Current Version: draft, 2024-09-02Z
Editor: Dániel Balogh.
DHARMA Identifier: INSVengiCalukya00035
Hand Description:
Halantas. Final T is s full-sized stylised ta (a spiral without a headmark) plus a curling tail on top like an inverted cedilla, e.g. l7 apālayaT. It may also be smaller in size and raised, as in l37 āsīT. Final N is a simplified but full-size character somewhat resembling na without a headmark, and the curled tail, e.g. l11 sāN.
Original punctuation marks are straight verticals with a small hook or a wedge-like headmark at the top. The opening symbol is a flower comprised of a circle, four petals in the cardinal directions, and four spikes in the intercardinals, all detached from the centre.
Other palaeographic observations. Anusvāra is normally written inline at headline height. It may be separated from the preceding consonant as in l16-17 tri/ṁśataṁ, but this is not visible in my scanned facsimile. Dependent o is normally written with two separate strokes. Cursive o (marked in the text with an XML comment but not encoded) is rare, occurring in l10 kokkili (which may have been intended for kaukkili) and l52 Aho.
No metadata were provided in the table for this inscription
⎘ plate 1v 1floretQuatrefoilsvasti[.] śrīmatāṁ sakala-bhuvana-sa⟨ṁ⟩stūyamāna-mānavy¿ā?⟨a⟩-sagotrāṇāṁ hā-
2rīti-putrāṇāṁ kauśikī-vara-prasāda-labdha-rājyānāṁ mātr̥-gaṇa-paripāli-
3tānāṁ svā⟨mi⟩-mahāsena-pādānudhyātānāṁ bhagavan-nārāyaṇa-pras¿a?⟨ā⟩da-
4-samāsā◯dita-vara-varāha-lā⟨ñcha⟩nekṣaṇa-kṣaṇa-vaśīkr̥tār⟦i⟧⟨⟨ā⟩⟩ti-ma-
5ṇḍalāṇā{ṁ}◯m aśvamedhāvabhr̥¿t?⟨th⟩a-snāna-pavitrīkr̥ta-vapuṣāṁ cā-
6lukyānāṁ kulam alaṁkariṣṇoḥ satyāśraya-vallabhendrasya bhrātā ku-
6bja-viṣṇuvarddhano [’]ṣṭādaśa varṣāṇi veṁgī-deśam apālayaT| tad-ātma-
⎘ plate 2r 8jo jayasiṁhas trayastriṁśataṁ| tad-anujendrarāja-nandano viṣṇuva-
9rddhano nava| tat-sūnur mm¿ā?⟨a⟩ṁgi-yuvarājaḥ paṁcaviṁśatiṁ| tat-putro
10jayasiṁ◯has trayodaśa| tad-avarajaḥ ko kkiliḥ ṣaṇ mā-
11sāN| ta◯sya jyeṣṭho bhrātā viṣṇuvarddhanas tam uccāṭya sapta-
12triṁśataṁ| ◯ tat-putro vijayāditya-bhaṭṭārako [’]ṣṭādaśa| tat-su-
13to viṣṇuvarddh¿ā?⟨a⟩naḥ ṣaṭtriṁśataṁ| tat-suto vijayāditya-narendra-mr̥ga-
14rājaś cāṣṭacatvāriṁśataṁ| tat-sutaḥ kali-⟨viṣṇu⟩varddhano [’]¡ddh!yarddha-varṣ¿ā?⟨a⟩ṁ|
⎘ plate 2v 15tat-suto guṇagā⟨ṁ⟩ka-vijayādityaś catuścatvāriṁśataṁ| tad-anu-
16ja-vikramāditya-bhūp¿ā?⟨a⟩teḥ sūnuś cālukya-bhīma-bhūpālas tri-
17ṁśataṁ| ◯ tat-putraḥ kollabigaṇḍa-vijayādityaḥ ṣa-
18ṇ māsāN⟨|⟩ ◯ tat-sūnur ammarājaḥ sapta varṣ¿a?⟨ā⟩ni| tat-sutaṁ
19vijayā◯dityaṁ b¿a?⟨ā⟩lam uccāṭya tālapo mās¿ā?⟨a⟩m ekaM⟨|⟩
20taṁ jitvā {ś}c¡a!lukya-bh¿i?⟨ī⟩ma-tanayo vikramāditya Ekādaśa mā-
