Ipur plates (set II) of Madhavavarman II

The second set of Ipur plates is the only grant of the Vishnukundin king Madhavavarman II.¹² It names three generations:¹²

• Madhavavarman I, the performer of eleven horse sacrifices¹²
• his son Devavarman¹²
• the donor, Devavarman’s son¹²

Discovery and description

The plates were secured, with the first Ipur set, from the house of Brindavanam Gopalacharlu of Ipur, in the Tenali taluk of Guntur district.³ They were registered as No. 12 of Appendix A in the epigraphical report for 1919–20.³

There are three thin plates without rims, with four inscribed faces.⁴³ They hang on a ring about 3 inches across, which had not been cut when they arrived.⁴³ The writing is much injured, especially on the last two faces.⁴³

The worn circular seal is divided by a line into two sections.¹³ Below the line the legend Śrī-Mādhava[varmmā] is just visible.¹³ The symbols above it cannot be made out.¹³ The report for 1919–20 thought they might have been the lion of the Chikkulla and Ramatirtham seals, or a figure of Lakshmi or a svastika.¹³ With ring and seal the plates weigh 30 tolas.¹³

Script and language

The report for 1919–20 found the faint and worn letters “almost similar in script to those of the early Pallava inscriptions”.³ It held that they could not be later than the 5th century.³

E. Hultzsch compared them with the British Museum plates of the Pallava queen Charudevi, and judged them earlier than the first Ipur set.¹ The language is Sanskrit prose with two quoted verses.¹ The abbreviation va in the date presupposes the Prakrit form of the word for “rainy season”.¹

Content

In Hultzsch’s translation, the grant is issued “From [Ama]rapura”.² The donor is first called “the dear grandson of the glorious Mahārāja Mādhavavarman”.² This grandfather “had removed the stains of the world by bathing at the end of eleven Aśvamēdhas” (horse sacrifices).² This grandfather had also performed thousands of agnishtoma sacrifices, and his feet were studded with the jewels of bowing vassals.²

The donor was also “the dear son of glorious Dēvavarman, who displayed matchless, well-known valour in attacking warriors”.² He is “the glorious Mādhavavarman, the lord of the Trikūṭa and Malaya (mountains)”.² He meditates on the feet of the holy lord of Sriparvata, and belongs to the family of the Vishnukundins.²

The name of the village granted is lost.² Hultzsch thought the grant referred to two donees, Agnisarman and Indrasarman.² D. C. Sircar read the village’s name as Murotukaliki.⁵

The executor’s clause says the command was ennobled by the attention (?) of “the overlord of the Vishnukundins”.² The date is the 7th day of the 7th fortnight of the rainy season.²

The date

The year is the most uncertain part of the grant. Hultzsch read it as [4]7, but noted that its first figure was injured and uncertain.¹ The report for 1919–20 gave a possible reading of [30]7.³ It called this reading “extremely doubtful” because of the damage.³

Sircar read the figure as 10, giving the year 17.⁶ He argued that a king who had performed great sacrifices would not have left them out of his own grant.⁷ He pointed out that the grant itself attaches the sacrifices to the grandfather, not to the donor.⁷

Places and claims

Hultzsch identified Trikuta as a mountain on the Bombay side, and Malaya as the Western Ghats.¹ He thought both lay at a safe distance from the king’s dominions, however much he claimed to rule them.¹ He could not identify the other places named.¹

The report for 1919–20 looked for Trikuta-Malaya north of the Godavari, perhaps in the Trikuta of the Vakataka Balaghat plates.⁸ K. R. Subramanian placed Trikuta, Malaya and [Ama]rapura in the hills of the Srisailam region.⁹ Sircar thought [Ama]rapura could probably be Amaravati.¹⁰

V. V. Mirashi took the title as evidence that Maharashtra was part of the empire of Madhavavarman I.¹¹¹² In his view this grandson inherited it.¹¹¹² See Madhavavarman II for the other views.

Edition

• E. Hultzsch, “Ipur Plates of Madhavavarman II”, Epigraphia Indica XVII (1923–24), No. 21, pp. 337–339, with a plate.⁴

Footnotes

1. Hultzsch, “Ipur Plates of Madhavavarman II” (1924), p. 338 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷

2. Hultzsch, “Ipur Plates of Madhavavarman II” (1924), p. 339, translation (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

3. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1919–20 (1920), Part II, para. 7, p. 97 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

4. E. Hultzsch, “Ipur Plates of Madhavavarman II”, Epigraphia Indica XVII (1924), p. 337 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

5. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 134 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

6. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 107 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

7. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (1939), p. 103 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

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

9. K. R. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra and the History of Andhra between 225 and 610 A.D. (1932), p. 112 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

10. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 133 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

11. V. V. Mirashi and Y. R. Gupte, “Khanapur Plates of Madhavavarman”, Epigraphia Indica XXVII (1956), p. 315 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

12. Mirashi and Gupte, “Khanapur Plates” (1956), p. 316 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²