Plates
Greetings! Satyāśraya Vallabhendra Pulakeśin II was eager to adorn the lineage of the majestic Cālukyas—who are of the Mānavya gotra which is praised by the entire world, who are sons of Harīti, who attained kingship by the grace of Kauśikī’s boon, who are protected by the band of Mothers, who were deliberately appointed to kingship by Lord Mahāsena, to whom the realms of adversaries instantaneously submit at the mere sight of the superior Boar emblem they have acquired by the grace of the divine Nārāyaṇa, and whose bodies have been hallowed through washing in the purificatory ablutions avabhr̥tha of the Aśvamedha sacrifice. His brother Kubja Viṣṇuvardhana reigned for eighteen years. His son Jayasiṁha Vallabha I, the shelter of the complete world sakala-lokāśraya, for thirty-three years. His younger brother Indra Bhaṭṭāraka’s dear son Viṣṇurāja Viṣṇuvardhana II, for nine years. His son Maṅgi Daugarāja,The reading daugarāja is slightly problematic (see the apparatus to line 8), but the word dugarāja or dogarāja is a legitimate form in Andhra. for twenty-five years. His son Jayasiṁha Vallabha II, for thirteen years. His younger brother by a different mother, Kokkili, for six months. After dethroning his younger brother, his elder brother Viṣṇurāja Viṣṇuvardhana III, for thirty-five years. His son King mahārāja Vijayāditya I, for eighteen years. His son Viṣṇuvardhana IV, protected the country maṇḍala of Veṅgī, twelve thousand in extent,Twelve thousand may be the number of villages encompassed in the country. KR (pp. 107-108) dismisses this prevailing interpretation, but his reason for doing so is not clear and his alternatives are not convincing. for thirty-five years.
His eldest son Vijayāditya II always effected prosperity like the sun āditya whose rays are always on the rise; he was the supporter of hundreds of good noble lineages like the wilderness of the Vindhyas which is the ground for hundreds of nice bamboos; he had a body painted with gold like Meru whose body is coloured golden; he was able to suppress the grumbling of the Gaṅgas like Hara’s Śiva’s crown of matted locks which is able to hem in the roaring of the Gaṅgā river; he always made donations like the elephant of Indra the Lord of the Gods whose trunk always has rut fluid on it; he crushed powerful enemies like Viṣṇu who crushed his enemy Bali; he had arms capable of supporting the earth, like the great serpent Śeṣa whose coils are capable of upholding the earth; he was resplendent with great conch shells and the five great sounds like a great pāśupata ascetic who is resplendent with a great sound of the conch shell; who was ¿a wind deity distinguished by routing a myriad of teeming, rumbling, rut-dripping elephant battalions as opposed to the actual wind deities, which dispel a myriad elephant battalions consisting of moiling, booming clouds?I am not certain of the double entendre intended with the phrase involving conch shells, and my translation after that point is a desperate attempt to make sense of a text that appears quite incoherent. KR makes a major emendation here (see the apparatus to line 16), but this does not seem to improve the text to any great degree. If the interpretation I propose here is anywhere close to correct, then ghaṭa is to be understood as a non-standard in-compound form of the feminine noun ghaṭā, or as a scribal error for ghaṭā.. Moreover:
Manifestly, the king with the byname “Rescuer of his Family” gotra-nistāraka is an embodiment of majestic Righteousness dharma; he resembles ¿a lotus brought to bloom by truth sat and surrounded by bees that are good soldiers?,The reading and emendation of this phrase is problematic; see the apparatus to line 17.; he is the spark from which the fire of heroism arises; a mine of the gem that is kindly speech; bountiful to all; This is another phrase that does not appear intelligible as read by KR. I provisionally assume that sarva-santa means sarva-santya, but santya itself is rare and Vedic usage. See also the apparatus to line 18. beloved of the Lady Fame; the noble house in which the girlchild True Speech is born; the abode of a flock of scholars.
He erected a hundred and eight Narendreśvara temples. He seized the country of Veṅgī after defeating his own younger brother named Bhīma Saḷuke along with the generals of the Vallabha Rāṣṭrakūṭa Lord in a twelve-year war. He reigned for forty years.
