|
THE KALINGA KINGS
Umavarman.
9. Two copper-plate grants were received during the year from Chicacole in
the Vizagapatam district. One of them is an incomplete set (C. P. No. 22) which
consists of two copper-plates strung together on a ring bearing a thick oval seal
slightly tapering at the top and the bottom. On it is engraved a legend now
worn out. It is stated to have been discovered by a cultivator of Dhavaḷapēṭa
in the Chipurupalle taluk, who under the impression that the plates were of gold
seems to have melted down the third plate. It is written in characters of about the
5th century A. D. and is dated in the reign of Mahārāja Umavarman (of Kaliṅga).
The inscription has been published in the Journal of the Andhra Historical Research
Society (Vol. X, p. 143) by Mr. Manda Narasimham who had obtained the
plates on loan from the owner. It records a royal order issued from Sunagara
conferring the village of Kuttupu in the district of Mahēndra-bhōga on a
Brahman named Khallasvāmi of the Vasta-gōtra and the Chhandōga-śākhā and
his descendants. Two grants of this king have been found so far and the present
record adds one to the number (Ep. Rep. For 1935, Part II, para. 2).
Samantavarman.
10. The other set (C. P. No. 12) consists of tree plates but with no ring and
seal. It was in the possession of the Balaga Bāvāji-Mutt at Chicacole. The
inscription on them is engraved in charac-
ters of about the 7th century A. D. and
an article on it has already appeared in the Journal of Oriental Research (Vol.
XI., p. 55). It records an order issued by Sakala-Kaliṅgādhipati Mahārāja
Sāmantavarman in Saṁvat 185, from Śvētakādhishṭhāna granting the village
Phērava-grāma in Lōhaśriṅgāra-vishaya to Kīrttiśarman of the Bhāradvāja-gōtra
and his three sons.
The only other known record this king is the Dhanantara Plates published
in Epigraphia Indica (Vol. XV, p. 275) where almost the same praśasti is employ-
ed in describing the king, the only difference being in the use of the word Śvētakādhirājyaḥ in the Dhanantara Plates in place of the expression Kaliṅgā-
dhirājyaḥ used in the present grant, to denote the country acquired by him by
the strength of his arms. The saṁvat given here may be taken to refer to
the Gaṅga era, in which case the date of the record would correspond to
A. D. 678.
|
