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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Kavali inscription of Tammusiddhi, 1207–08

Stone by the tank at Kavali in the Nellore district, in Sanskrit verse in Telugu letters, with the boundaries in Telugu. It records that in Saka 1129 (1207–08) the Telugu Choda king Tammusiddhi founded an agrahara (Brahmin village) named Sripura after his mother Sridevi and gave it to a hundred Brahmana shareholders. It calls his brother Nalla Siddha the eldest son and anointed king, by whose favour Tammusiddhi ruled.

This inscription at Kavali records a gift of the Telugu Choda king Tammusiddhi in Saka 1129 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years).1 He founded a Brahmin village named Sripura after his mother and gave it to a hundred Brahmanas.1

The stone

The inscription is on a stone near the tank bund at Kavali.23 Alan Butterworth and V. Venugopaul Chetty, who published it in 1905, thought the stone lay within the boundaries of the village of Maddurpadu.23 It is “mainly Sanskrit in Telugu character”: the Sanskrit part is all in verse, and only the boundaries are in Telugu.23

Contents

The verses trace the donor’s line from Vishnu, Brahma, Kasyapa, the Sun and Manu through Rama to king Karikala, and then to a king Beta, devoted to Siva.1 His son Yerrasiddhisvara (Erasiddhi) married Sri Devi.1 Of their sons, “the eldest, king Nalla Siddha, was anointed”.1 The verse goes on: “by his favour (his younger brother) Ṣrí Tammu Siddha, lord of men, rules the whole kingdom as supreme lord”.1

Together with his mother, Tammusiddhi called together learned Brahmanas, Bandari Tripurarya and others, and gave them a village to be enjoyed in a hundred shares.1 In Saka 1129, the year Prabhava, at the equinox, he presented large gifts and gave an agrahara (Brahmin village) called Sripura, named after his mother Sri Devi.1

The Telugu section gives the boundaries of Sripura: the Kavali tank on the east, another tank on the south, a cart-track on the west and a watercourse on the north.45 The shares are listed on the back of the stone.45

The question of Nallasiddhi

Butterworth and Venugopaul Chetty concluded that “the donor Tammu Siddha was regent while his elder brother Nalla Siddha was the anointed king”.35 They noted that the family line differs slightly from the one in V. Venkayya’s report of 1900.35

Robert Sewell (1932) used this record to identify Nallasiddhi with Betta II, while his editor took it to show that Nallasiddhi was the eldest brother, Manmasiddhi.6 H. Lüders edited the Sanskrit inscriptions of the same year at Tiruvalangadu and Tiruppasur.7 They name the brothers as Manmasiddhi, Betta II and Tammusiddhi, and make Nallasiddhi an elder relative.7 See Tammusiddhi and the Telugu Chodas of Pottapi and Nellore.

Footnotes

  1. Butterworth and Venugopaul Chetty, Nellore Inscriptions II (1905), Kavali No. 39, translation, p. 736 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  2. Alan Butterworth and V. Venugopaul Chetty, A Collection of the Inscriptions on Copper-Plates and Stones in the Nellore District, Part II (1905), Kavali No. 39, p. 735 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Butterworth and Venugopaul Chetty, Nellore Inscriptions II (1905), Kavali No. 39, note, p. 739 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. Butterworth and Venugopaul Chetty, Nellore Inscriptions II (1905), Kavali No. 39, p. 737 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. Butterworth and Venugopaul Chetty, Nellore Inscriptions II (1905), Kavali No. 39, note, p. 740 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), pp. 129–130 and editor’s note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  7. H. Lüders, “Two Inscriptions of Tammusiddhi, Saka-Samvat 1129”, Epigraphia Indica VII (1903), pp. 121–122 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

References

Sources (3)
  1. Alan Butterworth and V. Venugopaul Chetty, A Collections of the Inscriptions on Copper-Plates and Stones in the Nellore District, Madras, in Three Parts, Part II (opens in a new tab), 1905, pp. 735–740. Butterworth and Venugopaul Chetty, Kavali No. 39: translation, text and note. [Public domain]
  2. Robert Sewell (ed. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar), The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (Collected till 1923) and Outlines of Political History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1932, pp. 129–130, 395. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  3. E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VII (1902–03), with Kielhorn's List of Inscriptions of Southern India (opens in a new tab), Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta (scan of the ASI 1981 facsimile reprint), 1903, pp. 121–122. H. Lüders, 'Two Inscriptions of Tammusiddhi'. [Public domain]

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