Current Version: draft, 2024-05-22Z
Editor: Jens Christian Thomas.
DHARMA Identifier: INSTelugu00016
Alternative identifier:
Origin:
Classification: donative-religious land grant
Languages: Telugu
Corresponding Artefact: ARTTelugu000015 inscription on On two faces of a pillar lying in front of the Gōpālakriṣṇa temple at Mālēpāḍu
Layout: 19-22712 lines are observed/preserved on the artifact.
A 1svasti
2śrī (E)ri-
3kalmu(tu?)-
4rāju-
5la na[?1*]
6ruma[?1*]
7[pa]nna[sa]
B
8Ēḻe(ri?)
9pāṟak[u]
10Irupa-
11diyadi
12Ēnu ma-
13ṟuntuḍ(la)
14rācamā-
15naṁbuna
16Iccina
17datti dī[niṁ]
18ḻacuvā-
19(nṟu)
7 [pa]nna[sa] ◇ [?1*]nna[?1*]
9 pāṟak[u] ◇ pāṟaka
14–15 rācamā/naṁbuna ◇ rācamā/naṁbunā
17 dī[niṁ] ◇ dī[?1*]
Svasti! Na[.]ruma[.] of the Erikalmuturāju (gave) the (pa)nna(sa). [...] The donation of 25 mattars according to royal measure was given to the brahmin of Ēḻer(u). Who destroys this [...].
In absence of a picture the reading of the edition was changed according to the necessity of grammar and the wording that can be found in other inscriptions that mention Erikalmuturāju. It goes without saying that these changes are tentative. According to Ramayya Pantulu the inscription is “unintelligible”, and the different line numbers on each of the two faces and the incomplete imprecation also indicate a rather damaged condition of the inscription. The translation, hence, is tentative and has been made on grounds of the following assumptions. As for lines 4-5 one could suggest a reading *Ē|laN ’while ruling’ but this is improbable because of the following reasons: only once in referring to another ruler the verb ēḷu- is used without any object (Nilakanta Sastri and Venkataramayya 1947–1948: page 230, № 42 D) while, when Erikalmuturāju is mentioned, a realm that is ruled over is referred to. Regarding the non-standardized fomulae of the early Telugu inscriptions this is but a weak argument. Yet, in all other cases of these inscriptions the respective verb appears with ‹ḷ› and not ‹l›, the latter being a later development. It is hence probable to read -rājula with an oblique plural. In one instance the oblique form of the ruler’s title is followed by the name of the donor (Nilakanta Sastri and Venkataramayya 1947–1948: pages 227–228, № 42 B). Although pannasa (and its variants) normally occurs with the verbal form iccina, it can occur in a verb-less clause: Erikallamuturāju […] ēḷucu X-ku panāśa ‘a pannasa to X while E. was ruling’ (Nilakanta Sastri and Venkataramayya 1947–1948: page 233, № 42 F). On the other hand, a verb might have been lost in the now mutilated lines.
The inscription was noted in A. R. No. 392 of 1904 and published by J. Ramayya Pantulu in 1948: page 333, № 606 with few metadata and without translation and picture. It was re-edited on grounds of the Ramayya Pantulu’s edition by K. M. Sastri in 1969: pages 333–334, № 69 with the following summary: States that during the reign of Erikal Muturāju a grant of twenty-five maṟutus of land by royal measure was made to a brahminSastri 1969, page 334.