Plates
From the lotus in the navel of the great Lord Nārāyaṇa, the supreme person and the abode of Śrī, there arose Brahmā, the self-born creator of the world. From him was born a son of the mind called Atri, and from that sage Atri was born the founder of a dynasty: the Moon soma whose rays are nectar and who is the turban jewel of Śrīkaṇṭha Śiva.
From that nectar-yielding one there came into being Mercury budha, praised by the wise budha, and from him was born the valiant universal sovereign cakravartin named Purūravas.
From him was born Āyus. From him, Nahuṣa. From him, the universal sovereign Yayāti. From him, the universal sovereign called Puru. From him, Janamejaya, performer of three Aśvamedha sacrifices. From him, Prācīśa. From him, Sainyayāti. From him, Hayapati. From him, Sārvabhauma. From him, Jayasena. From him, Mahābhauma. From him, Aiśānaka. From him, Krodhānaka.The name is Krodhānana in parallels. From him, Devaki. From him, R̥bhuka. From him, R̥kṣaka. From him, Mativara, performer of a Sattra sacrifice and Lord of the River Sarasvatī. From him, Kātyāyana. From him, Nīla. From him, Duṣyanta. His son was the one—
—who, because he unceasingly installed one sacrificial post yūpa after another on the banks of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā and also performed Aśvamedhas, obtained the name “Bharata of the Great Sacrifices.”
From that Bharata was born Bhūmanyu. From him, Suhotra. From him, Hastin. From him, Virocana. From him, Ajamīla. From him, Saṁvaraṇa. Of him and of Tapatī, the daughter of Tapana, the son was Sudhanvan. From Sudhanvan was born Parikṣit. From him, Bhīmasena. From him, Pradīpana. From him, Śantanu. From him, Vicitravīrya. From him, King Pāṇḍu.
He in turn had five sons—Yudhiṣṭhira the son of Dharma, Bhīma, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who were to obtain the kingdom viṣaya like the five senses which grasp the sense-objects viṣaya.
The masterful wielder of the Gāṇḍīva bow who, after vanquishing Indra the thunderbolt-bearer, burned the Khāṇḍava forest; who obtained the Pāśupata weapon in combat from Śiva the enemy of Andhaka; who, after slaying many Daityas such as Kālikeya, victoriously ascended to share a throne with Indra; who with abandon cut down the forest that was the dynasty of the Kurus—
—from that Arjuna was born Abhimanyu. From him, Parikṣit. From him, Janamejaya. From him, Kṣemuka. From him, Naravāhana. From him, Śatānīka. From him, Udayana. When sixty-less-one universal sovereigns beginning with him Udayana had passed in uninterrupted succession, each seated on the throne of Ayodhyā, a king of their dynasty named Vijayāditya marched to Dakṣiṇāpatha driven by a desire to conquer. He challenged Trilocana Pallava and, due to the ill will of ordinance, passed to the otherworld.
In the midst of that tribulation, his pregnant chief queen went with their chaplain purohita and the aged ministers to a Brahmanical settlement agrahāra named Mudivemu, and there gave birth to a son named Viṣṇuvardhana while under the protection of its resident the soma-sacrificer Viṣṇubhaṭṭa, who cherished her as if she were his own daughter. She raised that boy, arranging for the performance of the ceremonies applicable to his bilateral descent krama, namely being of the Mānavya gotra and a son of Hārīti. He in turn, when her mother had told him the story, went forth to Mount Calukya and worshipped Nandā, who is the goddess Gaurī, and also appeased Kumāra, Nārāyaṇa and the band of Mothers. Having thereby received the hereditary paraphernalia of sovereignty belonging to his family, as though they had been deposited with these deities for safekeeping—namely, the white parasol, the one conch shell, the five great sounds, the pennant garland pāli-ketana, the drum paḍhakkaSome related grants use the words paḍa-ḍhakkā, prati-ḍhakkā and daḍakkā in similar contexts., the Boar emblem, the peacock-feather fan piñcha, the lance kunta, the lion throne, the makara archway, the golden sceptre, the Gaṅgā and Yamunā and so forth—having conquered the kings of the Kadambas and Gaṅgas, he reigned over Dakṣiṇāpatha extending from Rāma’s bridge to the Narmadā and comprising seven and a half lakhs of villages.
The son of that King Viṣṇuvardhana and his chief queen born of the Pallava dynasty was Vijayāditya.
His son was Pulakeśī Vallabha. His son was Kīrtivarman. His son—
Satyāśraya Vallabhendra Pulakeśin II was eager to adorn the lineage of the majestic Calukyas—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 Vallabha I, for thirty-three. His younger brother Indrarāja Indra Bhaṭṭāraka, for seven days. His son Viṣṇuvardhana II, for nine years. 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 years. 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-Viṣṇuvardhana V, for a year and a half. His son Guṇaga Vijayāditya III, for forty-four. The son of his younger brother Vikramāditya, Cālukya-Bhīma, for thirty. His son Kollabigaṇḍa Vijayāditya IV, for six months. His son Ammarāja I, for seven years.
