Ipur plates (set I) of Govindavarman's son Madhavavarman

The first set of Ipur plates is a grant of the Vishnukundin king Madhavavarman, son of the Maharaja Govindavarman. It is one of only two grants that name Govindavarman’s son.¹² The other is the Polamuru plates.¹² The identity of its king is the main open question in the dynasty’s genealogy (family tree).¹² See Madhavavarman.

Discovery

A. Rangaswamy Sarasvati was touring in the Tenali taluk of Guntur district.³ There he secured a number of old copper-plate grants.³ Some had been kept in a Vishnu temple at Kodi-Tadiparru, others in the house of Brindavanam Gopalacharlu of Ipur.³ Two of the Ipur sets proved to be Vishnukundin.³ They are Nos. 11 and 12 of Appendix A of the epigraphical report for 1919–20.³

This set is No. 11.⁴¹ E. Hultzsch edited both in Epigraphia Indica XVII in 1924, from impressions supplied by H. Krishna Sastri.⁴¹

Description

There are three thin copper plates without raised rims.¹⁴ The outer faces of the first and last are blank.¹⁴ They hang on a copper ring 3 inches across, which had not been cut when the plates reached the office.¹⁴

The round seal is divided by a line into two parts.¹⁴ The lower part bears the legend Śrī-Mādhavavarmā in two lines.¹⁴ Above it is what Hultzsch took to be a figure of Lakshmi or a svastika on a pedestal.¹⁴ Two lamp-stands stand on either side, with the sun (?) and the crescent moon above.¹⁴ With ring and seal the plates weigh 30 tolas.¹⁴

D. C. Sircar thought the worn upper part might once have shown a lion.⁵⁶ The seals of the Chikkulla and Ramatirtham plates show one.⁵⁶

Script and language

Hultzsch found the alphabet of an earlier southern type than that of the Ramatirtham and Chikkulla plates.¹ The report for 1919–20 judged it “somewhat later” than that of the second Ipur set.⁴ It placed it in about the 6th century.⁴

The language is Sanskrit prose with two quoted verses.⁷ The short form di in the date assumes the Prakrit word for “day”.⁷ The grant uses the number signs for 5, 7 and 10.⁷

Content

The grant opens with the son of the glorious Maharaja Govindavarman.⁸ Govindavarman meditated on the feet of the holy lord of Sriparvata and belonged to the family of the Vishnukundins.⁸ He made many gifts of cows, gold and land.⁸

That son is the Maharaja Madhavavarman.⁸ He is praised as one “who delights the hearts of the young women standing on (the top of) the palaces of Trivaranagara”.⁸ He “has performed thousands of Agnishṭōma sacrifices”.⁸ He “has removed the stains of the world by bathing at the end of eleven Aśvamēdhas” (horse sacrifices).⁸

From his camp of victory at Kudavada he addresses the people of the village of Vilembali, in the district (vishaya) of Guddadi.⁸ He tells them that he has given the village, with all exemptions, to the Brahmin Agnisarman of the Vatsa gotra (clan).⁸ The gift is “for the sake of the prosperity of Our family”.⁸ Royal officers are to exempt and protect it.⁸

The executor (ajna) was the king’s “dear son, Mañchyaṇṇa-bhaṭṭāraka”.⁸ The date is the 15th day of the 7th fortnight of the hot season, in the 37th year of the reign.⁸

Places

Hultzsch could not identify Vilembali, Kudavada or Trivaranagara.⁷ He did not know whether the Guddadi district had anything to do with the Guddavadi district.⁷ Draksharama and Chellur in Godavari district belonged to Guddavadi.⁷

Sircar thought Guddadi might be the same as Guddavadi, the later Ramachandrapuram taluk.⁵ In his view it was not the Gudrahara district round Gudivada.⁵ K. R. Subramanian also placed the grant in East Godavari, round Draksharama.⁹

Whose grant?

On grounds of script, Hultzsch was tempted to identify its king with the Madhavavarman who was grandfather of the donor of the Ramatirtham plates.⁷¹⁰ He also thought it possible that the king was a grandson of Madhavavarman II of the second Ipur set, and so Madhavavarman III.⁷¹⁰

The report for 1919–20 put this grant at least a century after the second set.¹¹ It thought its king might be the same as the Madhavavarman of the Chikkulla plates.¹¹ Sircar argued from the matching titles of the Ipur and Polamuru grants that both belonged to one king, the great Madhavavarman I.²

R. S. Panchamukhi agreed that the two grants had one donor.¹²¹³ He made that donor a later Madhavavarman III, whose 37th year he put about 610.¹²¹³ Subramanian also ranked the grant second in time, after the second Ipur set.¹⁴

Edition

• E. Hultzsch, “Ipur Plates of Govindavarman’s Son Madhavavarman”, Epigraphia Indica XVII (1923–24), No. 20, pp. 334–337, with a plate.¹

Footnotes

1. E. Hultzsch, “Ipur Plates of Govindavarman’s Son Madhavavarman”, Epigraphia Indica XVII (1924), p. 334 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

2. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (1939), p. 101 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1919–20 (1920), Part II, paras. 6–7, p. 97 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1919–20 (1920), Part II, para. 8, p. 98 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

5. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 130 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 131 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

7. Hultzsch, “Ipur Plates of Govindavarman’s Son Madhavavarman” (1924), p. 335 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

8. Hultzsch, “Ipur Plates of Govindavarman’s Son Madhavavarman” (1924), p. 337, translation (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

9. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra (1932), p. 116 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

10. E. Hultzsch, “Ipur Plates of Madhavavarman II”, Epigraphia Indica XVII (1924), p. 338 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

11. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1919–20 (1920), Part II, para. 10, p. 99 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

12. R. S. Panchamukhi, “Tandivada Grant of Prithivi-Maharaja: 46th Year”, Epigraphia Indica XXIII (1936), p. 91 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

13. Panchamukhi, “Tandivada Grant” (1936), p. 92 and note 1 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

14. K. R. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra and the History of Andhra between 225 and 610 A.D. (1932), p. 113 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