Timmapuram unfinished plates of Maṅgi Yuvarāja

Metadata

Current Version:  draft, 2024-09-02Z

Editor:   Dániel Balogh.

DHARMA Identifier: INSVengiCalukya00091

Hand Description:

Halantas.

Original punctuation.

Other palaeographic observations. Written in rather ungainly characters of uneven size and distribution.

Additional Metadata

No metadata were provided in the table for this inscription

Edition

Seal

1(śrī-vija)yasiddhi

Plates

⎘ plate 1v 1[sva](sti)[.] samasta-bhuvanāśraya-śrī-saṁstūyamāna-⟨māna⟩vya-sagotrāṇ¿a?⟨ā⟩ṁ h¿a?⟨ā⟩riti-pu-
2[trāṇā](ṁ) Aśvamedha-yājināṁ kauśik¿i?⟨ī⟩-vara-prasāda-rājyānāṁ nārāyaṇa-vara-pras(ā)-
3(do)palab(dh)a-vara-varāha-lāṁchanā{ṁ}nāṁ mātr̥-gaṇa-paripālitānāṁ māna-
4(v)ya-sagotrāṇāṁ caḷukyānāṁ kula-jaladhi-samudbhūta-rājasya śrīma-
5to jayasiṁgha-vallabha-mah(ā)rājasyendra-samāna-kīrtt¿i?⟨e⟩r indra-bhaṭṭā-
⎘ plate 2r 6 rakasya priya-tanaya⟨ḥ⟩ sva-pitur adhika-guṇa-gaṇo¡d!⟨dd⟩yo¿d?⟨t⟩ita-yaśo-vitāna-ro-
7ciṣṇo⟨ḥ⟩ ¿Anda?⟨Aidaṁ⟩yu¿ś?⟨g⟩īna-mahāviṣṇo⟨ḥ⟩ viṣṇuvarddhana-mahārājasya priya-tanaya⟨ḥ⟩
8pravarddha

Palimpsest

⎘ plate 1v 1[?26+]
2[?6+](bhuvanā?)[?17+]
3[?3×] ◯ [?21+]
4[?5+](nā)[ṁ ca](ḷu)[k](y)[ānāṁ] (ku)lam ala[ṁ]ka(ri)ṣṇ[oḥ] (śrī)-[1+]si(gha-vallabha)-[ma](hārā)ja
5[?8+] vikramasyendra-[bhaṭṭā](rakasya) [sūno](r a)neka-samara-sa[ṁghaṭṭa]
⎘ plate 2r 6[?26+]
7[?26+]
8[?3×] ◯ [?21×]
9[?26×]
10[?26×]
⎘ plate 2v 11[?11×] (karvve bra?) [1+] (rgga?) [1+] (śī?) [1+] (bhu?)taṁ (kakaṁsa?) [?7×]
12[?8×] (śāgni?) [1×] (ddhaporkandikanāga A?) [?4×] nā bra[h]ma [?3×] ḥ (ceva?) [?2×]
13[?2× ma]◯ vin(d)iśarm(m)aṇaḥ putr(ā?)ya (ṣa)ṭ-karm(m)a-nira[tā](ya) [1×] (sa-?)ma(ntre?)(tihāsa) [?5×]
14[?3×](b?)u-nāma (kṣetraṁ?) ni(va)rttana-mā(tra) (bhūmi sūrya-grahaṇa)-nimitt(aṁ?) (Udaka-pūrvva)[ṁ sa]
15(rvva-kara-pa)rihāreṇāgrahār(ī)kr̥tya Ācandrārkka-tārakaṁ dattaṁ[.] tasya kṣe(trasya) (A?)[?3×]
⎘ plate 3r 16(maṣṭāprā?)[1×] (v?)ip(i) [kara](ṇīyā?)[.] (U)kta(ñ ca bhagavatā vyāsena)

I. Anuṣṭubh
bahubhir vvasudhā [da](ttā)
17(ba)hubhiś(c)ānu(pālitā)
yasya (ya)sya (ya)dā bhūmi⟨ḥ⟩ ◯
tasya (ta)sya tadā phalaṁ

II. Anuṣṭubh
sva-dattā(ṁ)[pa] 18[ra-dattāṁ vā]] ◯
(yo) hareta vasundharāṁ
ṣaṣṭiṁ varṣa-sa(hasrāṇi)
vi(ṣṭhāyāṁ jāyate kr̥mi)⟨ḥ⟩◯


19[?26×]
20[?26×]

Apparatus

Seal

Plates

1 samasta-bhuvanāśraya-śrī-saṁstūyamāna- • The standard phrase śrīmatāṁ sakala-bhuvana-saṁstūyamāna-. Beyond the garbled nature of the present text, it is worth noting that samasta-bhuvanāśraya, while a frequent epithet of kings bearing the name Vijayāditya, does not to my knowledge appear in any context before the time of Vijayāditya I.
5 -mah(ā)rājasyendra- • If this inscription was ever meant to be a properly issued land grant, the text intended here would have been something like -mahārājasya priyānujasyendra-.
6 -tanaya⟨ḥ⟩ • The ending I supply is syntactically inappropriate and should in fact be -tanayasya. But convention seems rather to call for sūnor at this point, and the king list may be a clumsy adoption from that used in grants of Viṣṇuvardhana II.
8 pravarddha • The text ends here. The continuation was probably not a date involving the phrase pravarddhamāna-vijaya-rājya, but a qualification similar to pravarddhamāna-pratāpopanamita-ripu-nr̥pati-makuṭa-taṭa-ghaṭita-maṇi-mayūkha-mañjarī-puñja-piñjarita-caraṇāravinda-yugalaḥ, as in the Guḍivāḍa plates (set 1) of Jayasiṁha I, which contains the only close parallel to the preceding qualification of Viṣṇuvardhana II (there applied to Viṣṇuvardhana I, in the form sva-pitur anūna-guṇa-gaṇodyotita-rociṣṇor aidaṁyugīna-mahāviṣṇoḥ).

