South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

been done=calculated) in line 17, Sīva-prāphtē (i.e. on having obtained Śiva=after death) in lines 18-19, jamīlā hōi (i.e. having been born) in lines 30-31, āchā[ra*]vanta hōilā tāpasāṅka (i.e. of the ascetics who have been [devoted] followers of the rules of conduct) in lines 31-32, jētē kāḷa cha[ṁ*]-dra-sujya crata (i.e. so long as the sun and the moon exist) in lines 32-33, ētēka kāḷaṅka vasa vratīvāka (i.e. to exist for this much time) in lines 33-34, etc., are interesting.

The expression ēkaütī (line 16) seems to mean the same thing as Sanskrit ēkatra or ēkatrita (i.e. brought together) while asīā-śatakē kīlākai (line 24) appears to mean ‘ in respect of a written [document] involving one hundred and eighty [gold coins] ’. The word maḍāmaḍē in the locative in line 31 seems to stand for maṭh-āmaṭhē in the sense of ‘ in various maṭhas ’, i.e. in any maṭha in the three countries mentioned in the context, viz., Chōḍa-dēśa, Pāṇḍya-dēśa and Kāñchī-dēśa. But Sanskrit maṭha is modified to maḍha in line 5.

The Tamil section of the record exhibits some palæographical and linguistic features which are apparently due to the inscription being written in Orissa. Grantha characters have often been used in Sanskrit words. The use of medial ī exhibiting a tendency towards the formation of a loop at its right, which distinguishes it from medial i, is clear in Kīrtti (line 6), prī (line 12) and nīr (line 29). The sign for medial i in ºvanilā in line 32 is indicated by projecting the top mātrā of the letter n almost making a loop of it. This may be compared with the slightly different form of the same akshara in taniśu in lines 15-16. The letter ṭ(=ḍ) in the word māḍai is written in two different ways. In lines 23 and 27 it is written in the usual Tamil form, while in lines 16 and 17 it is written with a downward curve as in Grantha, the latter form being comparable with ṭ in bhaṭṭar in lines 8 and 21 and in poṭṭi in line 27. It is possible that the pronunciation of the word māḍha was not clear to the person who drafted the Tamil section of the epigraph. The rēpha is indicated by a vertical stroke even where the Tamil forms of the Sanskrit words are used, e.g., Kārttikai in lime 3 and Kīrttivāsattil in line 6, though the corresponding sign in Tamil was not unknown to the engraver (cf. vārttu in line 29).

The use of the expressions rāśi-maitram (lines 21-22) and ilandu (line 24) is interesting. Rāśimaitram means the friendship arising from two person being born under the same rāśi or zodiacal sign. This interpretation is made clear in the Oriya part (lines 20-23) of the record. The other expression ilandu seems to have been used in the sense of ‘having written off’: The significance of the expression maḍāmaḍam (line 31) is not clear, though the context seems to suggest the meaning ‘in various monasteries’.

Both the Oriya and Tamil parts of the inscription bear the same date and refer to the same transaction, though-with slight difference in the details. The inscription is dated in the 22nd year of Śrī-Vīra-Naranārasiṁhadēva or Śrī-Vīra-Nārasiṁhadēva and the details of the date are quoted as Kārtikka-ba. 7, Sunday. The reigning Gaṅga monarch is called Naranārasiṁha in the Oriya part (lines 1, 27) and Narasiṁha in the Tamil section (lines 1-2, 30) ; but in line 5 of the former and lines 10-11 of the latter a king named Narasiṁha is mentiond with the distinguishing epithets vaḍa in Oriya and periya in Tamil, both meaning ‘nig’. Apparently the elder Narasiṁha was one of the predecessors of Nārasiṁha or Narasiṁha during whose reign the inscription under study was incised. A Telugu inscription^[1] from the Simhachalam temple, dated Śaka 1306, Chatira-ba. 6, Wednesday, corresponding to the 25th March 1383 A.D., record the gifts of the queens of Gajapati Peda-Narasiṁharāja and Vīra-Bhānudēvarāja. The word peda or pedda means ‘big’ in Telugu exactly as Oriya vaḍa and Tamil periya.^[2] The Simhachalam epigraph belongs to the reign of Gaṅga Narasiṁha IV (1378-1402 A.D.) and king Bhānu mentioned in it can be none other than his father Bhānu III (c. 1353-78 A.D.). Peda Narasiṁha seems

_____________________________________________________

^[1] SII, Vol. VI, No. 752 (pp. 285-86).
^[2] In medieval Tamil inscriptions of the Chōḷas, a past king is often mentioned as periya-dēvar. Cf. above, Vol. XXI, p. 189, text lines 7 and 10 ; Vol. XXIV, p. 159 ; Vol. XXV, p. 84.