Current Version: draft, 2024-05-22Z
Editor: Jens Christian Thomas.
DHARMA Identifier: INSTelugu00038
Alternative identifier:
Origin: Written in 680.
Classification: donative-religious land grant
Languages: Telugu and Sanskrit
Corresponding Artefact: ARTTelugu000034 inscription on On a stone in a field to the west of Vīrāreḍḍipalle (hamlet of Kamalapāḍu)
Layout: 15-16 lines are observed/preserved on the artifact.
1svasti śrī vinayā-
2ditya-satyāśraya śrī pr̥thi-
3vī-vallabha-mahārājādhirā-
4ja-par(ā)mēśvara-bhaṭarāḷa (v)i-
5jayarājya-sa(ṁ)vatsaraṁbuḶ pa-
6di Agun-ēṇḍu v(ā)ṇarājul va[ṁ]g(ā)-
7nūr nn(ā)ṇḍ ēḷaN chāḷkiḷēṁṟurāju-
8L niṭūraN E(ṁ)ka(pa)ṁmi-pāṟa ko[ṁ-]
9ṟuṟēniki paśc[i]ma-diś(ā)N pañc(ā)-
10śat-kṣētraṁb icciri dāniki sākṣi
11vaḍlapāl(mu)siyya muḷugu I-
12ḷūñca(vā)ri bōḷu val(edo)ṟa
13bōḷu n(ā)nṟu mah(ā)janaṁbu śu[bhaṁ-]
14bu vr̥ddhiyu ⟨A⟩ku
6–7 va[ṁ]g(ā)/nūr ◇ vaṁga/nūr
7–8 chāḷkiḷēṁṟurāju/L ◇ caḷkiḷēṁṟurāju/L
8 E(ṁ)ka(pa)ṁmi-pāṟa ◇ vara(cā)mi-pāṟa — 8–9 ko[ṁ-]/ṟu° • This element might be a variant of what ultimately became modern Telugu koṇḍa, conf. inscriptional konṟa and Tamil kunṟu ’hill’.
9 paśc[i]ma-diś(ā)N ◇ paścima-diśāna — 9–10 pañc(ā)/śat ◇ pañcā/śat
11 vaḍlapāl(mu)siyya ◇ muḷupāl-mu(tthi)yya — 11–12 I/ḷūñca(vā)ri ◇ I/ḷuñcadāri
12 val(edo)ṟa ◇ vaśagāṟa • An element °toṟa (of which °doṟa is but a variant with the typical lenition) can
be found as second member in several place names; it corresponds to Tamiḻ tuṟai ’place’ etc.
13 n(ā)nṟu ◇ nānṟu — 13–14 śu[bhaṁ-]/bu ◇ (śubhaṁ)
14 vr̥ddhiyu ⟨A⟩ku ◇ vr̥ddhiyuṁkā
Svasti! In the tenth year in the era of the victorious reign of Śrī Vinayāditya-Satyāśraya Śrī Pr̥thivī-Vallabha-Mahārājādhirāja-Paramēśvara-bhaṭarāḷu, when Bāṇarājul reigned over Vaṁganūr-Nāṇḍu, Cālukya-Ḷēṁṟurāju gave, in Niṭūru in the western direction, a field (as a) pannasa (grant) to Koṁṟuṟēṇḍu, brahmin of Eṁkapaṁm(u). The witness(es) to that (are): the muḷugu of Vaḍlapālmusi, the bōḷu of Iḷūñcavāru, (and) the bōḷu in Valedoṟu. May there be welfare and prosperity of the country and the people!
The inscription is not complete. According to the estampage it seems probable that the inscription continued on another face of the stone which is not published or is completely effaced. The two missing pādas can be satisfactorily restored from the many parallels. It is not clear, however, how many lines are missing wherefore only one necessary hypothetical line (no. 16) has been restored. The name chāḷkiḷēṁṟurāju consists of chāḷki which appears to be a contracted form of cālukya and ḷēṁṟu, an element that can also be found in the Tandivada Grant of Prithivi-Maharaja (Panchamukhi 1935–1936: page 98, lines 23–24): śrī rāma-leṇṟu-rājaḥ. S. Rajaguru reads °lindurājaḥ and conjectures it into °lendurājaḥ (1958: page 50, note 4). R. S. Panchamukhi’s reading, however, is correct as can be seen from the picture in his edition. S. Rajaguru offers an explanation of this element and connects it with the Viṣṇukuṇḍin capital Lendulūru (ibid.). This explanation, however, is very probably wrong since the modern outcome of leṇṟu or lenṟu would be leṇḍu. Rather, the first compound member seems to be a result of the typical metathesis in Telugu (also confer the spelling ḷēnṟu in Ramesh and Ramachandra Murthy 1969–1970: page 335, № 56 C, line 4), i.e. ḷē- from e.g. *eḷV plus the Telugu ending -nṟu; the cognate may be Kannaḍa eḷa ’tenderness, youth’ (Kittel 1894: page 284), e.g. in eḷa-arasar ’prince’ (Gai 1946: page 179 referring to Rice 1905: page 2, № 7) that represents the same construction as ḷēnṟu-rāju. A village of the name Vaṁgānur is situated to the south of the Pennar at the Kōnavāripalli-Vaṁgānur Rd. next to Vīrāpuram and Kōnavāripalli, and at the bank of the Citrāvati river near Peddamallepalle there is the village Niṭṭūru. These could be the villages mentioned in the inscription. K. V. Ramesh and S. S. Ramachandra Murthy state that the donation was done by Chaḷki-Ḷēṁṟurāju to Varachāmi-pāṟa (i.e., the brāhmaṇa named Varachāmi) of Koṁṟūru.1969-1970, page 333. This, however, contradicts the normal structure of name giving ([PLACE_NAME]-pāṟa [NAME]) and also the meaning of the names because °ṟēniki is the dative of *ṟēnṟu ’ruler’ (ṟē- from eṟe, confer Kannaḍa eṟe).
The term mahājanaṁbu can also specifically denote merchants, etc....
The inscripton was noted in A. R. No. B 26 of 1958-1959 and first published by K. V. Ramesh and S. S. Ramachandra Murthy with picture and annotations and without translation (1969-1970: page 333, № 56 A).