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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA Butterworth, I.C.S., to Mr. Venkayya. They are now edited from two sets of inked estampages received from Mr. Venkayya, who supplies the following description of the original :─ “ The copper-plates are five in number and have no rims. The first and the last plate bear writing on the inner side only. In the upper and lower borders the plates are not so broad as in the middle ; their breadth accordingly varies from 91/16″ to 9¼″. The height too gradually decreases from either margin to the middle of the plate─ it being roughly 27/16″ in the margins and 2⅜″ in the middle. At a distance of 5/16″ from the middle of the left margin of each plate is bored a circular hole, also 5/16″ in diameter ; and through these holes passes an oval ring (cut by me for the first time with permission and soldered), measuring 2½″ by 3″, and ¼″ thick. Its ends are secured in the base of an almost circular seal, which measures about 1⅝″. It bears, in relief on a plane surface, the legend Śrî-Vijayasiddh[i] in the middle ; below the legend is a seven-petalled lotus in relief ; and above the legend is the crescent of the moon between two symbols which may be taken to be daggers pointing upwards. The total weight of the plates with ring and seal is 84 tolas. The originals have been returned to Mr. Suryanarayana Rao.” The inscription is carefully engraved and on the whole well preserved. The alphabet resembles that of the two published copper-plate grants of Sarvalôkâśraya’s father Vishṇuvardhana II.[1] A final form of t occurs in ll. 2, 33 (twice), 37, and one of m in l. 41. The lingual ḷ is used in Chaḷukyânâṁ (l. 5), laḷita (l. 22), Koḷḷiº (l. 28) and Kâḷabava (l. 29 f.), and the Telugu r in ll. 25 and 29. The first plate bears on the left margin the numerical symbol ‘ 1 ’; but the remaining plates are not numbered.
The language is Sanskṛit prose ; two Sanskṛit ślôkas ‘ sung by Brahman ’ are quoted in ll. 37-39. The rules of Sandhi are disregarded in the two compounds bhagavat-śrî- (l. 2) and asmat-śâsanam (l. 33), and frequently between two words (ll. 4, 6, 9, 11, 16, 19, 21, 22, 24, 26, 30, 31, 35). The inscription records a grant of land by the Mahâraja Sarvalôkâśraya (l. 24), son of the M. Vishṇuvardhana (II.) (l. 16), grandson of the M. Indrabhaṭṭârakavarman (l. 10 f.), and great-grandson of the M. Vishṇuvardhana (I.), ‘ who adorned the family of the Chaḷukyas ’ (l. 5 f.). Some of the laudatory epithets bestowed on Indrabhaṭṭârakavarman and Vishṇuvardhana II. were evidently copied from inscriptions or office records of the Pallavas,[2] who had been supplanted by the Eastern Chalukyas. Indrabhaṭṭârakavarman seems to have borne the surname Siṁhavikrama (l. 8), and Vishṇuvardhana II. that of Makaradhvaja.[3] Sarvalôkâśraya’s valour and royal splendour are praised in two compound words which fill five lines (16-21), but which contain nothing of any historical interest. His surname Vijayasiddhi, which occurs also on the seal of this grant, is alluded to in the next compound :[4] ‘ he who has obtained the accomplishment of victory (vijaya-siddhi) by crushing the daring (of enemies) in many battles (l. 21 f.).
In later inscriptions of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty[5] this king Vijayasiddhi or Sarvalôkâśraya is named Maṅgiyuvarâja. To his reign has to be referred the date at the end of the
subjoined inscription (l. 39 f.) : “ (This) set of copper-plates (paṭṭikâ) was given (to the
donees) on the occasion of an eclipse on the full-moon tithi of Vaiśâkha in the second
[1] See the Plates in Ind. Ant. Vol. VII. p. 191, and Vol. VIII. p. 320.
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