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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
surfaces, except the last, were raised into rims, to protect the writing. The outer side of the last
plate, having no such rims, is somewhat worn ; and a few letters there are more or less illegible.
But the rest of the record is in a state of very excellent preservation ; and the text of it is quite
clear and certain, throughout, except in one place in line 36.─ The ring, on which the plates are
strung, is about ½” thick and 4⅝” in diameter. It has been cut ; but it seems to be the same ring
which was attached to the plates, and which had not then been cut, when the record first came
under my observation, in 1877 or 1878. The seal, in which the ends of the ring are secured, is
circular, about 3” in diameter. It has, in relief on a countersunk surface,─ across the centre,
a boar, standing to the right (proper left), and the legend śrî-Tribhuvan[â*]ṁku[śa]ḥ, which
presents a motto of the kings of the dynasty and means “ the glorious elephant-goad of the
three world :” the śa, which is considerably damaged, stands behind the boar, and the visarga is
in front of the boar ; the rest of the legend is in one line above the boar. Above these, there
is an elephant-goad, with the sun and moon above it. And, below the boar, there is a floral device,
apparently an expanded water-lily shewing seven or eight petals.─ The characters belong to the
southern class of alphabets, and are of the regular type of the locality and period to which the
record belongs. They range in size from a little more than ⅛” to nearly ¼”. The engraving,
though good, is not very deep ; and, the plates being substantial, the letters do not shew through
on the reverse sides.
Marks of the working of the engraver’s tool can be seen in many places, both
in the interiors of the letters, and in the copper which was pushed up by the tool at the sides of
them ; such marks on the sides of the letters, caused in the same way, can be seen very clearly in
the lithograph of the Korumelli plates of Râjarâja I.[1] The lingual ḍ is distinguished from the
dental d by a slight but marked prolongation upwards of the end of the character. The record
presents final forms of k in line 17, of t in lines 8, 29, 31, 32, 42, 60, and 73, of n in lines 11
and 31, and of m in lines 10, 12, 13, 14 (twice), 15, 35, and 71. In line 15 it presents a peculiar
mark of punctuation, regarding which reference may be made to the foot-note to that passage.
As regards palæography,─ the guttural ṅ does not occur. The kh, j, b, and l, all present the later
cursive forms, throughout. The initial short i occurs three times ; once in line 43, and twice in line
66. In each instance, it is of the old square type, but the actual form of it presents the following
abnormal feature. The full form of the old square initial short i of the alphabet with which we
are concerned, considered of an upper component which may be likened to the outstretched wings
of a hovering bird, and of a separate bottom part which considered sometimes of two circles, as
may be seen very clearly in iti, the last word of the Haidarâbâd plates of Pulakêśin II. of A.D. 612;[2]
and sometimes of two points or dots, as may be seen in iva, line 15, No. 15, and in iv=, line 40,
the last akshara but four, of the Diggubarru grant of Châlukya-Bhîma II. of the period A.D.
934 to 945.[3] The peculiarity in the present record is, that the ends of the upper component
have been brought right down to the lower line of the writing, and the bottom components
have been omitted. The form of the letter thus presented is not a transitional form, but is a
variety of the old square type. It may be characterised as more or less of a freak. But it
cannot be stamped as a mistake. I have found one similar instance, in the word iti in line 23
of the Kolavennu plates of the period A.D. 934 to 945 ;[4] and there it might perhaps be treated as
a mistake, because the two bottom components are duly shewn in that record, as points, in indur,
line 19, and itham, line 22. In the present record, however, there is no such contrast : the
abnormal form only is presented ; and it was plainly intended.─ In lines 73, 74, there is a Telugu
passage, for the translation of which I am indebted to Dr. Hultzsch ; and lines 65, 66 present
some Telugu words, including the genitive Iḍiyûri. But, with those exceptions, the language
is Sanskrit throughout. There are two of the customary benedictive and imprecatory verses in
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[1] Ind. Ant. Vol. XIV. p. 52, Plate iv. a, the last four or five lines, and Plate v.
[2] Id. Vol. VI. p. 73, Plate.
[3] Id. Vol. XIII. p. 214, Plate.
[4] South-Ind. Inscrs. Vol. I. p. 45. A lithograph, however, has not bâeen given there ; and I am quoting from
ink-impressions.
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