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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA No. 14─KOTTURU INSCRIPTION OF CHALUKYA VIJAYADITYA ; YEAR 4 (1 Plate) P. B. DESAI, OOTACAMUND This inscription[1] was copied by me in the course of the epigraphical survey of the Tadpatri taluk, Anantapur District, Madras State, during the field season of 1947-48. It is incised on a coarse piece of stone (which is broken into two parts) lying in a field near the Āñjanēya temple at Kottūru, hamlet of Brāhmaṇapalle. The estampages were taken after joining the two parts. Though partly damaged and worn out, the writing on the whole is in a fair state if preservation. I edit the record here for the first time with the kind permission of the Government Epigraphist for India. The epigraph is engraved rather indifferently. To the left of the inscription proper are carved two perpendicular lines denoting the margin. The characters are Telugu-Kannaḍa of about the 8th century. The record consists of eight lines. The average size of the letters is 1·5″. The medial short i and long ī are not distinguished, a circle at the top of the letter denoting both. The medial ṛi, which occurs only once in pṛithuvī- in line 1, is not differentiated from the sign for the subscript r. The anusvāras are not clear on the impressions, apparently due to the rough surface of the stone. The use of class nasals may be noted in the following expressions ; Vaṅganūr in line 2, kāviñchi in line 4 and pañch- in line 6. Duplication of k is denoted by a horizontal bar in the middle of the letter in the expression Pūllamukki in line 3. The orthographical peculiarity of doubling the consonant after r may be observed in the Sanskrit expressions, varttamāna in line 2, and pūrvvaka in line 5, and also in the compound Vaṅganūr-vvishayaṁbu in line 2. The language is Telugu except for the imprecatory verse at the end in Sanskrit. The word emmadi (line 4) seems to stand for enbadi. Bhaṭāraḷa (line 2) is the Telugu genitive plural form of the Sanskrit expression Bhaṭṭāraka. The inscription belongs to the reign of Śrī-Pṛithvīvallabha Mahārājādhirāja Paramēśvara Vijayāditya-Satyāśraya of the Western Chālukya dynasty of Bādāmi and is dated in his fourth regnal year. Since this king’s reign commenced in 696 A.C., we may equate his 4th ___________________________________________________ [1] It is registered as No. 14 of the ARIE for 1947-48 and noticed in the year’s report. |
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