma- in line 1 and ºaṁvara­- in line 2. In certain expressions j is used for y and vice versa ; e.g., yātaḥ for jātaḥ in lines 5 and 7, jaḥ for yaḥ in line 13 and jasas for yaśas in lines 9 and 14. In a majority of instances s is written for ś ; e.g., sivaṁ for śivaṁ in line 1, dēsē for dēśē in line 4. The reduplication of the consonant following r is resorted to in a large number of syllables, though the exceptions to this practice are not negligible ; e.g., pratyartha(thi) in lines 3-4, ºsau(śau)rya in line 6 and ºdarpaṇa in line 10.

The language is Sanskrit. With the exception of the usual salutation to Brahman in the beginning and the date at the end, the whole record is composed in verse. There are thirty verses in all. They are generally punctuated by single daṇḍas at the end of each half and double daṇḍas at their completion. The verses are numbered. An inadvertent omission has occurred in numbering the 16th verse. On account of this the following verses are all numbered less by one than the actual figure. This mistakes has been corrected in the accompanying text. Some errors in marking the daṇḍas have also been rectified. The first fourteen verses describing the genealogy of the Kalachuri family down to Pratāpamalla, are identical with those in the Pēṇḍrābandh plates. The next six verses, which are new, give an account of the donee’s family and the circumstances of the gift. The following nine verses constitute the familiar praise of land gift and the customary imprecation. The last verse refers to the scribe who wrote the record.

The object of the epigraph is to record the gift, on the date specified below, of the village Siralā to a learned and pious Brāhmaṇa, named Haridāsa, by king Pratāpamalla. Pratāpamalla belonged to the Kalachuri family of Ratanpur. The genealogy of the family is traced as usual from the primeval ancestor Manu of the solar descent. This account is identical with that found in the Pēṇḍrābandh inscription. Pratāpamalla was the son of Ratnarāja or Ratnadēva III and great-grandson of Pṛithvīdēva II. From the last part of the otherwise conventional eulogy (verses 13-14), it can be gathered that Pratāpamalla was quite young when he became king. Pratāpamalla is the last known ruler of the Kalachuris of Ratanpur and his existence was brought to the notice of scholars for the first time by Mr. L. P. Pandeya’s discovery of copper coins bearing his name on the banks of the river Mahānadī near Bālpur.^[2] Subsequent disclosure of two copper plate charters issued by him, viz., the Pēṇḍrābandh record, and the present one, have placed his reign beyond all doubt.

The date as given in lines 28 and 38 is Saṁvat 969, Āshāḍha, lunar eclipse. The Saṁvat evidently refers to the year of the Chēdi or Kalachuri era. Assuming the above year to be expired

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^[1] Ibid., p. 1.
^[2] Ibid., p.3.