Having ousted that Yuddhamalla from the country and having also quashed other enemies, the fearsome King Bhīma II, younger brother of Ammarāja, protected rakṣ- the earth for twelve years.
That Bhīma, comparable to Daśaratha, had two worthy sons like Rāma and Bharata, Kings nr̥pa Dānārṇava and Amma. The younger of these two, Ammarāja II, first protected rakṣ- the surface of the earth for twenty-five years.
King Dāna Dānārṇava, the brother of King Amma II by a different mother and the son of King Bhīma II, clever in a whole array of sciences, protected pā- the earth up to its four ends for three years.
Then, after Dānārṇava, by an ill turn of fate the land of Veṅgī remained leaderless for twenty-seven years.
At this juncture, the son of King Dāna, His Majesty Śaktivarman, who was of the same nature as Indra the king of the gods, struck down his enemies by the power of his valour and protected rakṣ- the earth for twelve years.
His younger brother then protected the earth for seven years, he whose fame crossed the seven oceans, the lantern of the majestic Cālukya royal dynasty: King bhūpa Mummaḍi-bhīma Vimalāditya, the repository of valour.
His majestic son Rājarāja of luminous valour, recognised as the foremost of his royal dynasty, being adept at protection, protected rakṣ the earth for forty and one years.
Also—
From Vimalāditya and of Queen Meḻava, the sole royal goddess lakṣmī of the Coḻa lineage, was born Vijayāditya VII, ever accompanied by the goddess of victory and praised by kings.
When Rājarāja, his brother born of a different mother, was gone from view parokṣe,This is how the charter’s original editor Subba Rao 28 interprets this phrase, and I agree that it is the composer’s likely intent. The text could, however, also be interpreted to mean that Vijayāditya seized the kingdom while he was out of sight of Rājarāja, i.e. took over in a clandestine manner. he Vijayāditya VII, endowed with heroic majesty vīra-śrī, seized the majesty of kingship over the earth.
Having seized it, he conferred the kingdom on his son His Majesty Śaktivarman II out of affection. When he Śaktivarman II departed to heaven after having protected the earth for one year—
When his son, like Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu, had attained heaven without having attained experience of life, the Lord adhipa Vijayāditya, like Arjuna the son of Pr̥thā, lost his interest in enjoyments. Nonetheless, upon the copious exhortation of reliable experts in hereditary association with his family, the dejected Vijayāditya reluctantly kathaṁcid made up his mind to protect the earth in order to stabilise morality dharma.
Once the divine king His Majesty Karavāla-Bhairava Vijayāditya VII—having cast off the filth of the Kali age, having accepted the yoke associated with righteousness, and having secured heroic majesty vīra-śrī in his own arms in order to subdue the host of his enemies—had dedicated himself to protecting the earth until the turning of the age, the land became a wish-fulfilling cow and the Kali age came to rival the Kr̥ta age.
In battle, this king—with his own single conch shellI emend nijaira to nijaika with some hesitation (see the apparatus to line 57). The expression ninādita-nijaira-payoruha is clearly to be understood in parallel to garjita-pāñcajanya, so the interpretation of payoruha as ‘conch’ is quite certain even though this does not seem to be an attested meaning (although compare e.g. jalaja and vārija). The unemended reading aira might mean ‘relating to water,’ but this appears redundant next to a word meaning ‘growing in water.’ Unless Aira, ‘the aquatic thing,’ was the proper name of the Cālukya royal conch, for which no other attestation is known, it therefore seems most likely that nijaika was intended. The single conch, eka-śaṁkha, is listed among the dynastic regalia in line 24. sounded aloud in front of him, brandishing his bow, sword and discusA double entendre (śleṣa) may be involved here, so that instead of or in addition to brandishing a bow, sword and discus, the king has an army (cakra) of bowmen and swordsmen deployed.—impersonates Śauri Kr̥ṣṇa with his resounding Pāñcajanya conch, his sword Nandaka, his discus Sudarśana and his bow Śārṅga.
Although he was born prajāta as Yudhiṣṭhira Ajātāri, he vies mightily with Bhīma in mace combat, with Indra’s son Arjuna in archery, likewise in spearfighting with Nakula, and in horsemanship with Sahadeva—because no worthy enemy of his has been born among the common people prajā-taḥ.
The literati make it an ear ornament as though it were a flower of the wish-fulfilling tree. Princes bhūpa hold it above their heads as though it were a royal command, luminous as a white parasol. Ladies smear it over their hearts as though it were sandalwood ointment. Verily like the glow of the nectar-rayed moon, his bright reputation beautifies the circle of the horizon.
The beneficent kings of his dynasty who passed long ago, Bharata and so forth, conferred the wealth they had acquired on recipients of genuine merit and never spoke anything but truth—but their virtue was by and large in accordance with the age in which they lived. But lo! even in the Kali age he, the foremost of the Lunar dynasty, fixes his mind firmly on truthfulness alone and endows the worthy with his wealth.
