VANAPALLI PLATES OF ANNA-VEMA.
No. 10.─ VANAPALLI PLATES OF ANNA-VEMA.─ SAKA-SAMVAT 1300.
BY E. HULTZSCH, PH.D.
......The original of this inscription was "found by a workman while excavating some earth in
an old site" in the village of Vanapalli in the Amalâpuram tâlukâ of the Gôdâvarî district.
The find came to the notice of Mr. P. V. S. Gopalam, Pleader, Cocanada, who reported it to the
Superintendent, Archæological Survey, Madras, on the 23rd May 1892. The plates were
subsequently presented to Government by their owner, Vissapragada Kṛishṇayya, and are
now deposited in the Madras Museum.
......The inscription is engraved on three copper-plates of 10¼ by 5½ inches. The rims are
slightly raised for the protection of the writing. The preservation of the plates is fairly good ;
on plates i.b, ii.b, and iii.a, some letters are partially eaten away by verdigris. The three plates
are strung on a copper ring, which measures about 3¾ inches in diameter, and about 7/16 inch
in thickness. It is not soldered and can be detached from the plates by bending it asunder.
Instead of the usual seal, the ring bears a well-carved recumbent figure of the sacred bull Nandi, which is about 1⅛ inch long, and placed on a plain pedestal.— The alphabet of the inscription is
Telugu, and the language Sanskṛit. With the exception of a few words in lines 1, 49,
53, 57, f. and 65, the whole of the text is in verse. The signature of the king at the end of the
document is in the Telugu language.— As regards orthography, the writer of the inscription
follows the same system which is observed in other inscriptions from the Telugu and
Kanarese countries. Thus, dhdh is writtern instead of ddh, if the letter dh is doubled either
after r ( e.g. in ardhdha for ardha, l. 47) or through saṁdhi (e.g. in sidhadha for siddha, l. 21,
and udhdharan for uddharan, l. 1). Similarly, chchh takes the place of chchh (e.g. in châmara-chhchhatra for châmara-chchhattra, l. 35 f.). The letters k, g, ḍ, t, d, dh, and v are sometimes
doubled after an anusvâra (e.g. in laṁkka, ll. 48, 52 and 61 ; aṁggaṇa l. 50 ; gaṁḍḍa, l. 27 ;
viṁddaṁttê, l. 37 ; baṁdhdhu, l. 26 ; and saṁvvatsara, l. 41). A superfluous anusvâra is
sometimes inserted before double m, before double n, or before n followed by a consonant (e.g. in Iṁmmaḍi, ll. 42 and 52 ; Aṁnna for Anna, l. 40 ; and sâmâṁnya for sâmânya, l. 58),
Further irregularities are,— braṁhma for brahma (l. 56), dhaṁrmma for dharma (l. 58),
siṁhvâsana or sihvâsana for siṁhâsana (ll. 29, 30 and 38), pâlaniyya for (l. 59), and
uchchatê for uchyatê (l. 57). The unaspirated letter takes the place of the aspirate (e.g. in palaka for phalaka, l. 31, and bima for bhîma, l. 34) ; the sonant the place of the surd (e.g. in
adha for atha, ll. 49 and 53), and vice versâ (e.g. in phâla for bhâla, l. 7) ; and the dental n the
place of the lingual ṇ after r (in varnna for varṇa, l. 9, arnnava for arṇava, l. 25, and
nirnaya for nirṇaya, l. 49).
......The plates record a grant by a member of the so-called Reḍḍi dynasty of Koṇḍavîḍu,1 a hill-fort in the Narasarâvupêṭa tâlukâ of the Kistna district.2 The inscription opens with
invocations of Vishṇu in his Boar-incarnation (verse 1), Gaṇapati (v. 2), and the moon on
the head of Śiva (v. 3). It then refers to the creation of the world by Brahmâ at the command
of Vishṇu (v. 4), and to the fourth (or Śûdra) caste, which, like the river Gaṅgâ, was
produced from the foot of Vishṇu (v. 5). A member of this caste was king Prôla (v. 6),
who must not be confounded with the Kâkatîya king of the same name.3 His son was king
Vêma (v. 7), who built a flight of steps and a hall at Srîśailam (v. 10), the well-known Śaiva
shrine in the Karṇûl district.4 Vêma had two sons, Anna-Vôta (v. 11) and Anna- Vêma
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......1 Compare Wilson’s Mackenzie Collection, Madras edition, pp. 79 ff. ; Mr. Mackenzie’s Manual of the Kistna
District, p. 9 f. ; and Mr. Sewell’s Lists of Antiquities, Vol. II. pp. 118 f. and 187.
......2 ibid. Vol. I. p. 70 f.
......3 Ind. Ant. Vol. XXI. p. 197.
......4 According to the Kurnool Manual, p. 183, Ana-Vêma-Reḍḍi built two Maṇḍapas at Srîśailam.
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