21sāN| tatas tālapa-rājasya suto yuddhamallaḥ sapta varṣ¿a?⟨ā⟩-
⎘ plate 3r 22ṇi| ¿tat-putraḥ?⟨taṁ jitvā⟩ kollabigaṇḍa-vijayāditya-suto bhīma-rā-
23jo dvādaśa varṣāṇi|
sa sakala-ripu-nr̥pati-makuṭa-taṭa-ghaṭita-maṇi-
31-gaṇa-madhu◯kara-nikara-paricuṁbita-caraṇa-sarasiruha-yugalo
32[’]yuga-lo◯cana-pada-kamala-vilasad-dvire¿p?⟨ph⟩āyamāno mānonna-
33to natoddha◯ta-samasta-lokaḥ samasta-bhuvanāśraya-śrī-vijayā-
34ditya-mahār¿a?⟨ā⟩jādhir¿a?⟨ā⟩jaḥ parameśvaraḥ parama-bhaṭṭārakaḥ parama-brahmaṇyaḥ vela-
35nāṇḍu-viṣaya-nivāsino rāṣṭrak¿u?⟨ū⟩ṭa-pramukhān kuṭuṁbina⟨ḥ⟩ samāhūyettham ājñāpaya-
⎘ plate 4r 36ti|
tasmai koramiya-nāmne suvarṇṇa-
53-bhāṇḍāgāra-śrīkaraṇa-mukhyāya Elavaṟṟu nāma grāmas sarvva-kara-parihāreṇāgrahārī-
54kr̥tyodaka-pū◯(rvva)m uttarāyaṇa-nimitte [’]smābhir ddatta Iti viditam astu vaḥ|
Asyāvadhayaḥ[.]
55pū◯(rvva)taḥ goma◯ḍuvu sīmā| Āgneyataḥ ḍagguṁbaṟti sīmā| dakṣiṇataḥ Iṇṭhūri sīmā|
nairr̥-
56ti-paścimābhyāṁ preṁpaṟti sīmā| vāyavyataḥ tuṟimiṇḍi sīmā| Uttareśānābhyāṁ Amutunūri
sīmā⟨|⟩
57Asyopari na kenacid bādhā karttavyā[.] yaḥ karoti sa paṁca-mahā-pātako bhavati| tathoktaṁ
vyāsena|
60Ājñaptiḥ kaṭaka-rājaḥ[.] potanabhaṭṭa-kāvyaṁ[.] jontācāryya-likhitaṁ|
1-23Greetings. 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 Hārīti, 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 enemy territories 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 protected (pāl-) the country of Veṅgī for eighteen years. His son Jayasiṁha (I), for thirty-three. His younger brother Indrarāja’s (Indra Bhaṭṭāraka’s) son Viṣṇuvardhana (II), for nine. His son Maṅgi Yuvarāja, for twenty-five. His son Jayasiṁha (II), for thirteen. His [brother] of inferior birth, Kokkili, for six months. After dethroning him, his eldest brother Viṣṇuvardhana (III), for thirty-seven. His son Vijayāditya (I) Bhaṭṭāraka, for eighteen. His son Viṣṇuvardhana (IV), for thirty-six. His son Vijayāditya (II) Narendramr̥garāja, for eight and forty. His son Kali-⟨Viṣṇu⟩vardhana (V), for a year and a half. His son Vijayāditya (III) with the byname Guṇaga, for forty-four. The son of his younger brother Prince (bhūpati) Vikramāditya, King (bhūpāla) Cālukya-Bhīma, for thirty. His son Kollabigaṇḍa Vijayāditya (IV), for six months. His son Ammarāja (I), for seven years. After dethroning his son the child Vijayāditya (V), Tālapa, for one month. After defeating him, Cālukya-Bhīma’s son Vikramāditya (II), for eleven months. Then, King (rājan) Tālapa’s son Yuddhamalla, for seven years. After defeating him,↓1 Kollabigaṇḍa Vijayāditya’s son Bhīmarāja (II), for twelve years.
