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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EASTERN GANGAS The supposition made in the above table regarding Dēvēndravarman, the father of Satyavarman. acquires support from Dr. Hultzsch’s remarks regarding him in Ep. Ind., Vol. XVIII, p. 312. The occasion for the grant in this record was a solar eclipse. In my Epigraphical Report for 1931-32 (p. 45, para. 3) I have suggested that the Christian year 493 should be taken as the starting point of the Gāṅgēya era. Adopting this as the initial date, year 358 of the era would correspond to A.D. 851 in which year there was a solar eclipse on April 5. This may therefore be assumed to be the actual date on which the grant was made. Palaṁgara gra of Anantavarman Chōḍagaṅga— Śaka 1040.
The plates belong to the Eastern Gaṅga king Anantavarman-Chōḍagaṅgadēva and are five in number. They measure 11” by 5 ¾” and at the left margin bear a ring-hole of 4/5” in diameter. Through this hole passes a ring 4½” in diameter the ends of which are welded into the bottom of a circular seal, which among other emblems bears a bold figure in the round of a couchant bull usually associated with this dynasty. On the surface of the seal and [round about the bull are depicted in relief the Sun and Crescent in from of the animal, the śaṅkha, a bugle (kāhaḷa), an open umbrella and what looks like a spear or arrow with feathers, to its proper right, and a fly-whisk (chāmara), an aṅkuśa, a flag-staff with banner and a pitcher to its left. Behind the animal there is an object which resembles a long drum kept in a horizontal position.] A careful comparison of this seal with that of the Vizagapatam plates will show that what has been taken to be a liṅga on an abhisheka-stand by Dr. Fleet in the latter is really a śaṅkha. It would be interesting to notice that almost all the royal emblems that are stated in these inscriptions to have been acquired by Kāmārṇava through the grace of god Gōkarṇasvāmin, before the king descended from the Mahēndra mountain and conquered the Kaliṅga country, are depicted on these two seals in a more or less clear form. The inscription is engraved, like the Vizagapatam plates and the Korni plats of the king, in the Telugu script of the period and the language in Sanskrit. It is a long record of 121 lines, and like the said two grants gives the genealogy of the king’s family right down from god Ananta. The descriptive and narrative portions are almost exact to those of the Korni plates. No fresh historical facts either with reference to the earlier members of the family or with reference to the king come to light in this record. It however confirms the fact that the name of the king, whom Kāmārṇava, ‘the conqueror of the Kaliṅga country’, defeated was Śabarāditya as given in the Vizagapatam and the Korni plates and not Balāditya as read by Dr. Fleet (Ind. Ant., Vol. XVIII, p. 167 ; see also Ep. Rep. for 1924-25, p. 79, paragraph 8). On an examination of the original plate I find that the actual reading of the Vizagapatam plates is samara-śirasi Śabalāditya and not samara-śirasika-Balāditya as adopted by Fleet. Incidentally we may also note that an examination of the original furnishes the correct name of Guṇārṇava II’s son as Pōtāṅkuśa which is given in the Vizagapatam and Korni plates and also in the present record. Dr. Fleet had unfortunately misread the name as Jitāṅkuśa which must now be definitely given up. It must also be noted that it is incorrect to say that the Korni plates omit the name of the son of Kāmārṇava (Ep. Rep. for 1924-25, p. 79, paragraph 8) since, like the allied grants, they give his name Raṇārṇava. As in the connected records king Chōḍagaṅga’s coronation is stated herein also to have taken place in Śaka 999.
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