North Indian Inscriptions

ACHYUTAPURAM PLATES OF INDRAVARMAN.

the northern side, a boulder on the top of a gate,¹ then another boulder (covered) with bricks, then a couple of dhimâra (or adhimâra ?) tress, and then a kâraka² tree. Nobody shall cause hindrance (to the donee) if (he) opens the sluice (udaka-bandha) of the tank.

......(L. 18.) “And future kings should preserve this meritorious gift ; for there are (the following) verses composed by Vyâsa :—”

[Three of the customary verses.]

......(L. 22.) (In) the year eighty-seven,— (in figures), 80 (and) 7,— of the prosperous and victorious reign, on the new-moon of Chaitra.

......(L. 23.) This edict (śâsana) of Râjasimha was written at the command of his (the king’s) own mouth by Vinayachandra, the son Bhânuchandra.

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No. 21— CHICACOLE PLATES OF GUNARNAVA’S SON DEVENDRAVARMAN.

BY E. HULTZSCH, PH.D.

......These copper-plates were found at Chicacole in the office record room of the Principal Assistant Collector of Gañjâm and kindly forwarded to me by Mr. C. J. Weir, I.C.S., Acting Collector of the Gañjâm district. Mr. G. V. Ramamurti of Parlâ-Kimeḍi informs me that he has no doubt that this set of plates is the missing one of the six sets which were dug up at Chicacole some years ago and purchased by Mr. Grahame.³ Like the five other sets, these plates are now deposited in the Madras Museum. They are three in number and measure 8⅛ by 3⅜ inches. The margins of both sides of the second plate, and those of the inner, inscribed side of the first and third plates are raised into rims for the protection of the writing, which is in a state of very good preservation. The ring on which the plates were strung, and which had not yet been cut when I received them, is about 7/16’’ thick and ⁴¾’’ in diameter. The small oval seal, in the lower part of which the ends of the ring are secured, measured about 1⅛ by 1¼’’ in diameter. It bears, in relief, on a countersunk surface, a recumbent bull, which faces the proper right and is surmounted by a crescent. The weight of the three plates is 2 lb 2 oz., and that of the ring and seal 1 lb 2½ oz.,― total 3 Ib 4½ oz.

......The alphabet of the inscription resembles that of the Achyutapuram plates of Indravarman I.,4 with which,― unlike the two grants of Indravarman II.,⁵― it shares the Nâgarî forms of [Sanskrit] and [Sanskrit]. In line 26 f. the inscription furnished instances of the numerical symbols for 100, 80, 3, and 20, and combined with the last, of the decimal figures for 0.⁶ The language is not very correct Sanskṛit. With the exception of three imprecatory verses (ll. 20-24) and one verse which records the name of the writer (l. 24 f.), the inscription is in prose. A regards orthography,— the jihvâmûlîya is employed once (in °tali=Kaliṅga°, line 2), and the upadhmânîya five times (in lines 7, 10, 17, 18, 19). The anusvâra before ś is expressed by ṅ in nishtriṅśa (l. 4), vaṅśyêna (l. 24), and viṅśati (l. 26 f.). In accordance with Pâṇini, viii, 4, 47, the letter k is doubled before r (in dharma-kkrama-vikkramâṇâm, l. 19), and the letter t before y (e.g. in prattyaksham, l. 25, but not in satya-tyâga, l. 8), and before r (e.g. in yattra, l. 16, but not in Kṛishṇâtrêya-sagôtra, l. 12). The erroneous doubling of t in Mâttṛichandra (l. 24) shows that the vowel ṛi was pronounced as ṛi, which is actually used for ṛi in kritvâ (l. 10).
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......¹ This appears to refer to the sluice of the tank.
......² This is perhaps the Telugu gâra-cheṭṭu, ‘a bramble.’
......³ Mr. Sewell’s Lists of Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 7 ; Vol. II. p. 21 f. ; and Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII. p. 48.
......⁴ ante, p. 127.
......⁵ Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII. p. 120 f. and p. 122 f.
......⁶ In his Gupta Inscriptions, p. 292, note 2, Dr. Fleet (notices two other cases of the combination of a decimal figure with a numerical symbol.