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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA No. 27.─SANGLI MUSEUM PLATES OF KRISHNADEVARAYA, SAKA 1434 Moreshwar G. Dikshit, Sagar The existence of the plates, published[1] here for the first time, was brought to my notice by the late Rao Bahadur K. N. Dikshit. It is reported that, about thirty years ago, they had been ploughed up from a field at Bidarhaḷḷi, a village on the banks of the river Tuṅgabhadrā, in the Shirahaṭṭi Taluk of the former Sangli State, and were later transferred to the State Museum.[2] I approached the authorities of the former Sāngli state for their king permission to edit the inscription. My thanks are due to Mr. Deshpande, the then Education Minister, Sangli State, for placing the plates at my disposal. These are a set of five copper plates, each measuring about 7 inches by 10 inches, with a rounded top so commonly noticed in the copper-plate grants of the Vijayanagara kings. This rounded top has in it a small hole, measuring about ¾ inch in diameter, for passing a ring to secure the plates together. The ring bearing the seal of the Vijayanagara rulers, on which the plates must have been strung, was not available to me. The writing is in a good state of preservation. The first side of the first plate and the back side of the last are uninscribed, while the other plates are engraved on both the sides. There are 153 lines of writing. Of these the first 22 lines are incised on the second side of the first plate ; the second plate has 23 lines on each of its sides ; the third plate has 23 and 20 lines respectively on the two sides ; the fourth plate had 20 lines on the first side and only 10 lines on the second with a considerable space left blank ; and the last plate has only 12 lines in its lower part, the upper part having been left blank. The plates are numbered. Each plate bears a numerical symbol in Kannaḍa engraved at the top of the reverse side indicating its number.
The characters are Nāgarī. They are boldly engraved and measure each about ¼ inch in size. At the end of the fifth plate Śrī-Viru(rū)pa(pā)ksha is engraved in very bold Kannaḍa characters. This is the wellknown sign-manual of the Vijayanagara kings. The language is Sanskrit and the record is composed in verse throughout except for the adoration to Gaṇādhipati in the beginning and the sign-manual at the end. The charter belongs to the celebrated Vijayanagara monarch Kṛishṇadēvarāya, three of whose copper-plate records have been published in this journal.[3] The inscription is dated Śaka 1434, Āṅgirasa, Āśvayuja śu. 15, Monday, lunar eclipse. This date corresponds to 1512 A.D., September 25, when there was a lunar eclipse as stated in the inscription. The week day, however, was Saturday. The object of the inscription is to record the grant of the village of Niṭāla, which was renamed Kṛishṇarāyapura after the donor, to the learned Brāhmaṇa Timmā-jyōtishin, son of Nāgidēvārya. The grant was made in the presence of the god Gaṅgādhara in the sacred place called Śivagaṅgā. The donee was a resident of Arasīkere and belonged to the Kauṇḍinya gōtra and the Āpastamba sūtra of the Yajurvēda. The donee divided the gift village into thirty-two vṛittis. Of these he retained sixteen for himself and distributed the rest among the following learned Brāhmaṇas. ________________________________________________________________ [1] [This article has been revised by Mr. P. B. Desai.─Ed.]
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