Annual Reports

INTRODUCTION

ANNUAL REPORT ON INDIAN EPIGRAPHY FOR THE YEAR 1947-48

   During the year 1947-48 eight copper-plate records were examined and impressions of 244 stone inscriptions were taken and studied. As usual the largest number of stone inscriptions comes from South India.

Copper Plates

   From the Curator of the Lucknow Museum were received impressions of four copper-plate records, the originals of which are preserved in the Śiva temple at Pāṇḍukēśvar, Garhwal District, Uttar Pradesh. Two of them (Nos. 5 and 6) are issued by Lalitaśūradēva, the third (No. 7) by Padmaṭadēva and the fourth (No. 8) by Subhiksharājadēva. Lalitaśūradēva describes himself as the son of Ishṭagaṇadēva and grandson of Nimbara. Padmaṭadēva and his son Subhiksharājadēva apparently belonged to another family as the genealogy found in their records is different. It is as follows :─Salōṇāditya, his son Ichchhaṭadēva, his son Dēsaṭadēva, his son Padmaṭadēva whose son was Subhiksharājadēva. While the charters of Lalitaśūradēva and Pamaṭadēva are issued from Kārttikēyapura, those of Subhiksharājadēva are issued from Subhikshapura, a new city which he apparently founded after his own name. We have no means of ascertaining when these chiefs ruled ; but the palaeography of their records may be referred to the 9-10th century A.D. Since the paleography of their inscriptions is more or less alike, the two sets of rulers would not have been far removed from each other in point of time.

   The Kasare plates of Nikumbhāllaśakti (No. 3) may be mentioned as a worthy acquisition of the year under review. The record helps us to determine the form of the name of one of the members of the Sēndraka dynasty, viz., Alla-śakti who was hitherto known to historians as Nikumbhallaśakti which was not capable of being properly interpreted.

Stone Inscriptions

   Among the stone inscriptions, the earliest is a Tamil record of Mahārāja Paramēśvaravarman discovered in the Chingleput District, Madras State (No. 83). It refers to the erection of a temple by Sōmāśiyār and others during the first year of the king’s reign. The record may be assigned on palaeographic grounds to the 7th century A. D. and may therefore be taken to be of Pallava Paramēśvaravarman I.

   An inscription (No. 14) at Kottūru in the Tadpatri taluk, Anantapur District, refers itself to the reign of the Western Chālukya king Vijayāditya Satyāśraya and is dated in the fourth year of his reign. It states that a chief of the Bāṇa family was governing the district of Vaṅganūr-vishaya as a feudatory of the king and records a gift of land at Peṇukaparu to a Brāhmaṇa of the Bhāradvāja-gōtra. A record (No. 194) from Guḍuguḍi, Dharwar District, Bombay State, belongs to the reign of the Western Chālukya king Vikramāditya, who seems to be the second king of that name and it refers to the construction of a tank. From the same place comes an inscription on a hero-stone (No. 195) of the reign of the Rāshṭrakūṭa king Amōghavarsha which records the death of nālgāvuṇḍa Kalirūpa, along with others, when Kaliga of Beḷvola made an attack. Another Rāshṭrakūṭa record (No. 203) of the time of Indra and dated in Śaka 846, comes from Lakshmīpur in the same district. It gives the interesting information that at the time of the record Ajavarmarasa of the Kadamba family was holding the office of nālgāvuṇḍa and that Banavāsi 12000 province had been divided into two parts which were being administered by Baṅkeya and Śaṅkaragaṇḍa. A record of the Rāshṭrakūṭa king Jagattuṅga which comes from Śāvikēri (No. 227) refers to one Rājāditya of the Saḷuki family as the governor of Banavāsi-maṇḍala and states that his wife Śri-Mādēvī was administering the division of Samakarige twelve. Samakarige, the chief town of the division, is identical with modern Śāvikēri where the record was found.