Pedapalakaluru plates of Anavema (1378)

Discovery and the plates

N. Ramesan found these plates in 1954 at Pedapalakaluru, about eight miles from Guntur, while he was Collector of Guntur.¹ After the formation of Andhra Pradesh they were shown for some years at the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad.¹ Then they were given to the Government Archaeological Museum in the Public Gardens.¹

There are four plates, about 28.4 cm by 15.5 cm, with well raised rims.¹ They hang on a ring sealed with a Nandi, the emblem of the Kondavidu kings.¹ The plates weigh 5,055 g and the ring 1,875 g.¹ Unusually, all eight sides are inscribed, with 212 lines in all.¹

Language and style

The script is medieval Telugu, and the text is Sanskrit, except for the boundaries of the village.² These take up 108 of the 212 lines and are written in Telugu, which the grant calls the language of the country.²

Ramesan judged the 26 verses stiff and artificial compared with the Puvvada grant.² He took them as a sign of the decline of classical poetry at the time.²

Contents

The grant opens with invocations of Vishnu as the boar, of Siva, the Goddess, Ganapati, Lakshmi and the sun and moon.³⁴ It then describes the fourth caste.³⁴ In the Panta Reddi lineage, it names king Prola, who married Annambika, daughter of king Dodda.³⁴ Their sons were Macha, Vema, Dodda, Anna and Malla.⁴

Vema gave villages on the banks of the Tungabhadra, the Krishna and the Godavari.⁵ He built two flights of steps, at Srigiri (Srisailam) and at Ahobilagiri.⁵ The grant calls these steps permanent pillars of victory, better than the perishable pillars set up by other kings.⁵

Vema’s two sons, Pota (Anavota) and Anavema, are compared to Indra and Vishnu.⁵⁶ Anavema, the donor, is praised as Jaganobbaganda and as a Rudra to his enemies.⁵⁶

In Saka 1300 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years), the cyclic year Kalayukti, on a Saturday at an eclipse of the moon in Margasira, Anavema granted Pedapalakaluru to the scholar Ahobala Pandita.⁶⁷ He thought that the scholar lived there as Narasimha lives at Ahobilam.⁶⁷ The village is described as lying north-east of Srikundinipattana (Kondavidu) and south-west of Mangaladri (Mangalagiri).⁶⁷ The description also places it on the south bank of the Krishna.⁶⁷

Ahobala Pandita, of the Harita gotra (clan), was the main donee.⁷ The grant names eight other Brahmans, and each of them received one share.⁷ With each of these shares, Ahobala Pandita was also given one share, so he received eight shares in all.⁷ Ramesan concluded from this that the village was divided into sixteen shares.⁷ As the largest donee, Ahobala Pandita probably managed the village, in his view.⁷

Date and place

Ramesan worked out the date as Saturday, 4 December 1378, the full moon of Margasira, when there was a lunar eclipse.⁸ The village of Pedapalakaluru, where the plates were found, matches the description.⁷⁹ Ramesan drew a plan of its boundaries from the grant.⁷⁹ See Kondavidu.

Ramesan’s notes

Ramesan pointed to the phrase “Panta Reddi” in the grant.¹⁰ Following M. Somasekhara Sarma, he used it to argue that the family came from a Panta country around Gudur in the Nellore district.¹⁰

He explained Anavema’s title Appaya-Gopaya-disapatta as taken over from the Hoysala generals Appaya and Gopaya.¹⁰ According to him, the family’s ancestors had fought these generals in the service of the Telugu Choda Tikka.¹⁰ Unlike other Reddi grants, this one does not name Vema, the founder of the line, before Prola.⁸

Footnotes

1. N. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh Government Museum, Hyderabad, Vol. I (1962), p. 185 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 186 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 187 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 188 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

5. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 189 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

6. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 190 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

7. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 193 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

8. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 191 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

9. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), pp. 197–198 and text figure (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

10. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 192 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