South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

No. 7.─ CHIKMAGALUR INSCRIPTION OF RACHAMALLA III. ; OF THE PERIOD

A.D. 989─1005.

BY J. F. FLEET, I.C.S. (RETD.), PH.D., C.I.E.

Chikmagaḷûr, or more precisely Chikka-Magaḷûr, is the head-quarters town of the Kaḍûr district, and of the Chikmagaḷûr tâluka of that district, in Mysore. In the Indian Atlas sheet No. 43, N.E. (1892), it is shewn as ‘ Chikmagalur,’ in lat. 13º 19′, long. 75º 50′. In the present record, as in some others, it is mentioned as Kiriya-Muguḷi, “ the smaller or junior Muguḷi.” The piriya-Muguḷi, or “ larger or senior Muguḷi,” of the record, is the modern Hirêmagaḷûr or Hirê-Magaḷûr, shewn in the Atlas sheet as simply ‘ Magalur,’ about one mile east-by-south from Chikmagaḷûr ; in an inscription of A.D. 959 (? 958) at Uppahaḷḷi (Ep. Carn. Vol. VI., Cm. 42 ; regarding the date, see note 1 on page 56 below), Piriya-Muguḷi seems to be referred to as simply Muguḷi. Local imagination, as reported by Mr. Rice in his Mysore, revised edition, Vol. II., pp. 379, 395, 396, would account for the names by alleging that one village was the dowry of the eldest daughter (hirê-magaḷu, piriya-magaḷ), and the other was the dowry of a younger daughter (chikka-magaḷu, kiriya-magaḷ), of the epic king Rukmâṅgada, whose capital is locally supposed to have been Sakarâypaṭṇa or Sakkarêpaṭṇa, a village about thirteen miles towards the north-east of Chikmagaḷûr. But it is quite plain that that idea is based upon nothing but the modern corrupted form of the essential name of the two places, namely magaḷûr for muguḷiyûr. And, as has practically been already suggested by Mr. Rice (loc. cit. p. 379), the original name is no doubt to be attributed to a local abundance of the muguḷi-tree, Acacia suma.

The inscription, which is on a stone standing on the north of the kalyâṇi,─ apparently a square pond with steps on all sides,─ in the fort at Chikmagaḷûr, has been published by Mr. Rice in his Ep. Carn. Vol. VI. (1901), Kaḍûr district, Cm. 3, transliterated texts p. 95, translations p. 35, Kanarese texts p. 154. I now edit it, partly from the Kanarese text, and partly from a photograph which Mr. Rice kindly sent me in December, 1899. The photograph is not as distinct as ink-impression or an estampage would be. But it shews quite clearly all the historically important part of the record, lines 1 to 7. And it suffices, with the help of the Kanarese text, to make the decipherment of the remainder satisfactory, except in respect of a very few doubtful syllables which I have placed in square brackets with queries attached to them.

According to the entry above Mr. Rice’s Kanarese text, the size of the stone is 2′ 6″ broad by 5′ 0″ high.─ The photograph shews above the writing, an elephant, which must be about 1′ 3″ high, standing to the right (proper left) : its trunk hangs straight down, almost to the ground, with the tip turned up inwards ; and it seems to have a surcingle, like the elephant above the Peggûr inscription of A.D. 978, Ind. Ant. Vol. VI. p. 101, No I and Plate opposite Coorg Inscrs. p. 7.─ The area covered by the writing must be about 3′ 3″ high. It is somewhat irregular in shape ; and if we understand that 2′ 6″ is its extreme breadth, then in line 1 it is about 1′ 9″ broad, and the breadth gradually increases to the full measure of 2′ 6″ in line 11 or 12, and maintains that measure as far as the end. The writing seems sufficiently well preserved for a good ink-impression or estampage to make the whole of it quite legible without any doubt.─ The characters are Kanarese, boldly formed and evidently well executed. And they are of a type which is fairly referable to any time about A.D. 1000. Of the usual test-letters, the kh is absent ; the ṅ, which occurs four times, in lines 9, 10, 12 and 16, and the j, b, and l, are all of the fully developed later type. The initial short i occurs four times, in iṇṇûru for innûru, line 9, in int=, line 12, in i (for î) koḍaṅgeyaṁ, line 12, and in indavûrada, line 16 ; and in each case it is of the fully developed later type : the importance of this palæograghic