South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

It appears from the foregoing abstract that the majority of the villages were granted to Brâhmaṇas, but that, in spite of that, and though Kêta II. and his predecessors were worshippers of Śiva-Amarêśvara,^[1] he granted three villages and two lamps to Buddha, and two further lamps were granted to Buddha by two of the inmates of his harem. This proves what is already suggested by the second verse of the inscription, that at the time of Kêta II. the Buddhist religion continued to have votaries in the Telugu country and was tolerated and supported by the Hindû rules of Amarâvatî. I hope I am not unjust to Kêta II. if I suggest that his gifts to Buddha were a case of ‘ Cherchez la femme !’ The two dêvîs of his who granted lamps to Buddha may have been Buddhist upâsikâs and may have induced him to join them in making donations to their own god, though he professed the Śaiva creed. It may have been to atone for his apostasy that he subsequently granted a large number of villages to Brâhmaṇas, as recorded in the inscription.

The villages granted by Kêta II. belonged to four different districts :─ Kaṇḍravâḍi, Doḍḍaikaṇḍravâḍi, Koṇḍapaḍumaṭi and Goṇḍanâtavâḍi. Kaṇḍravâḍi is evidently the same as the Kaṇḍeruvâḍi-vishaya of the Eastern Châlukya inscriptions,^[2] which also mention an Uttara-Kaṇḍeruvâḍi-vishaya.^[3] Doḍḍikaṇḍravâḍi is perhaps meant for Doḍḍakaṇḍravâḍi, i.e. ‘ the great Kaṇḍravâḍi.’ The district of Koṇḍapaḍumaṭi corresponds to the eastern portion of the Sattenapalli tâluka of the Kistna district ; for, the village of Mêḍukoṇḍûru, Ḍoṅkiparru, Sattenapalli, Chintapalli and Erragunṭa^[4] are identical with the modern Medikondur, Dokiparru, Sattenapalli, Chintapalli and Yerraguntapadu.^[5] Goṇḍanâtavâḍi is identical with the Konnâtavâḍî-vishaya which was ruled over by Kêta II. according to the Yenamadala inscription.^[6] It corresponds to the western portion of the Sattenapalli tâluka ; for, the villages of Giñjipâḍu, Challagarâ, Tâḍivâya, Kuṇṭimaddi and Uppalapâḍu^[7] are identical with the modern Gunjapalli, Challagaregi, Taduvaya, Kuntamaddi and Vuppalapadu.^[8]

The date of the present inscription was probably the very day of the accession of Kêta II. to the throne.^[9] Two other inscriptions of the Amarêśvara temple (Nos. 257 and 264 of 1897) are dated on the very same day. From the first of them we learn that Sabbâ (or Sabbamâ), the mother of Kêta II., was the sister of Goṅka,^[10] who is probably identical with Goṅka III. of Velanâṇḍu.^[11] Later inscriptions of Kêta II. at Amarâvatî and Peddacherukûru are dated in Śaka-Saṁvat 1119, 1122 and 1132.^[12]

TEXT.^[13]
East Face.^[14]

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^[1] See verse 3 and l. 113 f.
^[2] See above, Vol. V. p. 119.
^[3] Ibid. p. 127.
^[4] Kêtepalli cannot be identified.
^[5] Nos. 188, 186, 148, 22 and 154 on the Madras Survey Map of the Sattenapalli tâluka.
^[6] Above, Vol. III. p. 102, v. 11.
^[7] Kôkallu and Ammalapûṇḍi cannot be identified.
^[8] Nos. 19, 20, 21, 18 and 51 on the Madras Survey Map of the Sattenapalli tâluka.
^[9] See below, p. 155, note 2.
^[10] No. 257 of 1897, ll. 29 to 33 :─

^[11] See above, Vol. IV. pp. 35, 37 and 38.
^[12] Nos. 261, 251 and 244 of 1897.
^[13] From an inked estampage, prepared in 1897 by Mr. H. Krishna Sastri.
^[14] All the verses of this face, with the exception of verse 2, are found also on the east face of No. 262 of 1897.
^[15] Expressed by a symbol.