His son—
A wind that brings about the cessation of the great clouds that are the cavalry, elephants and infantry of hostile kings; like a sun that is the destruction of the moonless night comprised of enemy elephants; a wish-fulfilling tree honoured by people who have ended up in a seriously wretched situation; the sword in the arm of the excellent King Karigalla shines here on the battleground.The entire stanza is awkward and may have been read incorrectly at several points by KR. See the apparatus to lines 23-24. Since sita-ruci means the moon, I assume that a-sitaruci has been used in the second quarter in the sense of a moonless night. My interpretation of the third quarter relies on emendation.
—named Kali-Viṭṭa, reigned for a year and a half. His son Vijayāditya III has been protecting the Southern Region dakṣiṇāpatha together with the country of Trikaliṅga, making a series of many offerings santarpaṇa of gold weighed against his body in the balance and with his reputation of victory being sung as Guṇakkenallan. Thus, there have been five kings named Viṣṇuvardhana, two named Jayasiṁha, one Maṅgi Yuvarāja, three named Vijayāditya.
The third Vijayāditya among these attained the Gaṅgā and Yamunā stationed at his door, the Moon and the Sun, and the pennant garland pāli-ketana; intimidated the four quarters by the mere hearing of his five great sounds pañca-mahāśabda; has the boar as his insignia;See the apparatus to line 30 about the uninterpretable word cake here. and is a crocodile-bannered god of love among heroes.
Nr̥pakāma, the lord’s Vijayāditya III’s younger brother—who is Yudhiṣṭhira the Son of Dharma in truthfulness, Karṇa in selflessness, Hari Viṣṇu in valour—has consigned a village to Brahmins.
Then the Earthly Kandarpa Vijayāditya III, at the urging of his own brother Nr̥pakāma, granted that village to a learned hundred of Brahmins.
The king, devoted toSee the apparatus to line 34 about the word matta. Brahmins, gave away this village of Śāntagrāma together with its hamlets upagrāma and free of taxes, and even including the Nāti pond.The compound nāti-kuṇṭha is opaque. KR speculates that it may be a combination of a Sanskrit and Telugu word, but does not say what Sanskrit word he has in mind; he suggests the meaning with all the tanks adjoining the village
. I wonder if perhaps the composer’s intent was nāṭi, meaning “ponds of the countryside.” But since the word is in the singular, it is perhaps most likely to be a name.
Once again, a description of that same prince rājan Nr̥pakāma:
Truthful in speech the God Yama Dharma is not: it is for fear of the overlord of gods that he becomes truthful in speech. Possessed of the virtue of valour the lion is not: it is for considered purpose that he becomes possessed of the virtue of valour. Bountiful in generosity the Son of the Sun Karṇa is not: it is for the inherent power of his lord that he becomes bountiful in generosity. King Nr̥pakāma, however, is by nature bountiful in truthfulness, outstanding valour and generosity to others. The somewhat awkward arrangement of the English is intended to reflect the original’s repetitiveness. The Sanskrit is almost as hard to parse as the translation, but I am certain it is to be understood along these lines. The term yama-sura is unusual, but given the context, it must in my opinion mean the god Dharma. In the third quarter, the Son of the Sun is in all probability Karṇa, famed for his selflessness. I do not, however, know how he could be selfless through his lord’s power. The poet’s implication may be that Karṇa could afford to be magnanimous because Duryodhana gave him lordship over Aṅga, but Karṇa’s famous act of generosity is giving away his innate armour and ear pendants, which has nothing to do with this lordship. Could the text perhaps read pituḥ instead of pati-, or should it be emended to that? In that case the implication would be that it is only because of his miraculous birth as the son of the sun god that he could make that great gift.
Urged by King Vijayāditya’s own younger brother Nr̥pakāma, on the occasion of an eclipse of the sun that Vijayāditya III commands all householders kuṭumbin—including foremost the territorial overseers rāṣṭrakūṭa—as follows:
Let it be known to you that we have given Śāntagrāma in Gudravāra district viṣaya, together with the Nāti pond,See the note on this term in stanza 5 above. to a hundred Brahmins, who are moons of the sixty-four arts beginning with the Veda, the Vedāṅgas, the Itihāsas and the Purāṇas;Moons in the sense that they shine brightly. The composer may have chosen this rather unusual phrasing in order to pun on the word kalā (“art” and “digit of the moon”), implying that these Brahmins are moons with sixty-four digits where the real moon has only sixteen. supremely knowledgeable about Brahman, thoroughly engaged in the performance of the agnihotra and so on, whose bodies and even feet are adorned by a host of virtues of conduct ācāra and morality śīla founded on tranquility śama, self-control dama, restraint yama and observance niyama, and whose reputation blazes equally to the twelve Ādityas beginning with Dhātr̥ and Aryaman.
