South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

TRANSLATION

May there be well ! Obeisance to the Lord. One Maṇḍapa for the Lord Bhūtagrāhaka has been completed by . vā who is the Dṛiśī-dhārikā (i.e. the female torch-bearer) of the illustrious Mahārāja Mā[na]sada, the son of Hārītī (i.e. the queen belonging to the Hārīta gotra), the Aira (and) the Gālaveya.

2. Mañchikallu Inscription of Pallava Siṁhavarman

The area covered by the writing measures about seventeen inches in length and nine inches in height. The lower part of the inscription is broken away and lost. There are altogether five lines of writing. The first letter of line 4 is damaged and the last two or three aksharas of it are broken away, while only a few letters of line 5 are visible. The aksharas, each measuring about ⅔″ X ⅔″ or more, are boldly and neatly engraved ; but some of them about the middle of all the lines are severely damaged.

The characters very closely resemble the Ikshvāku inscriptions from Jaggayapeṭa, Nāgārjunikoṇḍa and other places and little calls for special remark in this connection. The consonant t has a looped (cf. vardhaṁntike in line 2, kātūṇa in line 3, tethikāna in lines 3-4 and kātaṁ in line 4) as well as an unlooped (cf. sagottena in line 1, saṁnti in line 2 and kurttakāº in line 4) form. The letter n generally exhibits the unlooped form (cf. vardhaṁntike and saṁnti in line 2, tethikāna in lines 3-4). But ṇ shows both the looped (cf. ºdhareṇa in line 1, ºyāyaṇaṁ in line 3) and unlooped (cf. Palavāṇaṁ in line 1, ºvaṁmaṇa in line 2, kātūṇa in line 3) forms. Y is of two types ; cf. Bhāradaya in line 1 and vejayike in line 2. The medial ū mark in kātūṇa in line 3 is interesting to note. Double daṇḍa has been used to indicate the mark of punctuation after siddhaṁ in line 1. The record can be assigned, on palaeographical grounds, to a date about the second half of the third century A.D. to which the Ikshvāku epigraphs have been attributed, although the language and internal evidence, as discussed below, would suggest the close of the century. The letters niya, in Telugu-Kannaḍa characters of about the seventh century A.D., are found at the end of line 2 while there are traces of similar aksharas at the end of line 3 as well. These appear to have belonged to a different record which had nothing to do with the inscription under study and is now almost completely lost.

The language of the record is Prakrit ; but its orthography is considerably influenced by literary Prakrit and Sanskrit. Reduplication of consonants is noticed in siddhaṁ and sagottena in line 1, ap[p]aṇo in line 2 and bhaṭṭāº in line 4, while in line 5 we have the word kurtaka which not only exhibits the influence of Sanskrit in its spelling but is also of lexical interest. In vaṁmaṇa in line 2, however, anusvāra has been employed instead of the reduplication of m. Double nasal has been used in vardhaṁntike and saṁnti in the same line. In most cases, n has been changed to ṇ, although its use is noticed in a few words (cf. nti twice occurring in line 2 and na at the beginning of line 4). The seventh case-ending in e is used in pādamūle in line 5 and in vejayike and vardhaṁntike in line 2 ; but in the last two words the seventh case-ending seems actually to be meant for the fourth. These features are also noticed in other records ; e.g., the Mayidavolu plates of Pallava Śivaskandavarman^[1] have the passage : Sivakhaṁdavammo Dhaṁñakaḍe vāpataṁ ānapayati amhehi dāni amhavejayike dhaṁm-āyu-bala-vadhanike ya . . . . gāmo . . . . . saṁpadatto (Sanskrit Śiva-

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^[1] Some scholars are inclined to take śiva in the name as an honorific and Skandavarman as the real name of the king. This is unwarranted not only because śiva as an honorific is scarcely used singly without any other honorific like śrī as in the records of this ruler but also because the popularity of similar names like Śivaskanda, Bhavaskanda, Śivashaṇmukha, etc., in South India throughout the ages, can easily be demonstrated. Cf. The Successors of the Sātavāhanas, pp. 166-67.