30-36The pair of lotuses, which are his feet, are kissed all around by swarms of bees, which are the clusters of jewels fitted to the surfaces of the crowns of all enemy kings, [while] he himself plays the part of a bee flitting at the lotus that is the foot of the [god] with an odd number of eyes (Śiva). He rises high with pride [while] puffed-up people all bow down. That shelter of the entire universe (samasta-bhuvanāśraya), His Majesty Vijayāditya (Amma II) the supremely pious Supreme Lord (parameśvara), Emperor (mahārājādhirāja) and Supreme Sovereign (parama-bhaṭṭāraka), convokes and commands the householders (kuṭumbin)—including foremost the territorial overseers (rāṣṭrakūṭa)—who reside in Velanāṇḍu district (viṣaya) as follows:
52-54To that one named Koramiya, the head official (mukhya) of the treasury of gold and the chancellery, (śrīkaraṇa)↓9 we have given on the occasion of the winter solstice the village named Elavaṟṟu, converted into a rent-free holding (agrahāra) by a remission of all taxes, [the donation being] sanctified by (a libation of) water. Let this be known to you.
54-57Its boundaries [are as follows]. To the east, the border is Gomaḍuvu. To the southeast, the border of Ḍagguṁbaṟṟu. To the south, the border of Iṇṭhūru. To the southwest and west, the border of Preṁpaṟṟu. To the northwest, the border of Tuṟimiṇḍu. To the north and northeast, the border of Amutunūru. Let no-one pose an obstacle (to his enjoyment of his rights) over it. He who does so shall have the five great sins. Vyāsa spoke thus,
60The executor (ājñapti) is the castellan (kaṭaka-rāja). The poetry is Potana Bhaṭṭa’s. Written (likhita) [by] Jontācārya.
1-23Prospérité ! Le roi Kubja Viṣṇuvardhana, frère de Satyāśraya Vallabhendra, qui orne la dynastie des Cālukya, illustres, du même gotra que les descendants de Manu, loués dans l’univers entier, fils de Hārīti, ayant reçu leur royaume par l’excellente faveur de Kauśikī, protégés par les Mères réunies, méditant aux pieds du seigneur Mahāsena, eux dont les cercles des ennemis ont été soumis en un instant à la vue du signe de l’excellent sanglier, faveur octroyée par le bienheureux Nārāyaṇa, eux dont les corps ont été purifiés grâce aux bains consécutifs au sacrifice du cheval, a protégé la contrée de Veṅgī pendant dix huit années. Son fils Jayasiṁha pendant trente-trois ans ; Le fils d’Indrarāja, frère cadet de ce dernier, Viṣṇuvardhana, pendant neuf ans ; Le fils de celui-ci, Maṁgi, le prince héritier, pendant vingt-cinq ans ; Son fils Jayasiṁha pendant treize ans ; Le frère cadet de ce dernier, Kokkili, pendant six mois ; Son frère aîné Viṣṇuvardhana, après l’avoir chassé, pendant trente-sept ans ; Le fils de celui-ci, Vijayāditya, l’illustre seigneur, pendant dix-huit ans ; Son fils Viṣṇuvardhana pendant trente-six ans ; Le fils de celui-ci, Vijayāditya Narendra Mr̥garāja, pendant quarante-huit ans ; Son fils Kali Viṣṇuvardhana pendant un an et demi ; Le fils de ce dernier, Gunagāṁka Vijayāditya, pendant quarante-quatre ans ; Le fils du frère cadet de celui-ci, du roi Vikramāditya, le roi Cālukya Bhīma pendant trente ans ; Son fils Kollabhigaṇḍa Vijayāditya pendant six mois ; Son fils Ammarāja pendant sept ans ; Après avoir chassé le fils de ce dernier, Vijayāditya, alorsqu’il était enfant, Tālapa a protégé la terre pendant un mois ; après avoir vaincu celui-ci, le fils de Cālukya Bhīma, Vikramāditya a protégé la terre pendant onze mois ; puis le fils du roi Tālapa, Yuddhamalla, pendant sept ans ; Son fils,↓10 le fils de Kollabhigaṇḍa Vijayāditya, le roi Bhīma pendant douze ans ;
30-36Celui dont les deux pieds sont des lotus baisés par les essaims d’abeilles que sont les multiples gemmes serties sur l’orbe des diadèmes de tous les souverains ennemis, qui adoptait l’attitude d’une abeille fôlatrant sur les lotus que sont les pieds du dieu aux yeux en nombre impair, exalté par son orgueil et devant lequel tous les hommes arrogants s’inclinaient, refuge de l’univers entier, l’illustre Vijayāditya, souverain suprême des grands rois, premier seigneur, illustre seigneur, très pieux, ayant convoqué tous les chefs de familles de la circonscription de Velanāṇḍu, les rāṣṭrakūṭa en tête, ordonne ceci :
52-54Qu’il soit connu de vous que : Nous donnons à celui-ci, dont le nom est Koramiya, le chef du département de l’or, le village nommé Elavaṟṟu, exempté de toute taxe, en qualité d’agrahāra, après avoir fait une libation d’eau, à l’occasion du solstice d’hiver.
