Chellur plates of Vira-Choda

E. Hultzsch first edited these plates in 1890.¹ He called them “the latest known document of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty”.¹ He valued them for what they say about the ties between the Eastern Chalukyas and the Cholas.¹

The donor, Vira-Choda, was a son of the Chola-Chalukya emperor Kulottunga I.² Kulottunga was himself the son of Rajaraja Narendra and a Chola princess.² He governed Vengi through his uncle and then his sons.²

Discovery and present location

The plates belonged to Sir Walter Elliot’s collection in the British Museum.³¹ Elliot had already published abstracts of them.³¹ Hultzsch recorded that they had previously been in the possession of the karnam (village accountant) of Chellur, which he placed in Kakinada (then Cocanada) taluk.¹

J. F. Fleet had examined the original plates in 1879.⁴ He located Chellur about two miles west by south of Ramachandrapuram, in the Ramachandrapuram taluk.⁴

The Telugu Sasanams described the grant as “appertaining to Chellur”.⁴ But a separate list entered it as “from Drakharam temple”.⁴ The name of Chellur was written, and later struck out, on a label fastened to the plates.⁴ Elliot himself noted that Mr. G. A. Smith had obtained it from the karnam of Chellur.⁴

Fleet thought it better to call it uniformly the Chellur grant.⁴ Calling it sometimes the Draksharama grant would cause confusion.⁴

Description

There are five plates with raised rims, each a little over 10 inches by about 5½ inches.⁴¹ The writing is fairly well preserved, except in lines 108–109, where it has been deliberately damaged, and at a few broken corners.⁴¹ The ring had been cut.⁴¹

The round seal bears the legend Sri-Tribhuvanankusa.⁴¹ Above it are a boar, the sun and moon, an elephant-goad, two fly-whisks, two lamp-stands and a conch.⁴¹ Below it are a water-lily, a drum, a svastika and a further device.⁴¹

Script and language

Fleet described the characters as Old-Kanarese (Old Kannada), of much the same type as those of the Korumelli plates of Rajaraja I.⁵ The language is Sanskrit throughout, mostly in prose with verses scattered through it.⁵

Content

The genealogy has four parts, as Hultzsch set them out:¹⁶

the descent of the Lunar race down to Udayana and the fifty-nine emperors of Ayodhya¹⁶
the legend of the early Chalukya Vijayaditya, killed fighting Trilochana-Pallava, and his posthumous son Vishnuvardhana¹⁶
the usual succession of the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi, from Kubja-Vishnuvardhana to Vimaladitya¹⁶
the later Eastern Chalukyas during their connection with the Cholas¹⁶

That last part is the record’s chief interest. Rajaraja ruled for 41 years and married Ammanga-devi, daughter of a Chola king Rajendra-Choda.⁷ Their son Rajendra-Choda, called Kulottunga-deva, first held the throne of Vengi.⁷ He conquered Kerala, Pandya, Kuntala and other countries, and was then anointed to the Chola kingdom.⁷ He married Madhurantaki and had seven sons.⁷

In Hultzsch’s translation, Kulottunga tells his son Rajaraja that he had “formerly conferred the kingdom of the country of Vengi on my paternal uncle, king Vijayaditya”.⁸²⁵ This uncle had ruled it for fifteen years and died.⁸²⁵ Rajaraja ruled Vengi for one year and returned to his parents.⁸²⁵ Then Vira-Choda, the younger brother, was sent and was crowned at a town called Jaganatha (read by Fleet as Jananathanagari).⁸²⁵

Vira-Choda, also called Vishnuvardhana and a devout worshipper of Shiva, addressed his order to the householders of the Guddavati-vishaya (district).⁹¹⁰ In the 21st year of his reign, he gave a village of that district to a temple of Vishnu at the agrahara (village granted to Brahmins) of Chelluru.⁹¹⁰

His general (senapati) Medamarya, also called Gunaratnabhushana, a Brahmin of the Mudgala gotra (clan), had founded the temple.⁹¹¹¹² Medamarya’s father Potana had received from Rajaraja the title Rajaraja-brahma-maharaja.⁹¹¹¹²

