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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA SANGALOODA PLATES OF RASHTRAKUTA NANNARAJA : SAKA 615 (1 Plate) M. VENKATARAMAYYA, OOTACAMUND Theses copperplates were received for examination by the Government Epigraphist for India in 1949 from Mr. N. W. Samudra, B.A., LL.B. of Akola, Madhya Pradesh, to whom the plates have since been returned. They were reported to have been discovered at Sangalooda (Sanglud), District Akola. The charter consists of three plates held together by a ring with a seal containing the legend Śrī-Juddhāsuraḥ and an emblem which looks like a flying garuḍa. The first and the third plates are engraved on one side only, the second being written on both sides. The plates together with the ring weigh 60¾ tolas. The record is registered as C. P. No. 59 of the Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy for the year 1949-50. A brief notice of the inscription has already been made by Prof. Mirashi.[1] I edit the record here with the kind permission accorded by Dr. B. Ch. Chhabra, Government Epigraphist for India. The inscription is engraved in characters belonging to the southern class of alphabets. They bear close resemblance to those in which the Añjanēri Plate of Tējavarman[2] and the Ellōrā Plates of Dantidurga[3] are written. In general appearance, style of engraving and palaeographical features, the script of our record falls in the same category as that of some Kalachuri, Chālukya and early Rāshṭrakūṭa records of Mahārāshṭra and Gujarāt, viz., the Sarsavṇī Plates of Buddharāja,[4] the Ābhōṇa Plates of Śaṅkaragaṇa,[5] the Nausārī Plates of Śryāśraya-Śīlāditya,[6] the Nirpaṇ Plates of Nāgavardhana,[7] the Sañjān Plates of Buddhavarasa,[8] the Manor Plates of Vinayāditya-Maṅgalarasa[9] and the Āntrōli-Chhārōlī Plates of Karka II : Śaka 679.[10] Some common characteristics of this group of inscriptions are the following. The characters employed in them are round in execution and show a tendency to cursive writing especially in the engraving of the letters n, m, y, r and l. In the marking of medial ī and ū, ē and ai, and in the invariable use of the looped n and the unlooped t they are all alike. The palaeography of our record is regular for the period to which it belongs, i.e., the 7th century A. C.
The alphabet of the inscription calls for the following remarks. Instances of initial vowels, ā (line 6), u (lines 21 and 22) and ē (line 23) occur in it. Ē, initial, is exactly of the same form as that in the Ellōrā plates of Dantidurga.[11] In the marking of some medial vowels peculiarities are found. Thus, medial ī is indicated by a vertical stroke within the loop marking the short i, e.g., sī in line 21. Medial ū is indicated by two separate strokes as in kū in line 2. But the same sign is marked in two different ways even though attached to the same consonant : e.g., pū in lines 22 and 24. The jihvāmūlīya which is exactly like ma is found in kāntah=kā (line 8), rahitah=kē (line 9), kētuh=ka (line 9) and patih-ka (line 11). Y is written in two forms : the bipartite form occurs in dhaya (line 15) while the form with a loop at the left like the Grantha y is noticed in vishaya (line 14). The daṇḍas are marked for the full verse only and not for the halves. _________________________________________________
[1] Above, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 4, 7 and n. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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