54-57 Les limites de ce village sont : à l’est la limite est Gomaḍuvu, au sud-est la limite est ḍagguṁbaṟti, au sud la limite est Iṇṭhūri, au sud-ouest et à l’ouest la limite est Preṁpaṟti, au nord la limite est Tuṟimiṇḍi, au nord-est la limite est Amutunūri. Aucune charge ne doit lui être imposée, celui qui en impose est lié aux cinq grands crimes. Vyāsa a dit ceci :
60 L’exécuteur est le kaṭakarāja. Le poème est de Potanabhaṭṭa. Il a été gravé par Jontācārya.
The grant includes some recycled plates. The writing on these has been beaten out quite effectively, but Fleet reports a few intelligible sequences of characters that can be read in the original, albeit invisible in the estampages. Traces of a grant written in earlier characters, parallel to the lines of the present grant, can be found on 1 verso and both sides of plate 3. A different grant, in characters of the same period as the present one and written across the lines of the present grant, can be found on both sides of plate 2. The lines of this have been truncated as the earlier plate was cut to its present size. Plates 4 and 5 are not palimpsests, and there is no earlier writing on 1 recto.
Stanza 1 is almost identical to a prose passage in lines 15-16 of the Ārumbāka grant of Bādapa. It thus seems likely that this text, in verse form, was already used in grants of Amma I, from which it must have been adopted (inaccurately) here and (accurately) in that grant of Amma II. Or, could Bādapa’s clerks have been using a grant of Amma II as a model, given that both refer to the king as Vijayāditya?
Edited from the original by Fleet (1883), with a translation and with facsimiles. The present edition by Dániel Balogh is based on a collation of Fleet’s edition with his published facsimiles.↓16
↑1. I translate the text as suggested in the apparatus to line 22.
↑2. Alternatively, jalaja may mean a fish or perhaps a lotus. This latter is how Fleet translates this word,
but he misconstrues the compound, analysing it as jalajāta-patra and apparently does not perceive that this must be some variant of a list of the
five lakṣaṇas of a cakravartin.
↑3. Fleet sees the name as Anamavvā, noting that it may also be Ānamavvā. He does not
consider Cānamavvā an option, but since Cānamāmbā is an attested name (of a different
person) in the Kāṭlapaṟṟu grant of Vijayāditya III, I prefer this.
↑4. This is the best I can make of the text, which I find rather awkward. Fleet translates
along similar lines, except that he seems to construe the compound with -rūpam as qualifying -bhāvam, which I find unlikely since bhāva is masculine, but with the adjective dhārā-dhāri we need -rūpam to be neuter. The text may have a better sense that escapes both Fleet and me, but
it is well within the range of possibility that the composer was carried away from
sense by his effort to produce the sound effect of the third pāda. Could the correct reading be, or should it be emended to, dadhad dharā-vāridharopamānaḥ, implying that Koramiya is comparable to the earth (in forbearance) and to a raincloud
(in selfless distribution of riches)?
↑5. I am not entirely confident in my interpretation of this stanza, partly because of
an engraving error and partly because of the opacity of the phrase nāgaraka-jalajabhava-bahumukha-priyāṁ. Fleet emends the error differently (see the apparatus to line 46) and translates,
‘The eloquence which abides in him, the most clever one (and) which is (like) the sharp
edge of a sword to wicked people, always laughs to scorn the woman Vāc who is dear
to polished people and to Jalajabhava and to Bahumukha,’ noting that Jalajabhava is Brahmā (born in a lotus) and Bahumukha may be Viṣṇu (as
Sahasrānana). I find Fleet’s emendation unlikely, because while dhārā does mean “edge,” there is no sword in the context here. I also do not think Koramiya
would be praised for scorning the goddess of speech who is dear to gods, nor do I
see how Viṣṇu would fit that picture. It is marginally possible that the poet’s intent
was to say that Koramiya’s eloquence “scorns,” i.e. surpasses the real speech goddess,
and that Bahumukha is a further qualification of Brahmā, who does fit the picture.
