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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
vaṁśa, “ the race that has the appellation Raṭṭa,” and in the formal praśasti, given in this
case in Sanskṛit prose, style Kârtavîrya IV., as usual, Raṭṭa-kuḷa-bhûshaṇa, “ an ornament of
the family of the Raṭṭas.”[1] The Nêsargi inscription of A.D. 1218 uses, throughout, the variant
of the name which presents the Drâviḍian r ; in Kanarese verses, it speaks of the Mâlkhêḍ kings
as Raṭṭ-ânvayar, “ those who were of the lineage of the Raṭṭas,” and of the their family as Raṭṭa-
vaṁśa, “ the race of the Raṭṭas,” and Raṭṭa-kuḷa, “ the family of the Raṭṭas,” and of the family
of the princes of Saundatti as Raṭṭa-vaṁśa, “the race of the Raṭṭas.”[2] The Saundatti inscription
of A.D. 1228, which has been quoted above as presenting the name Râshṭrakûṭa in connection
with the prince Lakshmidêva II., further speaks of him, in a preceding Kanarese verse, as Raṭta-vaṁś-ôdbhava, “ born in the race of the Raṭṭas,” and uses, also in Kanarese verses, and in connection with the princes, the expressions Raṭṭa-râjya, “ the rule of the Raṭṭas,” and Raṭṭa-râja
and Raṭṭ-ôrvipa, “ the Raṭṭa kings ;” and in the formal praśasti, in Kanarese prose, it styles
Lakshmidêva II., as usual, Raṭṭa-kuḷa-bhûshaṇa, “ an ornament of the family of the Raṭṭas.”[3]
And an inscription at Hannikere or Hannikêri, put together in A.D. 1257,[4] uses, throughout, the
variant of the name with the Drâviḍian r, and presents the name of the family of the kings of
Mâlkhêḍ as Raṭṭa-vaṁśa, “ the race of the Raṭṭas,” in a Kanarese verse, and as Raṭṭ-ânvaya,
“ the lineage of the Raṭṭas,” in Kanarese prose, and describes the prince Kârtavîrya III., in
Kanarese prose, as Raṭṭa-kuḷa-bhûshaṇa, “ an ornament of the family of the Raṭṭas,” and this
son Lakshmidêva II., in a Kanarese verse, as Raṭṭa-kuḷ-âgraṇi, “ a leader of the family of the
Raṭṭas.”
The form Raṭṭa, with the Drâviḍian r, has not as yet been found in any records of the
Râshṭrakûṭa kings of Mâlkhêḍ, It is met with, first, in the Saundatti record of A.D. 980. But,
from the other instances given above, it does not seem to have been used at all freely until about
the beginning of the thirteenth century A.D. It was not always used even then. It became,
however, so well established and well known a form of the name, that we find it used also in
extraneous records, and in the Nâgarî characters, though a special device had to be adopted to
represent it in that alphabet. That device was the doubling of the ordinary Nâgarî r, with the
result of presenting the name as Rraṭṭa, without, however, producing a double consonant strong
enough to lengthen a preceding short vowel.[5] And we have the name in this form in a Sanskṛit
verse in the Haraḷahaḷḷi plates of A.D. 1238, which contain a Dêvagiri-Yâdava record,[6] and again
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[1] Ind. Ant. Vol. XIX. p. 245, text line 6-7, and p. 247, line 87-88.
[2] Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. X. p. 240, text lines 4, 10, and p. 241, lines 11-12, 14.
[3] Archæol. Surv. West. Ind. Vol. III. p. 110, text lines 5, 6, 7, 10, and p. 112, line 52, and p. 113, line 62.
[4] See the article referred to in note 6 on p. 217 above.
[5] To the same expedient, the doubling of the ordinary r, recourse was had even in Reeve and Sanderson’s
Canarese Dictionary (1858), in the comparatively few instances in which an attempt was made to indicate the
Drâviḍian r in that work.
[6] Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. XV. p. 387, text line 27.─ The doubling of the r was effected here by placing
a superscript r over the ordinary r. The same means was also used in the Kanarese part of this record, written in
Nâgarî characters, in Kuṁbârragerrey=oḷage, for Kuṁbâragerey=oḷage, line 93, and in Kuṁbârragoḷana keḷage
for Kuṁbâragoḷana keḷage, line 97. And the same means was used in the word Rraṭṭa, quoted above from the
Bêhaṭṭi plates of A.D. 1253, and again in mârra-kâṁdu, for mâra-koṇḍu, in the Kanarese passage, given in Nâgarî
characters, at the end of the Behaṭṭi Kaḷachurya plates of A.D. 1183 (Ind. Ant. Vol. IV. p. 276, text line 87).
The same means was used in also Kirru-Valasig-âkhyaṁ, for Kiru-Valasig-âkhyaṁ, in the Halsî Kâdamba plates
of A.D. 1199 (Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. IX. p. 244, line 13).─ Another means of representing the Drâviḍian r
in Nâgarî characters, was, to double the Nâgarî r by making from the bottom of it an upstroke to the right similar
to the upstroke to the left in the ordinary r. This device was used in the spurious Indian Records in Ind. Ant. Vol.
which purport to have been issued in A.D. 445 (No. 49 in my list of Spurious Indian Records in Ind. Ant. Vol.
XXX. p. 221) ; here we have Heṁjarra for Heṁjera (Ind. Ant. Vol. VIII. p. 94, text line 12), and Heṁjerra
. . . . irridu for Heṁjera . . . . iridu (ibid. p. 95, text line 17).─ We have the double rr in Nâgarî,
for the Drâviḍian r, again in arruvaṇa, = aruvaṇa, in the Bhôj Raṭṭa plates of A.D. 1208 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XIX.
p. 247, text line 103). But I have not kept a note as to how the rr is formed there.
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