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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA No. 26─ TWO EASTERN GANGA GRANTS FROM ANDHAVARAM (2 Plates) R. SUBRAHMANYAM, Guntur A. Plates of Anantavarmadēva This set three copper plates was discovered at Andhavaram[1] in the Narasannapeta Taluk of the Śrīkākulam District, Andhra State. Each of the plates measures about 6⅜″ by 2⅜.″ They are fastened together by means of a circular ring (4⅜″ in diameter), the two ends of which are secured below an elliptical seal which bears in relief a crude representation of the couchant bull or nandin facing the proper right with a crescent above and a floral design (perhaps a lotus) below. The ring was cut by me for taking impressions. The first and third plates are inscribed on one side only and the second on both the sides. Each side contains eight lines of writing. Though the edges of the plates are not raised into rims, the preservation of the inscription is quite satisfactory. The script of the inscription bears close resemblance to that employed in the Siddhāntam plates of Dēvēndravarman[2] and other records of the early Eastern Gaṅga kings. The engraving is carelessly done. The carelessness of the scribe is responsible for several mistakes of omission and commission. Medial i and ī are not clearly distinguished in many cases. Often p is written like s (cf. pratiº inn line 2 and praṇāmāº in line 3) and s like p (cf. sarvvasaº in line 9). The letter bh often looks like t (cf. saṁkshōbha in line 6) and t like n (cf. bhagavatō, svāminō=nāvarata in line 3). The consonant after r is doubled in some cases (cf. sarvvartu in line 1). The use of anusvāra for class nasal in saṁkshōbha and v for b in many places is noteworthy. The language is Sanskrit and except for the customary verses quoted at the end (lines 24-30) the inscription is in prose.
The charter records the gift of the village Kālamaḍambiśakuna in the Varāhavartanī vishaya, after making it into an agrahāra and exempting it from all taxes, to the Brāhmaṇa residents of Ānandapura, who belonged to different gōtras and were well-versed in the Vēdāṅgas, by Mahārāja Anantavarman of the Gaṅga family for the merit of his parents. The grant was issued from Kaliṅganagara on the eleventh day of the dark half of Jyēshṭha of the year 216 in the victorious reign of the king. This date of the grant is written both in words and numerical symbols : but there is some disparity between the two. While it is clearly stated in words as śata-dvaya-shōḍaś-ōttarē, numerical symbol 2 in the hundred’s place and 6 in the ten’s place alone are written.[3] This appears to be the engraver’s mistake. The grant was drafted at the oral order of the king by Guṇag-ōpādhyāya and engraved by Mātṛichandra.[4] The royal praśasti set forth in the record under review does not materially differ from that found in the records of Dēvēndravarman, dated in years 183 and 195.[5] One Anantavarman is known from an earlier record[6] discovered in the village of Gurandi near Parlakimidi. This record, dated in __________________________________________________________ [1] Of the two other copper-plate grants found along with the present set, one belonging to Vajrahasta is edited
below while the other issued by the Māṭhara king Anantaśaktivarman has been published above, Vol. XXVIII
pp. 177 ff. and Plate. Of the two records published here, A is No. 6 and B No. 7 of A. R. Ep., 1951-52, App. A.
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