Grant of Cāmaṇakālu under Erikalla Muturāju Puṇyakumārunṟu

Metadata

Current Version:  draft, 2024-05-22Z

Editor:   Jens Christian Thomas.

DHARMA Identifier: INSTelugu00023


Additional Metadata

Alternative identifier:

Origin: Written in 625-675.

Classification: donative-religious land grant

Languages: Telugu

  1. Predominantly in Telugu, script and

Corresponding Artefact: ARTTelugu000021

Layout: 11 lines are observed/preserved on the artifact.

Edition

1svasti śrī Erikalla mut(u)-
2(rā)ju puṇyakumārunṟu gaṇ(ya)-
3mānunṟu maṟu(n)ṟa piḍuku madamu-
4(d)itunṟ uttamōttamunṟ ayina (vā)-
5(nṟu) cē(pa)liya paṭukānū r[ē]nāṇṭa Ē-
6ḷucu tarkkapuḻola h(ā)rad(ā)ya
7kiḻevuru kattiśarmmaku tir(pa)l(ū)-
8ra panāśa koṇḍa kāttiya cīk[u-]
9(na) bidiya sōmavāraṁbu puṇaru
10puṣyaṁbu brahaspatihōra kā-
11nu Ēmbadiye cāmaṇakāla dha

Apparatus

1–2 mut(u)/(rā)jumutu/(rā)ju
2–3 gaṇ(ya)/mānunṟu maṟu(n)ṟagaṇya/mānunṟu maṟunṟa
3–4 5 madamu/(d)itunṟ uttamōttamunṟ ayina (vā)/(nṟu)madamu/ditunṟ uttamōttamunṟ ayinavā/nṟu
5 cē(pa)liyacirpaliya 5–6 r[ē]nāṇṭa Ē/ḷucurēnāṇḍē/ḷucu
6 h(ā)rad(ā)yapāradāya
8–9 kāttiya cīk[u-]/(na)kā(rtt)iya cīku/na

Translation by 1947-1948

Hail! prosperity! While Puṇyakumāra, the Erikalla-Mutturāju, who was held in high esteem, was the thunderbolt to hostile kings, was happy in his pride and the noblest of the noble, was ruling (the) Rēnāṇḍu (country) with Chirpaliya as his capital (paṭu), a panāśa at Tirpalūru given to Kiḻevuru or Ḻēvuru Kattiśarmmā, the pāradāya of Tarkkapuḻōlu, on the second day of the dark fortnight of Koṇḍa-Kārttika, Monday, Puṇaru-pushyaṁbu and (at the time of) Bṛihaspati-hōra, (is) fifty (mattars?). (This is) the charity of Chāmaṇakāla.

Translation by Sastri 1969

Hail! Prosperity! While Puṇyakumāra, the Erikalla Mutturāju, who was held in high esteem, was the thunderbolt to hostile kings, was happy in his pride and the noblest of the noble was ruling (the) Rēnāṇḍu (country) with Cirpaliya as his capital (paṭu), a pannasa at Tirpalūru given to Kiḻēvuru Kattiśarmma of Bhāradvāja gotra (pāradāya) of Tarkkapuḻōlu, on the second day of the dark fortnight of koṇḍa-kārttika, monday, Puṇaru-puṣyambu, and (at the time of) Brihaspati-hōra, (is) fifty (mattars?). (This is) the charity of Cāmaṇakālu.

Translation by Jens Thomas

Svasti! While the Erikalla Muturāja Puṇyakumāra, who was (highly) respected, the thunderbolt of the enemies, rejoycing in delight, and the best among the best, was ruling in Rēnāṇḍu with Cēpali as residence, a pannasa (was given) at Tirpalūru to Kiḻevuru Kattiśarmma of the Bhāradvāja (gotra) at Tarkkapuḻolu, while being (kānu) Monday, the second (day) of the dark fortnight of koṇḍa -Kārtikā (and) the horā of Bṛhaspati of (the transition between) Punarvasu and Puṣya. A meritorious deed (dha(rmuvu)) of Embadi Cāmaṇakālu.

Commentary

Nilakanta Sastri and Venkataramayya note that Lines 6-7 may be read alternatively as ’Tarkkapuḻōla pāradāya Kiḻevūru Kattiśarmmaku’ and rendered as ’Kattiśarmmā of Kiḻevūru, a pāradāya (i.e., Bhāradvāja) of or at Tarkkapuḻōlu’.1947-1948, page 234, note 1. In line 5 the initial ‹Ē› is written below the line. In line 6 slight traces of a horizontal stroke can be seen on the akṣara ‹ha›. On the other hand, the reading ‹pā› is also possible since there are some cases where the long ‹°ā› is attached on the right brim. The word Ēmbadiye or perhaps Embadiye in line 11 looks like the word for ’fifty’ with -e possibly being a variant of the emphatic particle -a (Sastri 1969: pages 355–356). The position of the word after the date before the donor’s name without quantified unit (like maṟuturu), however, is a little bit odd. Since it is not easy to tell ‹da›, ‹ḍa›, and ‹ḷa› apart in a lot of cases the intended spelling might have been different and might have referred to a village name on -i with the genitive in -ya. Although this is far from certain this option has been followed in the translation.  There are some modern villages that could be offshoots of such an old spelling.

Bibliography

The inscription was noted in A. R. No. 283 of 1937-1938 and first published by K. A. Nilakanta Sastri and M. Venkataramayya in 1947-1948: pages 231–234, № 42 F with picture, translation and annotations. K. M. Sastri re-edited the text and provided another translation in 1969: pages 288–289, № 12.

Secondary

A. R. No. 283 of 1937-1938
Nilakanta Sastri, K. A. & M. Venkataramayya. 1947–1948. “Telugu Chola Records from Anantapur and Cuddapah.” EI 27: 220–51.
Pages 231–234, № 42 F.
Sastri, Korada Mahadeva. 1969. Historical Grammar of Telugu with Special Reference to Old Telugu c. 200 B.C. - 1000 A.D. Anantapur: Sri Vekateswara Univ.
Pages 288–289, № 12.