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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA Hattî-Mattûr, or “ cotton-Mattûr,”─ evidently so called to distinguish it from a neighbouring village, which seems to be know either as simply Mattûr, or as Ḍombara-Mattûr, “ Mattûr of the Ḍôms or Gipsies,”─ is a village about six miles N.-N.-W. from Karajgi, the head-quarters of the Karajgi tâluka of the Dhârwâr district. The Indian Atlas sheet No. 42 (1872) shews it as ‘ Huttee Muttoor.’ It is mentioned, by its full appellation, in the Bhairanmaṭṭi inscription of the period A.D. 1069 to 1076, which speaks of the (measuring) -rod of Pattiya-Mattaüra.[1] The present record mentions a village named Maltavur, which may be either Hattî-Mattûr itself, or the other Mattûr, which is three miles and a half S.-E.-by-E. from Hattî-Mattûr. The inscription is on a vîrgal or monumental tablet, on the bank of the tank at Hattî-Mattûr. The upper part of the stone is occupied by sculptures, which shew, in the centre, a liṅga, with a priest standing to it ; on the proper right, the bull Nandi, with the sun above it ; and on the proper left, a cow and calf, with the moon above them.─ The writing, which is in a state of good preservation, covers an area about 1ʹ 11½ʺ broad by 1ʹ 5½ʺ high.─ The characters are Kanarese, boldly formed and well executed. The size of them[2] ranges from about 1ʺ in the ê of êridor, line 4, to about 1⅝ʺ in the i of ivu, line 5 ; and the śrî in line 1 is about 3⅜ʺ high. The characters include final forms, or forms with the virâma attached, of r in lines 3 and 4, and of ḷ in lines 3 and 5. As regards the palæography,─ the kh does not occur. The j and the ṅ occur in râjyaṅ, line 2, Nos. 4 and 5 ; and they are both of the old square type, closed. The b occurs in irbbara, line 5, No. 6, and is, similarly, of the old square type, closed. The l occurs three times : it, also, is of the old square type, but with rather a marked prolongation and sweep to the right of the downstroke with which the formation of the character ended ; this feature, which was the first step in the development of the later cursive type of the character, can be seen very clearly in the la of Akâla, line 1, No. 6, and also in âlayake, line 4.─ The language is Kanarese, of the archaic type, in prose.─ The orthography does not present anything calling for comment
The inscription refers itself to the reign of a king Akâlavarsha, who, because of the locality to which the record belongs and of the standard of the characters, is to be identified with the Râshṭrakûṭa king Akâlavarsha-Śubhatuṅga-Kṛishṇa I.[3] The object of it is to record the death, in some local affray, of two heroes named Dâsamma and Ereya. The record is not dated. But it is to be placed after A.D. 754, which date we have for Dantidurga, the predecessor of Kṛishṇa I., and before A.D. 783-84, which date we have for his successor. And we may place it roughly about A.D. 765. TEXT.[4]
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