Cintapura grant (Kantēru plates 2) — reign of Skandavarman, year 1

Editors: Arlo Griffiths, Vincent Tournier.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00168.

Hand description:

Language: Sanskrit.

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

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

Edition

Seal seal

mahā(rā)ja(s)kanda

Plates ?

⟨Page 1b⟩⟨marginleft: <dextrorotatory-spiral> ⟨1⟩ svasti vijayaveṅgyāḥ bhagavaccitrarathasvāmi⟨2⟩pādānudhyātasya bappabhaṭṭārakapādabha⟨3⟩ktasya śālaṅkāyanasya mahārājaśrīvijaya⟨Page 2a⟩⟨marginleft: 2⟨4⟩skandavarmmaṇo va[canena] [3+]raci(nt)apure ⟨5⟩ grāmeyakā vaktavyāḥ Asty asmābhi[r] [a]sma⟨6⟩tkulagotraśrīyaśobhivr̥ddhaye (E)ta(s)m[ai] ⟨Page 2b⟩⟨marginleft: 3 ⟨7⟩ maudgalyasagotrāya (le)kumārīgrāmavā⟨8⟩stavyāya śivāryyāya sarvvaparihāreṇa ⟨9⟩ sā pallikā dattā (tad) [v]i(d)i(t)[v]ā (bhava)d(bh)iḥ pūrvva⟨Page 3a⟩⟨marginleft: 4⟨10⟩maryyādayā sādhu pre(ṣaṇaṁ) karttavyam iti ⟨11⟩ Api ca sarvvaniyoganiyuktāyuktaka⟨12⟩viṣayapatimiśraiḥ sā pāllikā parihārttavyā ⟨Page 3b⟩⟨marginleft: 5 ⟨13⟩ (p)rava[rd]dha(mānaśrī)viyayarājyasaṁvatsare pra⟨14⟩(tha)me vaiśākhapaurṇṇa(mā)syāṁ dattā paṭṭikā

I. Anuṣṭubh

bahubhir vvasudhā dattā

a

bahubhiś cānupālitā

b

⟨Page 4a⟩⟨marginleft: 6 ⟨16⟩ yasya yasya (yadā) (bhūm)is

c

tasya tasya tadā ⟨17⟩ phalam·

d
II. Anuṣṭubh

ṣaṣṭivarṣasahasrāṇi

a

svargge krīḍa⟨18⟩[ti] [bhūmidaḥ]

b

Ākṣeptā cānumantā ca

c

tāny e⟨19⟩[va] [nara](ke) vaset·

d

Apparatus

⟨seal⟩ mahā(rā)ja(s)kanda Panchamukhi 1939–1940 • The published facsimiles do not allow verification of this reading. The editor of the EI issue containing Panchamukhi’s edition, noted : “Except the syllables mahā and the bull and the line beneath it nothing else, including the name of the king, is visible in the photograph of the seal” (Panchamukhi 1939–1940, pp. 43, n. 2).

⟨1⟩ svasti ⬦ svasthi Panchamukhi 1939–1940 • Panchamukhi emends to svasti.

⟨4⟩ va[canena][3+] raci(nt)apure ⬦ [vacanāt ku]ḍūhāracinnapure Lakshmana Rao 1930; [vacanena kudrāhā]racintapure Panchamukhi 1939–1940 • Lakshmana Rao notes about his reading ḍūhā: “These letters were clearly seen when I made my first transcript but were subsequently lost in getting the plates cleaned” (Lakshmana Rao 1930, pp. p. 30, n. 2) ; and about his reading cinnapure that this “may be read as cittapure or cintapure or citnapure because the writer practically makes no difference between ta and na” (). In the light of EIAD 167, lines 8-9, mahārājaśrīskandavarmmaṇo vacanena kudr⟨ā⟩hārakompare, Panchamukhi’s is the more plausible restoration of the lost text, and underlies our translation.

⟨9⟩ (tad)[v]i(d)i(t)[v]ā (bhava)d(bh)iḥ ⬦ (tadviditvā bhavadbhi)ra Lakshmana Rao 1930; (tad viditvā bhavadbhi) Panchamukhi 1939–1940 • Lakshmana Rao admits that ra is not clear.

⟨10⟩ -maryyādayā Panchamukhi 1939–1940(sa)marpyadayā Lakshmana Rao 1930. — ⟨10⟩ pre(ṣaṇaṁ)premaṇo Lakshmana Rao 1930; premaṇā Panchamukhi 1939–1940 • Panchamukhi emends to premṇā. Our reading is based on the parallel in EIAD 167, lines 13-4: tad avagamya pūrvvamaryyādayā sādhu preṣaṇaṁ karttavyam.

⟨12⟩ parihārttavyā Panchamukhi 1939–1940parihartavyā Lakshmana Rao 1930 • Lakshmana Rao does a silent normalization. Panchamukhi proposes to emend pariharttavyā.

⟨13-14⟩ pra(tha)me ⬦ pradhame Lakshmana Rao 1930; prathame Panchamukhi 1939–1940 • The akṣara tha is not clear; it looks like ve.

⟨18⟩ Ākṣeptā Panchamukhi 1939–1940Akṣeptā Lakshmana Rao 1930 • There is a misreading from Lakshmana Rao or a printing error.

Translation

(1–5) Hail! From the victorious (city of) Veṅgī, (by the order) of the glorious and victorious great king Skandavarman, the Śālaṅkāyana, who is favored by the feet of the lord Citrarathasvāmin and devoted to the feet of his lord father, the villagers of Cintapura (in the Kudrāhāra) are to be addressed:

(5–9) ‘There is this small village (i.e. Cintapura), given by us, with all exemptions, for the sake of increasing the prosperity and fame or our lineage and gotra, to this Śivārya, who belongs to the gotra of the Maudgalyas and resides in the village of [Le]kumāri.

(9–12) Knowing that, you must render proper service according to the old custom. Furthermore all (our) officers appointed to tasks (or: officers appointed to all tasks) and provincial governors, etc. (miśra), are to exempt this small village.’

(13–14) In the first year of the prosperous, glorious and victorious reign, on the full-moon day of Vaiśākha, the charter has been given.

I
By many land has been given; and by many it has been protected. Whoever holds land at a given moment, to him does the fruit then belong.
II
The giver of land revels sixty thousand years in heaven; the one who confiscates [land] as well as the one who allows [the confiscation] will reside as many [years] in hell.

Commentary

(seal) 1

(10) 2

Bibliography

First described, edited and translated by Lakshmana Rao 1930. Re-edited with improvements and re-translated by Panchamukhi 1939–1940. The text is edited here again from the facsimiles published by Panchamukhi. The plates are damaged and our edition relies heavily on parallels.

Secondary

No name. 1887–. Annual report on Indian epigraphy. Madras; Calcutta; New Delhi: Government of Madras; Archaeological Survey of India. Pages 73–5, no. A.1.

Gopalan, R. and S. Krishnaswamy Aiyangar. 1928. History of the Pallavas of Kanchi. Madras University historical series 3. Madras: University of Madras. Page 74.

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. 864.

Sridhar, T. S. and R. Balasubramanian. 2011. A catalogue of copper plate grants (1918–2010). Chennai: Commissioner of Museums, Government Museum. [URL].

Notes

  1. 1. As mentioned by Panchamukhi 1939–1940, pp. 42–43, the faintly legible legend on this seal clarifies that it belongs to EIAD 168 and not to EIAD INSEIAD00163 as Lakshmana Rao 1930 initially thought.
  2. 2. The word iti should logically be placed after the second order (parihārttavyā) in line 12.