Copper plates from Kānukollu — reign of Skandavarman, year 1

Editors: Arlo Griffiths, Vincent Tournier.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00167.

Hand description:

Language: Sanskrit.

Repository: Early Andhra (tfb-eiad-epigraphy).

Version: (a154659), last modified (77e39b7).

Edition

⟨Page 1b⟩⟨marginleft: 1⟩ ⟨1⟩ svasti vijayaveṅgyyā Anekasamaramukhavikhyātakarmmaṇaḥ ⟨2⟩ mahārājaśrīhastivarmmaṇaḥ prapautrasya ⟨3⟩ svapratāpā(pa)nītāhitavarmmaṇaḥ mahārājaśrīnandiva⟨4⟩rmmaṇaḥ pautrasya caturudadhitaraṅgāliṅgita⟨5⟩⟨Page 2a⟩⟨marginleft: 2⟩yaśaso mahārājaśrīhastivarmmaṇaḥ putrasya ⟨6⟩ bhagavacc(i)trarathasvāmipādānudyātasya ⟨7⟩ bappabhaṭṭārakapādabhaktasya (śāla)ṅkāyanasya ⟨8⟩ mahārājaśrīskandavarmmaṇo vacanena kudr⟨ā⟩hāra⟨9⟩⟨Page 2b⟩⟨marginleft: 3⟩kompare grāmeyakā vaktavyā Asti Asmābhir asma⟨10⟩tkulayaśaḥśrī(v)i(ja)yakalyāṇābhivr̥ddhaye ⟨11⟩ Eṣa grāmaḥ rathakāravastavyāya cātuḥrvvaidyāya ⟨Page 3a⟩⟨marginleft: 4⟩ ⟨12⟩ sarvvaparīhāreṇa brahmadeyaṁ kr̥tvā dattaḥ ⟨13⟩ tad avagamya pūrvvamaryyādayā sādhu preṣa⟨14⟩ṇaṁ karttavyam api ca sarvvaniyoganiyuktāyuktakāś ca ⟨Page 3b⟩⟨marginleft: 5⟩ ⟨15⟩ (ta)ṁ (gr)ā(ma)ṁ pariharantu prava(r)ddhamānaśrīvijaya⟨16⟩rājyasaṁvatsare prathame kārttikamāsa⟨17⟩(śu)klapakṣapratipadi dattā paṭṭik(ā)

I. Anuṣṭubh

⟨Page 4a⟩⟨marginleft: 6⟩ ⟨18⟩ bahubhir bahudhā dattā

a

vasudhā vasudhādhipaiḥ

b

⟨19⟩ yasya yasya yadā bhūmiḥ

c

tasya tasya tadā phalam· ~

d

Apparatus

⟨6⟩ -dyātasya • Emend -dhyātasya, as proposed by Krishna Rao 1955–1956, p. 9.

⟨8⟩ kudr⟨ā⟩hāra- ⬦ kudrāhāra- Krishna Rao 1955–1956 • We do not see the expected ā-mātra.

⟨11⟩ -vastavyāya • If the reading is not simply -vāstavyāya, then emend thus, as proposed by Krishna Rao 1955–1956, p. 9. — ⟨11⟩ cātuḥrvvaidyāya • Emend cāturvvaidyāya, as proposed by Krishna Rao 1955–1956, p. 9.

⟨12⟩ -parīhāreṇa • Emend -parihāreṇa, as proposed by Krishna Rao 1955–1956, p. 9.

Translation

(1–9) Hail! From the victorious [city of] Veṅgī, by the order of the great-grandson of the glorious great king Hastivarman, whose deeds at the forefront of many battles are celebrated; the grandson of the glorious great king Nandivarman, by whose own prowess the armor of enemies has been removed; the son of the glorious great king Hastivarman, whose fame has been embraced by the waves of the four oceans; the glorious great king Skandavarman, who is favored by the feet of the lord Citrarathasvāmin, devoted to the feet of his lord father, the Śālaṅkāyana — [by his order] the villagers of Kompara in the Kudrāhāra are to be addressed:

(9–15) ‘There is this village given by us to the Brahmin community of the four Vedas (cāturvaidya) residing in Rathakāra, for the increasing of the fame, prosperity, victory and welfare of our lineage, after having made it a brahmadeya with all exemptions. Having taken notice of that, proper service is to be done according to old custom and also all the officers appointed to tasks (or: the officers appointed to all tasks) are to exempt this village.’

(15–17) In the first year of [his] prosperous, glorious and victorious reign, on the first day of the waxing fortnight of the month Kārttika, the charter has been given.

I
By numerous kings, many times land has been given. Whoever holds land at a given moment, to him does the fruit then belong.

Commentary

(plate 1) 1

(8) 2

(11) 3

Bibliography

First edited by Krishna Rao 1955–1956, pp. 7–10. Re-edited here from Krishna Rao’s facsimiles.

Secondary

No name. 1887–. Annual report on Indian epigraphy. Madras; Calcutta; New Delhi: Government of Madras; Archaeological Survey of India. Pages 1946–47: no. A.2.

Chhabra, Bahadur Chand, N. Lakshminarayan Rao and M. Ashraf Husain. 1949. “Ten years of Indian epigraphy (1937–46).” Ancient India 5, pp. 46–61. [URL]. Pages 46–7.

Gai, Govind Swamirao. 1986. Dynastic list of copper plate inscriptions noticed in annual reports on Indian epigraphy from 1887 to 1969. Mysore: Archaeological Survey of India. Page no. 862.

Notes

  1. 1. The number 1 in the margin takes the shape of a dextrorotatory spiral.
  2. 2. On Kudrāhāra, see Sircar 1939, p. 42.
  3. 3. On cāturvaidya, as a singular collective designating a community of caturvedin Brahmins, see Sircar’s note to Krishna Rao’s translation and Schmiedchen 2007.