Of the localities mentioned in this record Kâñchîpura (l. 1) is Conjeeveram, the ancient capital of the Pallavas, and Chendalûra is Chendalûr in the Nellore district, the village where the plates were unearthed. Karmâṅka- or Kammâṅka-râshṭra, i.e. ‘ the district named (after) Karma or Kamma,’ is mentioned as Karma-râshṭra in two Eastern Chalukya grants,^[1] and as Kamma-râshṭra in a third one.^[2]

The wording of this inscription is very similar to that of three other Pallava grants, which belong to the reign of Siṁhavarman, viz. the Pîkira, Mâṅgaḷûr and Uruvupalli grants.^[3] Nay, ll. 1-14 are almost identical with ll. 4-16 of the Uruvupalli grant.^[4] The names of the kings, however, differ in those three grants on the one hand and in the Chendalûr plates on the other, and no lineal connection can be established between both sets of kings. The name Skandavarman occurs in both, but Kumâravishṇu I., Buddhavarman and Kumâravishṇu II., who were the three direct descendants of Skandavarman according to the Chendalûr plates, are unknown to the three other grants. Nor do their names occur in the Pallava pedigree of the Kâśâkuḍi plates, which begins with Siṁhavishṇu.^[5] Under these circumstances our only guide can be the palæography of those different records. The alphabet of the Chendalûr plates is more archaic than those of the Kûram and Kâśâkuḍi plates, but resembles those of the Pîkira, Mâṅgaḷûr and Uruvupalli grants, from which it differs chiefly in the omission of the horizontal strokes at the top of letters. But a point which stamps it as more modern is the fact that r, k and subscribed u consist of two vertical lines of nearly equal length, while in the Pîkira, Maṅgaḷûr and Uruvupalli grants the left line is still considerably shorter. Hence we may conclude that the four Pallava kings of the Chendalûr plates ruled in the interval between Siṁhavarman and Siṁhavishṇu. It is to be hoped that future discoveries will enable us to bridge some of the gaps in the direct succession of the Pallavas, one of which is now partially filled by the information contained in the Chendalûr plates.

TEXT.^[6]

First Plate.

1 Svasti^[7] [||*] Jitam=bhagavatâ [||*] Svasti [||*] Vijaya-Kâñchî[p]urâd=abhyuchchita- śakti-
2 siddhi-sampannasya pratâp-ôpanata-râja-maṇḍalasya vasudhâ-tal-aika-[vîra]-
3 sya mahârâja-śrî-Skandavarmmaṇaḥ prapautrô dêva-dvija-guru-vṛiddh-â(ô)pa[châ]-
4 yinô vivṛiddha-vinayasy=ânêka-gô-hiraṇya-bhu(bhû)my-âdi-pradânaiḥ pravṛiddha- [dharmma-sa]-

Second Plate ; First Side.

5 ñchayasya prajâ-pâlana-dakshasya lôkapâlânâm=^[8]pañchamasya
6 lôkapâlasya satyâtmanô maharaja-śrî-Kumâravishṇôḥ pautrô bhagavad-bhakti-sa-
7 mbhâvita-sarvva-kalyâṇasy=âdi-râja-pratispa[r*]ddhi-guṇa-samudayasy=âmi-
8 tâtmanô mahârâja-śrî-Buddhavarmmaṇaḥ putraḥ prajâ-saṁrañjana-paripâlan-ôdyô-
________________________________________________________

^[1] Ind. Ant. Vol. VII. p. 187, text l. 12, and Vol. XX. p. 105, text l. 16.
^[2] See p. 238 below.
^[3] See p. 160 above.
^[4] Only the compound beginning with âdirâja is peculiar to the Chendalûr plates (l. 7).
^[5] South-Ind. Inscr. Vol. II. p. 344, and Dyn. Kan. Distr. p. 323.
^[6] From two sets of ink-impressions.
^[7] On the left margin of plate i.
^[8] Corrected from lôkapâlônâm =.