South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

The eight copper plates are marked with the numerical symbols ‘ 1 ’ to ‘ 8 ’ on the left of the second line of each plate. On plates ii. to viii. the figure occupies the first side, but the figure ‘ 1 ’ stands on the second side of the first plate. The reason of this is that the writing on the first side of the first plate does not form part of the inscription itself (which begins on the second side of the first plate), but is a king of docket which was probably added after the remaining 15 pages had been engraved. In ll. 12 to 15, 20, 22 and 41 occur further instances of numerical symbols, among them ‘ 10 ’ (l. 41) and ‘ 20 ’ (l. 22). A dash resembling the symbol ‘ 1 ’ is used as a mark of punctuation at the end of 12 lines, and after 3 words in the middle of lines.

The inscription refers itself to the reign of the king (râjan, l. 5) or, as he is styled on the seal, the Mahârâja Jayavarman, who belonged to the gôtra of the Bṛihatphalâyanas and was a worshipper of Mahêśvara (Śiva). From his camp (or capital), the town Kûdûra, he informs his executive officer at Kûdûra that he has granted the village Pâṇṭûra in the district of Kûdûra (Kûdûrabâra, l. 23) to eight Brâhmaṇas. The royal order was copied on copper plates by a military officer on the 1st day of the 1st fortnight of winter of the 10th year (of the king’s reign, l. 41).

Neither Jayavarman nor his gôtra are known from other records. The alphabet of his inscription shows that he must have lived in the same period as the Pallava prince Śivaskandavarman who issued the Mayidavôlu plates. Further, the language and phraseology of the inscription are so similar to the Nâsik inscriptions^[1] of Gautamîputra Sâtakarṇi (Nos. 4 and 5)^[2] and Vâsishṭhiputra Puḷumâyi (No. 3) that Jayavarman’s date cannot have been very distant from that of those two Andhra kings. The archaic Sanskṛit alphabet of the seal of the new plates is corroborative evidence in the same direction.

As suggested by Mr. Ramayya, Kûdûrahâra may be a more ancient form of Gudrahâra, Gudravâra, Gudrâvâra or Gudrâra.^[3] The same district is probably mentioned in the plates of Vijayanandivarman (l. 3), where I propose to read from the photo-lithograph Kudrâhâra instead of Kuḍuhâra, the reading of the printed texts.^[4] Kûdûra, which was the head-quarters of this district and the residence of king Jayavarman, and the village Pâṇṭûra I am unable to identify.

TEXT.^[5]

First Plate ; Second Side.

1 S . [v] . pato^[6] vijaya-khaṁdhâvârâ
2 nagarâ Kûdûrâto
3 Mahêśvara-pâda-parigahito

Second Plate ; First Side.

4 Bṛihatphalâyana-sagoto
5 râjâ siri-Jayavaṁmo
6 ânapayati Kûdûre

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^[1] A still closer resemblance exists between Jayavarman’s plates and the Kârlê inscription No. 19, at the beginning of which the king’s name is lost ; see below, p. 319, notes 1 and 7.
^[2] I am quoting the Andhra inscriptions according to Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji’s numbering in the Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. XVI. (Nâsik), and Inscription from the Cave-temples of Western India (Kârlê).
^[3] See South-Ind. Inscr. Vol. I. p. 47, note 1 ; above, Vol. IV. p. 34, and Vol. V. p. 123.
^[4] Ind. Ant. Vol. p. 176, and Dr. Burnell’s South-Ind. Pal., second ed., p. 135.
^[5] From the original plates.
^[6] The two first letters are broken away at the top. The lower portion of the letter v is preserved on a separate piece of the plate, which is broken off and therefore could not be shown on the accompanying photo-zincograph. Of the two possible restorations, sava (sarva) and siva (śiva), the second appears preferable, because documents generally open with a word of auspicious import.