His Majesty King Viṣṇuvardhana, who is truthful in speech, with flocks of enemy kings cast down at his feet, crushed by the terrible army bhīma-sena of the universal sovereign cakrin, the upholder of righteousness dharma, eager for bright arjuna fame, is named Kali-Yudhiṣṭhira and is indeed like Yudhiṣṭhira, with flocks of enemy kings cast down at his feet, crushed by Kr̥ṣṇa cakrin and Bhīmasena, who originates from the god Dharma, who is desirous of Arjuna’s fame.
That shelter of all the world sarva-lokāśraya, the Supreme Lord of kings rāja-parameśvara, Emperor mahārājādhirāja, Supreme Sovereign parama-bhaṭṭāraka, His Majesty the supremely pious Viṣṇuvardhana, deliberately appointed as heir by his mother and father, who is His Majesty King Vīra-Vijayāditya, convokes all householders kuṭumbin—including foremost the territorial overseers rāṣṭrakūṭa—who reside in Guddavādi district viṣaya and, witnessed by the ministers mantrin, chaplains purohita, generals senāpati, the crown prince yuvarāja and the gate guard dauvārika, commands them as follows.
His grandfather, equal in brilliance to the Grandfather Brahmā, was a knower of the Vedas and a knower of all śāstras known as Pampanārya.
From him was born Keśava, comparable to Keśava Kr̥ṣṇa. Worthy of the respect of good people, he had studied the Vedas and Vedāṅgas and knew the essence of the purport of all śāstras.
From him arose a majestic sage in the southern quarter, who drank up the entirety of the ocean of literature vāṅmaya, like Agastya who came to the southern quarter and drank up the entirety of the ocean.
The people, each according to their desire, obtain from him the blazing essence of the śāstras together with its defining characteristics lakṣaṇa, like gems from the ocean.
To that person named Paṁpana Bhaṭṭopādhyāya—a resident of Pāsudova, a knower of the Veda, thoroughly versed in the Vedāṅgas, a master guru of the Mīmāṁsā śāstra, belonging to the Parāśara gotra and engaged in the six duties of a Brahmin—in order to augment our succession, power, vitality and dominion, on the occasion of the the winter solstice we have granted the village named MāviṇḍeṟuThis spelling of the name has been retained in the title of the inscription on the grounds that it is the first occurrence, and the form was also used in the printed edition. Nonetheless, both in subsequent occurrences and in the [Korumelli grant of Rājarāja I Narendra](DHARMA_INSVengiCalukya00078.xml) which mentions this village as a boundary, the second vowel is u. with a remission of all taxes, as a universally recognised rent-free holding sarva-namasya. Let this be known to you.
Its boundaries are as follows. To the east, Kūḍa. To the south, Kaḍamukku. To the west, Saṁpaniya. To the north, Korumelli. The field boundaries of the same are as follows.The Telugu demarcation details are translated tentatively. To the east, the border is the Muṇḍa channel koli running southward from the triple juncture at the meeting of the fields of Māvuṇḍeṟu, the fields of Gūḍa,Here and below, I retain in the translation the alternation of initial k and g. and the fields of Gorumelli. To the southeast, the border is the triple juncture at the meeting of the western extremity kommu of the Kaḍamula channel koli within the fields of Kūḍa, the fields of Gahamukku,It seems likely that Gahamukku is identical to Kaḍamukku in the list of adjacent villages. The glyphs ha and ḍa are unequivocal in each case, but the two are similar, so the scribe may well have engraved either one in place of the other by mistake. and the fields of Māvuṇḍeṟu. To the south, the border is the eṁgaṭa thicket podala lying on the south of the kāṭreni forest of Māvuṇḍeṟu. To the southwest, the border is the verge of the fields pola-garusa of Saṁpaniya adjoining the field situated within the settlement kuṟṟu. To the west, the border is the verge of the fields of Korumelli, passing eastward along the molli-mona of the field of Nārana Pedderi of Korumelli and proceeding northward along the field of Nārana Ṣaḍaṁgavula. To the northwest, the border is the southern end of the road to Aḍḍapuṁ running northward by the fields of Korumelli. To the north, the border is the low ground pallama within the banks of bulrushes avuṟu-gaḍḍala stretching eastward from the southern end of the road to Aḍḍapuṁ between the fields of Korumelli and the fields of Māvuṇḍeṟu. To the northeast, the border is the southwestern corner of the molli-mona of the fields of Korumelli, stretching toward the south from the low ground pallama within the banks of bulrushes avuṟu-gaḍḍala between the fields of Korumelli and the fields of Māvuṇḍeṟu.
Let no-one pose an obstacle to their enjoyment of rights over it. He who does so shall be conjoined with the five great sins. So too has the sage Vyāsa said:
A donor of land rejoices in heaven for sixty millennia, while a seizer of granted land and a condoner of such seizure shall reside in hell for just as many.
The executor is the body of the five foremost officials.This probably refers to the same five listed as witnesses maṁtri-purohita-senāpati-yuvarāja-dauvārika, elsewhere mentioned as sarva-pradhāna. The composer kavi in this case is Muttaya Bhaṭṭa. The writer lekhaka is Paṭṭala. This charter śāsana was given in the twelfth year of the glorious reign of victory.