According to the grant, Medamarya also founded two sattras (free feeding houses) for Brahmins, at Draksharama and at Pithapuri.¹² The grant adds that he built a large pond on the north side of Chelluru, and had the Vishnu temple built on the west side of the village.¹² The executors were the five chief ministers (pancha pradhanah).¹¹¹⁰ The edict ends with the names of the composer, Viddaya-bhatta, and of the writer.¹¹¹⁰

The places

The two editors read and placed the village granted differently:

Hultzsch read its name, which is indistinct, as Kolaru.⁹ He suggested a link with the Kolleru lake in Gudivada taluk, and with Gudivada for the Guddavati-vishaya.⁹
Fleet read it as Kolepu and took it to be the modern “Kalalroo” of the map, two miles south-west of Chellur.⁵ He noted that the district name Guddavati also occurs for two villages in Visakhapatnam (then Vizagapatam) district.⁵

Fleet identified Pithapuri with Pithapuram.⁵ He placed Draksharama, written Dakshārāma in the plates, about four miles south by east of Chellur.⁵ He quoted Robert Sewell’s description of it as one of the most sacred places in the district, with a large temple of Bhimesvara.⁵ See Draksharama.

Date

The plates give the date of Vira-Choda’s coronation as viceroy.⁸ It was Saka 1001 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years), with the sun in Simha, on the thirteenth tithi (lunar day) of the bright fortnight, a Thursday.⁸ The lagna (rising sign) was Vrischika and the nakshatra (lunar mansion) Sravana.⁸

Fleet showed that the year must be taken as a current year, and calculated the day as Thursday, 23 August 1078.¹³¹⁴ He had at first had doubts about the reading 1001.¹³¹⁴ His doubts were removed when Hultzsch told him that another grant of Vira-Choda, of his 23rd year, gives the same details.¹³¹⁴ F. Kielhorn reached the same day.¹⁵

The grant itself is dated in the 21st year of the reign.² Hultzsch at first counted this from Vira-Choda’s own coronation, and placed the grant in Saka 1022.² In 1901 the Teki plates of Chodaganga had shown that Chodaganga governed Vengi from 1084.¹⁶ Hultzsch then counted the 21st year from Kulottunga I’s accession in 1070 instead, which gives 1090–91.¹⁶ See Teki plates of Rajaraja-Chodaganga.

Editions

E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I (1890), No. 39, pp. 49–62, text and translation.³
J. F. Fleet, “Sanskrit and Old-Canarese Inscriptions, No. 192: Chellur Copper-plate Grant of Vira-Chodadeva, dated in his Twenty-first Year”, Indian Antiquary XIX (1890), pp. 423 ff.⁴
V. Rangacharya summarised the grant under Kakinada taluk in 1919.¹⁷

Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions I (1890), p. 50 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷
Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions I (1890), p. 51 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹
E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I (1890), p. 49 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
J. F. Fleet, “Chellur Copper-plate Grant of Vira-Chodadeva”, Indian Antiquary XIX (1890), p. 423 and note 1 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵
Fleet, “Chellur Grant of Vira-Chodadeva” (1890), p. 424 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹
Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions I (1890), p. 58, translation (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions I (1890), p. 59, translation, verses 5–13 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions I (1890), p. 60, translation, verses 14–21 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions I (1890), p. 52 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions I (1890), p. 62, translation (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions I (1890), p. 53 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions I (1890), p. 61, translation, verses 24–36 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Fleet, “Chellur Grant of Vira-Chodadeva” (1890), p. 426 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Fleet, “Chellur Grant of Vira-Chodadeva” (1890), p. 427, note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
F. Kielhorn, “On the Dates of the Saka Era in Inscriptions”, Indian Antiquary XXIV (1895), p. 2, No. 128 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
E. Hultzsch, “Teki Plates of Rajaraja-Chodaganga”, Epigraphia Indica VI (1900–01), p. 335 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1919), p. 717, Cocanada taluk, No. 48-A (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