And thus follow the recipients. Blessings!
- To Yajñaśarman, resident of majestic Vaṁgipaṟu, three shares.
- To Guṇḍaśarman, one share.
- To Vidaḍiśarman, one share.
- To Droṇaśarman, a half share.
- To Droṇaśarman of the Parāśara gotra, resident of Karamiceḍu, a share and a half.
- To Kañciśarman, two shares.
- To Droṇaśarman, two shares.
- To Baddiśarman, five shares.Or perhaps one fifth share; see the apparatus to line 47.
- To Śivanaśarman of the Bhāradvāja gotra, resident of Kaṟṟoṟa, three shares.
- To Revaśarman, one share.
- To Śivikuṟṟaśarman, one share.
- To Petaśarman of the Śāṇḍilya gotra, one share.
- To Ayyappaśarman, a share and a half.
- To Vakaśarman of the Devarata gotra, one share.
- To Savvaśarman, one share.
- To Kuṇḍiśarman, one share.
- To Budaḍiśarman of the Kata gotra, resident of Vaṁgipaṟu, two shares.
- To Vennaśarman, a half share.
- To Revaśarman of the Harīta gotra, two shares.
- To Droṇaśarman, a share and a half.
- To Śrīdharaśarman of the Kauṇḍinya gotra, three shares.
- To Damaśarman, one share.
- To Keśavaśarman, one share.
- To Trivikramaśarman, a half share.
- To Koṇḍiśarman of the Kauśika gotra, resident of Upuṭūru, two shares.
- To Ṟudvaśarman of the Kāśyapa gotra, one share.
- To Goḷaśarman, a half share.
- To Ṟudvaśarman, a share and a half.
- To Goḷaśarman, one share.
- To Eṟaśarman, one share.
- To Mahākāḷaśarman of the Kāśyapa gotra, resident of Kraṁja, two shares.
- To Droṇamaśarman, a half share.
- To Nārāyaṇaśarman, one share.
- To Piṭṭamaśarman of the Kauśika gotra, one share.
- To Droṇaśarman of the Kauṇḍinya gotra, one share.
- To Sarvaśarman of the Kaṇva gotra, resident of Kāramiceḍu, two shares.
- To Cāmiśarman, one share.
- To Kañciśarman of the Harita gotra, one share.
- To Mahidharaśarman, one share.
- To Divakaraśarman, one share.
- To Śaṁkaraśarman, one share.
- To Nārāyaṇaśarman of the Radhītara gotra, resident of Krovaśrī, one share.
- To Āgyapaśarman of the Bhāradvāja gotra, one share.
- To Vennaśarman, one share.
- To Guṇḍaśarman, one share.
- To Turkaśarman of the Kutsa gotra, two shares.
- To Boppaṇaśarman, one share.
- To Raviṇaśarman of the Kauśika gotra, one share.
- To Goyindaśarman of the Lohita gotra, resident of Kārañceḍu, one share.
- To Irugamaśarman of the Kauṇḍinya gotra, one share.
- To Bhīmaśarman, one share.
- To Madhuvaṇaśarman, one share.
- To Keśavaśarman of the Bhāradvāja gotra, resident of Uppuṭūru, one share.
- To Guṇḍaśarman, one share.
- To Nāgaśarman, one share.
- To Narāyaśarman of the Ātreya gotra, three shares.
- To Mayindamaśarman of the Agniveśya gotra, resident of Rāyūru, one share.
- To Bopaśarman of the Kaśyapa gotra, one share.
- To Droṇaśarman of the Gautama gotra, resident of Kuṇḍuru, two shares.
- To Kandaśarman of the Bhāradvāja gotra, one share.
