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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA 17 of the Uruvupalli plates ṇâ in line 3 of the plates of the Pallava Siṁhavarman (Ind. Ant. Vol. V. p. 155, Plate), and ṇâ in line 3 of the Halsî plates of the Kadamba Kâkusthavarman (ibid. Vol. VI. p. 23, Plate).[1] The usual test-letters, kh (in dulikham, l. 22), j, b[2]and l, are all of the earlier type ; but some other letters, such as the subscript ṭ of shṭi in lines 2 and 24, the sh of śrêshṭhinâ, l. 19, and some forms of y (as in Kaikêya, l. 7, samayâchâra, l. 18, yô, l. 24, and śriyâ, l. 11), seem to me to present so late an appearance that, in my opinion, this inscription can hardly be placed earlier than the seventh century A.D. The Draviḍian ḷ occurs in the names Vaḷḷâvi and Koḷa-Nallûra, l. 16 ; the sign of the jihvâmûlîya in duhkham, l. 22 ; and the sign of final m, the only final consonant which occurs, in ºpâlanam, ll. 22 and 23.─ The language of the inscription is Sanskṛit. After the words ôṁ svasti, the text opens with a verse eulogizing the god Hari (Vishṇu), and in lines 20-26 it contains four benedictive and imprecatory verses, ascribed to Manu ; otherwise it is in prose. The main part of the text, ll. 3-17, forms a single sentence, the construction of which is not quite correct, and which, except for the phrases with which it commences, reminds one of Pallava grants rather than of other Kadamba inscriptions. The orthography does not call for any particular remarks. The inscription is one of the Kadamba Mahârâja Kṛishṇavarman [II.], the son of the Mahârâja Siṁhavarman, who was a son of the Dharmamahârâja Vishṇuvarman, who was begotten by the Dharmamahârâja Kṛishṇavarman [I.] on a daughter of Kaikêya. It records (in ll. 13-17) that, on the fifth tithi and under the nakshatra Jyêshṭhâ in the waxing half of the month Kârttika, in the seventh year of his reign, the king granted the village Koḷa-Nallûra in the Vaḷḷâvi-vishaya to a Brâhmaṇ of the Kauśika gôtra, named Vishṇuśarman ; and adds (in ll. 17-20) that the king was advised (to make this donation) by the Śrêshṭhin Haridatta of the Tuṭhiyalla gôtra and pravara.
I consider it very probable that the Kṛishṇavarman I. of this inscription is the Dharmamahârâja Kṛishṇavarman who in the Dêvagere plates of the Yuvarâja Dêvavarman (Ind. Ant. Vol. VII. p. 33) is mentioned as the father of this Dêvavarman. Judging from the writing, the Dêvagere inscription undoubtedly is earlier than the present inscription ; the Kṛishṇavarman who is mentioned in it. like Kṛishṇavarman I. of this inscription, is described as aśvamêdha-yâjin, ‘ the performer of a horse-sacrifice ;’ and the (in these inscriptions unusual) statement of the present grant that Vishṇuvarman was Kṛishṇavarman’s son ‘ from the daughter of Kaikêya,’ seems pointedly to indicate that Kṛishṇavarman I. had one or more sons from another wife, and would thus agree with the fact that the Dêvagere grant is by a son of Kṛishṇavarman named Dêvavarman.─ The names of the Kadamba Mahârâjas Vishṇuvarman and Siṁhavarman do not occur in other inscriptions of the same family. Of the localities mentioned, the name of the Vaḷḷâvi vishaya appears to survive in ‘ Ballâvi,’ the name of a town in the Tumkûr district of Mysore, Constable’s Hand-Atlas of India, Plate 34, Cc ; the village Koḷa-Nallûra I am unable to identify. The date does not admit of verification. Judging from a number of native calendars, the nakshatra Jyêshṭhâ is joined more frequently with the 4th than with the 5th tithi of the bright
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