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British Museum grant of Charudevi

A Prakrit copper-plate grant of the Pallava queen Charudevi, wife of the crown prince Vijaya-Buddhavarman, made in the reign of the Maharaja Vijaya-Skandavarman. It gives four nivartanas of land to the temple of Narayana at Dalura. Sir Walter Elliot secured the plates, which are now in the British Museum. They were reported to have been found near Guntur. J. F. Fleet first edited them in 1880, and E. Hultzsch edited them again in 1906.

This is the only record of the Pallava king Vijaya-Skandavarman and of his son’s queen Charudevi.12 It is one of the three Prakrit charters of the early Pallavas.12 The plates were secured by Sir Walter Elliot and are now in the British Museum.1

J. F. Fleet first edited them in the Indian Antiquary in 1880.1 E. Hultzsch edited them again in 1906, from fresh ink-impressions sent by Fleet.1

Where it was found

Hultzsch referred the reader to Fleet’s article for the findspot.1 Robert Sewell recorded in 1884 that the grant “was found near Guntur”.3 H. Krishna Sastri and G. Jouveau-Dubreuil both described it as coming from the Guntur district.24 The exact village is not recorded, so no place is linked to this page.3

Description

The seal shows a standing animal facing right.5 It looks like a deer, but Hultzsch thought it must be meant for a bull, the crest of the Pallavas.5 Above it is what may be the sun, a crescent and stars.5 C. R. Krishnamacharlu looked at a better illustration and thought the animal a bull.6

The letters resemble those of the Hirahadagalli plates of Sivaskandavarman, but are less ornamental and more irregular.5 Unlike the Andhra inscriptions, the grant writes double consonants in full, as literary Prakrit does.5

Content

In Hultzsch’s translation the grant is dated in a year, now illegible, of “the glorious Maharaja Vijaya-Skandavarman”.7 It records an order of Charudevi, “the queen of the Yuvamaharaja, the Bharadvaja, the glorious Vijaya-Buddhavarman (of the family) of the Pallavas, (and) mother of [Buddhyan]kura”.7 A Yuvamaharaja is a crown prince. Her order was addressed to the official at a place read as Ka[taka].7

She gave four nivartanas (a land measure) of land to the god Narayana of the Kuli-Mahataraka temple at Dalura.7 The land was a field below the “King’s Tank”, to be ploughed by one Atuka.7 The villagers and officials were told to exempt it from all dues.7 The executor (the officer who carried out the order) was Rohinigupta.7

Hultzsch could not trace Dalura, and he doubted his reading of Kataka.8

Date and significance

R. Gopalan called it the earliest Pallava record known to him of a royal gift to a temple.9 The grant’s relation to the grants of Sivaskandavarman is disputed. Gopalan thought Vijaya-Skandavarman presumably the same king as Sivaskandavarman, because the letters are so alike.109 D. C. Sircar thought the grant later, because of its spelling and its Sanskrit verses.1112 He suggested that Vijaya-Skandavarman belonged to the Pallava house of the Nellore–Guntur region.1112

Footnotes

  1. E. Hultzsch, “British Museum Plates of Charudevi”, Epigraphia Indica VIII (1905–06), p. 143 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. H. Krishna Sastri, “Two Pallava Copper-plate Grants”, Epigraphia Indica XV (1919–20), p. 247 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Robert Sewell, Lists of Inscriptions, and Sketch of the Dynasties of Southern India (1884), p. 211 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  4. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, The Pallavas (1917), p. 14 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  5. Hultzsch, “British Museum Plates of Charudevi” (1906), p. 144 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  6. C. R. Krishnamacharlu, “Vilavatti Grant of Pallava Simhavarman”, Epigraphia Indica XXIV (1937–38), p. 297 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  7. Hultzsch, “British Museum Plates of Charudevi” (1906), p. 146, translation (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  8. Hultzsch, “British Museum Plates of Charudevi” (1906), p. 145 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  9. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 39 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  10. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas of Kanchi (1928), p. 35 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  11. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (1939), p. 168 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  12. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 194 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

References

Sources (7)
  1. Archaeological Survey of India, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VIII (1905–06) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1906, pp. 143–146. E. Hultzsch, British Museum Plates of Charudevi (No. 12). [Public domain]
  2. Robert Sewell, Archaeological Survey of Southern India, Vol. II: Lists of Inscriptions, and Sketch of the Dynasties of Southern India (Lists of the Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency of Madras, Vol. II) (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1884, pp. 211. [Public domain]
  3. F. W. Thomas (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XV (1919–20) (opens in a new tab), Government of India, Calcutta, 1925, pp. 247. H. Krishna Sastri, Two Pallava Copper-plate Grants. [Public domain]
  4. N. P. Chakravarti (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXIV (1937–38) (opens in a new tab), Manager of Publications, Delhi, 1938, pp. 297. C. R. Krishnamacharlu, Vilavatti Grant. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  5. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil (tr. V. S. Swaminadha Dikshitar), The Pallavas (opens in a new tab), The author, Pondicherry, 1917, pp. 14. [Public domain]
  6. R. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas of Kanchi (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1928, pp. 35, 39. [Public domain]
  7. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (opens in a new tab), University of Calcutta, 1939, pp. 168, 194. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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