Early Telugu inscription from Amarāvati EpiDoc Encoding Jens Christian Thomas intellectual authorship of edition Vēṭūri Prabhākaraśāstri DHARMA Berlin DHARMA_INSTelugu00098

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nāgabu

snake

The inscription consists of the Sanskrit word nāga- "snake" with the Telugu suffix -mbu. This suffix is typical for Telugu and is attached to tatsama words. There is no trace of an anusvāra. Prabhākaraśāstri explains this as a form of haplography or the loss of the first consonant respectively (పూర్వహల్లోపము). Ramāprasād Canda edited the word as nāga-bu so as if two words were involved and stated that [t]his is probably the name of the stone-mason268. According to Prabhākaraśāstri the stone is damaged but traces of a sculpture are still visible: విఱుగఁగొట్టఁబడిన మీఁది శిల్పచిత్రము గొప్ప సర్పమై యుండును [The damaged upper sculpture is a big snake (translation by Jens Thomas)]934. The stone does not bear any other inscriptions.

The inscription was noted in ARIE together with other (Prākr̥t) inscriptions from Amarāvati that were found in the Central Museum of Madras. These inscriptions were published by Ramaprasad Chandra who added translations or short notes (the Telugu inscription has the number 30). The inscription was again published by Vēṭūri Prabhākaraśāstri together with a picture and a discussion.

258-27513 933-9491 54B/1913499 11