But what is in my opinion more likely is that Jalajabhava and Bahumukha are living
contemporary poets and/or courtiers whom Amma II finds disagreeable, e.g. for criticising
him or praising his rivals. The image in this stanza would thus be that although these
men do have a gift with words, it is only a courtesanly (vāra) Lady Speech who favours them, while Koramiya’s genuine gift is turned to ridiculing
them.
↑6. Here too, Fleet emends and interprets the text differently. He translates, ‘Good people say how wonderful it is that, through his innate excellence, there is
produced a power that is worthy to be praised by (his) lord.’ His emendation, though more invasive than mine (see the apparatus to line 48), is
not implausible and his translation is also possible. However, I feel that the terms
citram and sādhu-vāda are more likely to have been used in their common specialised senses (viz., “strange”
and “congratulation, acclaim”) than in the blander senses of “wonderful” and “speech
of good people.” Given this intuition, I believe the intent of the composer was to
say that acclaim should come as a matter of course to such an eminent person, and
it is indeed strange that his king should need to commission his laudation.
↑7. Once again, I disagree with Fleet, who ignores the bitextuality of the stanza, possibly
because he was unaware of the concept of the vāstu-puruṣa. I make a small emendation in the first hemistich (see the apparatus to line 50)
which Fleet does not make. He translates, ‘It is well established that Koramiya is essentially a man, (since) he enjoys the abiding
condition of preserving the hearts of all kings, (and since) he is not to be purchased
for any value, (and since) he is possessed of excellent achievements that are like
pearls.’ I do not think the composer would have gone to the trouble of writing a stanza just
to say that the donee is “essentially a man”, and Fleet’s rendering of what he (without
my emendation) sees as a long compound into “enjoys the abiding condition of preserving
the hearts of all kings” does not make much sense. If, however, we read the stanza
in two different ways, once as applied to the donee and once to a vāstu-puruṣa, we end up with a much more pregnant—and in fact rather brilliant, not to mention
historically interesting—piece of text. Some of my translations as applied to the
Domicile Man may be off: I am not sure whether kings worship the centre of one (perhaps
they rather reside or abide there?), and I do not know of an explicit role played
by pearls and fruit in the worship of a vāstu-puruṣa. The stanza merits further investigation and comparison with other sources on the
vāstu-puruṣa.
↑8. Yet again, Fleet translates the stanza at face value. However, the most straightforward
interpretation of the last statement is indeed as Fleet translates it, ‘his mind is inclined to all kinds of enjoyment’, but I fail to see how this could support a claim for great virtue (much less, as
Fleet puts it, religious merit). Given this, I feel we must search for alternative
interpretations of all the statements, which would make their purport the opposite.
While the text aho mahat easily allows the reading aho’mahat, I do not find it easy to arrive at a negative meaning for the first two statements
and a positive one for the third. Nonetheless, with a bit of a stretch such meanings
can be found, and I am quite confident that the composer had something much like this
in mind. That said, the positive meanings are more natural in all quarters except
the one about enjoyments, whereas one would rather expect a “laudation by abuse” to
work the other way round and yield the positive meaning only after careful scrutiny.
↑9. Or, as Fleet takes it, the records office of the treasury of gold.
↑10. Assimilation erronée de Yuddhamalla et de Kollabhigaṇḍa-Vijayāditya. Il faut peut-être
y voir une tentative de légitimation de Yuddhamalla, qui appartient à une branche
usurpatrice de la famille. Nous savons en effet par l’inscription de Tāṇḍikoṇḍa que
ce dernier est le cousin germain de Kollabhigaṇḍa-Vijayāditya.
↑11. Śleṣa, autre traduction possible : « par le fait de brûler son ennemi, Pura ».
↑12. Analogon : le roi est pour les savants ce que le soleil est pour les lotus.
↑13. Brahma, né dans un lotus.
↑14. Brahma
↑15. Viṣṇu
↑16. All my scans of IA12 are quite poor. Though Fleet says the plates are in perfect preservation,
my scans of 3r and 4v are illegible in many places (where I simply adopt Fleet’s reading),
and the other plates far from perfect. Checking a printed Indian Antiquary 12 may
help.