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THE IKHAKU KINGS
Maharaja Purisadata, 4th year.
10. The earliest inscription in the year’s collection (No. 335) comes from
Gurazāla in the Palnad taluk of the Guntur district. It is written in Brāhmī
characters of the 3rd century A.D., and
couched in a local dialect of the Prākṛit
of the period. It records a gift of land (khēta) called Bhāḍuka (or Tāḍuka) made
by the lord of Halampūra to the Bhagavat (i.e., the Buddha) for the increase
of his life, on the 13th day in the 6th fortnight of grīshma, falling in the 4th regnal
year of Mahārāja Sirināthu Purisadata. The king mentioned here is evidently identical with Siri Vīra-Purisadata who figures in a number of Brāhmī inscriptions of Nāgārjunakoṇḍa, as the son of Chāntamūla. The donor, the lord of
Halampūra, is not specified by name in the record, nor is it stated where the temple
of Buddha for which the gift is made, was situated. But from the remains of a
the donation refers to the Buddha temple at Reṇṭāla only. The village Halampūra from where the donor hailed, may be identified preferably with Allūru in
the Nandigama taluk of the Kistna district which is not far removed from Gurazāla, though there are two villages of the name Alampuram, one in the Nizam’s
Dominions and the other in the Tanuku taluk of the West Godavari district. It may
be noted that Allūru was a centre of Buddhist activities at this early period, as
can be gathered from the Brāhmī inscription discovered in that place (Ep. Rep., for 1924, p. 97).
8th year of [Ehuvala] Siri Chāntamula.
11. The most interesting record of this period is another Prākṛit inscription
in Brāhmī characters of the 3rd century A.D. (No. 349), secured at Reṇṭāla in
Ehuvala Chāntamūla, 8th year. the Palnad taluk. It is dated on the
first day of vasanta-pakha (spring) in the
Unfortunately the first two syllables of the name Ehuvala are damaged and are not as legible as in the Nāgārjunakoṇḍa inscription (G) (Ep. Ind., Vol. XX, p. 24), in which the third syllable has
the u-sign marked at the bottom of va. In the present inscription the name is
spelt as ‘Ehuvala’ exactly as in the Nāgārjunakoṇḍa inscription (H) (ibid, p. 24).
This king is no other than the homonymous son of Siri Vīra-Purisadata noticed
above. The inscription records that a merchant (vaṇijaka) Nataka, son1 of Vaṇijaka Saṁghami, a resident of [Bha]ṅgikaṭa and his wife Vaṇijakinī Haghā,
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1 Or can we take Samita natakēna as an adjective qualifying the name of the benefactor, lost in the damaged
portion ? This would be more natural and would mean” . . . . . . . .together with his friends and nartakas, or with
his friend Nartaka” (See Appendix to Ep. Ind., Vol. X. No. 1186).
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