EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
No. 22.- KONDAVIDU PILLAR INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF
KRISHNARAYA OF VIJAYANAGARA ;
SAKA-SAMVAT 1442.
BY H. LÃDERS, PH.D. ; GÃTTINGEN.
Inked estampages of this inscription[4] were sent to me by Dr. Hultzsch through Prof.
Kielhorn with the following note : “ On four faces of a pillar near the agrahâra at Koṇḍavîḍu.
The pillar is supported on two sides (north and south) by stones which made it impossible to copy
and ink the top lines of the inscription in full.”[5]
The inscription contains 166 lines of writing. The average size of the letters is ¾″.─ The
alphabet is Telugu and, with few exceptions, resembles that of the Maṅgalagiri inscription.[6]
Several times ka appears here in the old form ; see e.g. ll. 3, 6, 15, 16, 30, 43, 118, 145 (ka) ;
27, 111 (kâ) ; 142, 146 (ki) ; 11 (kî) ; 17, 157 (ku) ; 7 (kṛi) ; 11 (kê) 142 (kku), while such
forms as ka in ll. 7, 64, ku in l. 46, kê in l. 92, kau in l. 39, may be called transitional. The sha
occasionally shows the younger form occurring also in the Vânapalli plates ; see ll. 69 (sha) ; 24
(shṭha) ; 33 (kshmâ). Ḷa appears throughout in the form of the Biṭraguṇṭa grant and the
Vânapalli plates. in dha the ottu is used only in dhi in l. 19 (vârâṁ nidhir), dhî in l. 72, and
in the subscript dh of dhdha in l. 34. But in gha and ḍha it is used quite regularly, and in
bha it is only missing in bhû, bhu, bhô in l. 163, and in bhṛi in ll. 5, 59 and bhyâ in l. 7 on
account of the subscript sign. In the groups rma, rya and rva the full sign of r is generally
used, but in ryû in l.
20 and rmmyai in ll. 28, 92 it appears in the secondary forms, as in all
other combinations, and in rvê in l. 163 and rma in l. 165 it is expressed both by the full and the
secondary sign.─ The language is Sanskṛit from the beginning to l. 108, and again from the
middle of l. 162 to the end. The rest is in Telugu.[7] With exception of the concluding words
śrî śrî śrî in l. 108, the Sanskṛit portion is in verse, whereas the Telugu portion is in prose
throughout.─ The orthography calls for few remarks. In the interior of a word k, g, ch, t, d
and v, if followed by a vowel, are generally doubled after anusvâra ; exceptions are śaṁkur
(l. 20), -âṁkuraḥ (l. 21), -âṁka (l. 34), saptâṁgô- (l. 29), paṁchâ- (l. 107), maṁdâra (l. 12),
Maiṁdavôluṁ (l. 102), and several words in the Telugu portion (see for ṁk ll. 127, 145 ; ṁg ll.
113, 115, 130, 141, 156, 158 ; ṁch ll. 117, 118, 119, 145, 153, 157 ; ṁd ll. 111, 121, 135). ḍ
also is doubled in śrîkhaṁḍḍa (l. 76), Koṁḍḍavîṭî(ṭî) (ll. 98, 111), and dh in baṁdhdhushu (l.
40), -âruṁdhdhatî (l. 41) ; compare also chiṁttapaṁdhdhu for ºpaṁḍu in l. 134, tr in written ttr
____________________________________________________________________________________ [4] No. 242 of the Government Epigraphist’s collection for the year 1892.
[5] This defect is not very serious, as the few missing aksharas in ll. 87-89 can easily be replaced from other
inscriptions.
[6] See my remarks, above, p. 108 f.
[7] The text and translation of the Telugu portion have been contributed by Mr. H. Krishna Sastri.
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