- To Vīraśarman of the Parāśara gotra, resident of Uppuṭṭūru, a share and a half.
- To Cāmiśarman, one share.
- To Trivikramaśarman, one share.
- To Bavvaśarman, one share.
- To Dugaśarman, a half share.
- To Bīmaśarman, one share.
- To Baṭaśarman of the Gautama gotra, resident of Vaṁgipaṟu, one share.
- To Somaśarman of the Kauṇḍinya gotra, a share and a half.
- To Droṇaśarman, one share.
- To Mādhavaśarman, one share.
- To Droṇaśarman, one share.
- To Droṇaśarman of the Kauśika gotra, resident of Kuṇṭuru, one share.
- To Eṟaśarman of the Bhāradvāja gotra, resident of Kārañceḍu, one share.
- To Droṇaśarman, one share.
- To Śivaśarman, a half share.
- To Vallanayyaśarman, one share.
- To Revaśarman, one share.
- To Sabaḍiśarman of the Harīta gotra, resident of Śrīpura, two shares and a half.
Thus there are twenty of masters bhaṭṭa; likewise twenty of knowers of one Veda; thirty knowers of three Vedas; and as many knowers of four Vedas.I translate the reading I suggest in the edition; see the apparatus to line 79.
Being relocated there to that village, let these gods-on-earth, after giving their blessing to their own king, live happily ever after, reciting the Veda.I am not sure what the composer had in mind with the passive participle anuṣṭhīyamānāḥ. Instead of the donees’ relocation, it may have been intended mean that they were to line up one after another to give their blessing or (with incorrect use of the passive) that they were to carry on with their sacrificial duties. I am also not sure whether the “own” in “their own king” indicates Nr̥pakāma, who is presumably the ruler of the territory where the village is located, or whether sva is employed in a weak sense and the king meant is Vijayāditya.
Its boundaries are as follows. To the east, exactly the border of Penubūṇḍi. To the south, exactly the border of Aṟutagūru. To the southwest, exactly the border of Muñjalūru. To the west, exactly the border of Urivi. To the north, exactly the border of Tuṁburuballi. To the northeast, exactly the border of Muluḍupendoṟu. The king has donated the land thus delineated by four boundaries.
The executor ājñapti of this ruling dharma is Pāṇḍaraṁga of great virtue, to whom a host of enemies uprooted by his sword pays obeisance.
He, the great-grandson of Bhaṭṭa Kāla has made composed this decree of good sense arising from virtue and so on, the destructor of the consequences of deeds karman upon the earth, which is a destructor of the consequences of deeds.There are several problems with the text of this stanza as read by RK; see the apparatus to line 84. Assuming that the gist is as translated here, it still remains uncertain whether the person described in this stanza is Pāṇḍaraṁga or someone else, and whether he was also the composer of the text or “made” means “executed.” KR explicitly says in his commentary that the name of the composer is not mentioned, but I am not sure he is right. With the wilder conjecture offered in the apparatus, the stanza might mean “He, the great-grandson of Bhaṭṭa Kāla has executed upon the earth the ruling of the innate good sense of Guṇaga.”
The writer lekhaka of this decree is the learned Lekhakāditya, who is as brilliant as Viśvakarman .See the apparatus to line 85 for my overriding of KR’s reading in the third pāda, and about the uninterpretable fourth quarter. According to KR's commentary, the scribe had built a ghantaśāla (sic), which he interprets as a factory to manufacture bells or styles (ghaṇṭa)
, but this seems unlikely in the context and is syntactically impossible (also, ghaṇṭā or ghaṇṭa does not, to my knowledge mean a stylus). I wonder if the historic site of Ghaṇṭaśālā may be referred to here; or if ghaṇṭā-śālā means a foundry where, among other things, copper plates are manufactured. The word kārakaM, if correctly read, does not fit into the syntax in any way I can imagine.
Many kings have granted land, and many have preserved it as formerly granted. Whosoever at any time owns the land, the fruit reward accrued of granting it belongs to him at that time.
He who would seize land, whether given by himself or by another, shall be born as a worm in faeces for sixty thousand years.
He who seizes land after giving itThe text ends abruptly, with only these few words on the verso of plate 7. See the apparatus to line 88 for a possible interpretation of the unintelligible text.