Palimpsest

4 (śrī)-[1×]si(gha-) • I cannot make out any of the character to the left of si, but it is certainly only one character. Nevertheless, jayasiṁgha was in all probability intended.
9 [?26×] • This is the line where the ARIE reports the deleted text (svāsi-dhār)ānamita-ripu-nr̥pati-makuṭa-(taṭa-ghaṭita)-maṇi-kiraṇa-rāga.
11 (karvve bra?) • The readings offered for this line and the next are rather just diagnostic in nature and are likely to be incorrect in many details.

Translation by Dániel Balogh

Seal

Plates

1-8Greetings. His Majesty King (mahārāja) Jayasiṁgha Vallabha [was] a jewel of a king arisen from the ocean that is the family of the Caḷukyas—who are of the Mānavya gotra which is praised by ¿(the goddess) Fortune who is the? shelter of the entire universe (samasta-bhuvanāśraya),↓1 who are the sons of Hāriti, who perform the Aśvamedha (sacrifice), whose kingship is [by] the grace of Kauśikī’s boon, who acquired the superior Boar emblem by the grace of Nārāyaṇa’s boon, who are protected by the band of Mothers, and who are of the Mānavya gotra.↓2 [His] ⟨younger brother was⟩ Indra Bhaṭṭāraka, equal in reputation to [the divine] Indra. [His] dear son [was] King (mahārāja) Viṣṇuvardhana (II), a [veritable] Supreme Viṣṇu of this epoch, who is resplendent with a profusion of glory is illuminated by a host of virtues in excess of those of his father. [His] dear son, ever-increasing↓3

Palimpsest

1-12 ... King (mahārāja) Jayasiṁgha Vallabha, who was eager to adorn the family of the Caḷukyas ... Indra Bhaṭṭāraka, whose valour ... [his] son ... the clash of many a battle ...

13-16 ... the son of ¿Ma?vindiśarman, devoted to the six duties (of a Brahmin) ... together with the Mantras and Itihāsas ... a field named ... nivartana extent of land ... has been given on the occasion of an eclipse of the sun, sanctified by (a libation of) water, converted into a rent-free holding (agrahāra) by a remission of all taxes, as long as the moon, sun and stars [remain]. Of that field, ... The Reverend Vyāsa too has said:

I.
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.

II.
He who would seize land, whether given by himself or by another, shall be born as a worm in faeces for sixty [thousand] years.

19-20 ...

Commentary

The findspot is recorded as Timmāpuram, Sarvasiddhi Taluk, Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh. I believe Sarvasiddhi Taluk should be NE of Kakinada, more or less corresponding to present-day Anakapalli district. Somasekhara Sarma (1955-1956: 131) identifies Kumulūru as Pedda Gummulūru (or the nearby Chinna Gummulūru) in Sarvasiddhi Taluk, located near Gudivada (also said to be in Sarvasiddhi Taluk by Somasekhara Sarma) and the findspot Timmapuram. The most likely place is around 17.43342446086503, 82.75163439357617, where the India Place Finder and Open Street Maps show a Timmapuram coterminous with (or part of) a Pedda Gummuluru (Pedha Gumuluru on Google Maps). A small village called Gudivada is located about 6 km SE of this, whereas the major town Gudivada is over 200 km to the SW.

The inscription is a palimpsest on recycled plates. The earlier writing, present on all the inner faces of the set, was erased with great care, perhaps by hammering the lines with a very hard and rough-surfaced tool or stone. The effect is that blurry haloes of the original writing can now be seen, and in many places hair-thin lines corresponding to the deepest parts of the original strokes are also visible. Some of the earlier inscription is thus fairly legible, giving the appearance of a complete grant, which I edit as the third part of this inscription. According to the ARIE report, the words (svāsi-dhār)ānamita-ripu-nr̥pati-makuṭa-(taṭa-ghaṭita)-maṇi-kiraṇa-rāga can just be made out in the fourth line of page 2 recto. I cannot make out anything resembling these words, here or anywhere else, and hence wonder if the ARIE scholar had an eye that much better for this (yet did not care to report the much more easily legible parts of the erased text), or if this is a mistake. The fact that the earlier writing covers the inner faces, and proceeds in the same order as the present inscription from 1v to 3r, also implies that the earlier grant may have been erased after the original plates were issued and bound with a seal, and what we have here may be a partially reinscribed premodern forgery. See also the apparatus note to line 1.

Bibliography

Reported in ARIE 1907-1908: page 10, appendix A/1907–08, № 1 with a description at ARIE 1907-1908: 48–49. No previous editions known. The present edition was created for DHARMA by Dániel Balogh, on the basis of photographs taken by myself in February 2023 at the Government Museum, Chennai.

Primary

Secondary


Notes

↑1. The text is garbled here; see also the apparatus to line 1.
↑2. In addition to other discrepancies in the text, the Mānavya gotra is mentioned twice.
↑3. As noted in the apparatus to line 7, the last inscribed word may belong to the phrase “whose pair of lotus feet are engilded by a mass of beam clusters from gems fitted to the surfaces of the crowns of enemy kings forced to bow by his ever-increasing valour”.