Srikurmam inscriptions of the Chalukya chiefs

The pillars

E. Hultzsch edited the four inscriptions, on four of the pillars, in Epigraphia Indica V (1898–99).¹² He worked from inked copies (estampages) made by H. Krishna Sastri.¹² He began by describing the Vishnu temple of Kurmesvara at Srikurmam, near Srikakulam (then Chicacole) in the Ganjam district.¹ The temple “contains many inscribed pillars of hard black stone, which have successfully withstood the influence of the climate”.¹ As a result, he wrote, most of their inscriptions are much better preserved than other stone records in the Telugu country.¹ See the Srikurmam temple.

The chiefs

The inscriptions belong to three chiefs.¹ In Hultzsch’s words, they “profess to have been descendants of the Eastern Chalukya king Vimaladitya (A.D. 1015 to 1022) and of his son Rajaraja (A.D. 1022 to 1063)”.¹ The family line runs as follows:²

• A descendant of Rajaraja was Vijayaditya I.²
• His son Rajaraja “was the minister of Viranrisimha”.²
• This Rajaraja had two sons, Vijayaditya II, also called Vijayarka, and Purushottama.²
• Purushottama’s son, Jagannatha or Visvanatha, was a vassal of Virabhanudeva.¹²

From the dates of the records, Hultzsch identified the king whom Rajaraja served as the Ganga king Narasimha I.² He identified the overlord of Visvanatha as the Ganga king Bhanudeva II, successor of Narasimha II.² See Narasimha I and the Eastern Gangas.

The four records

	Date	Donor	Gift
A	Saka 1195 (1273)	Vijayaditya II	Twenty-five cows, whose milk was to supply ghee for a lamp
B	Saka 1199 (1277)	Purushottama	Fifty ewes in the Sanskrit part, fifty-two in the Telugu, for a lamp
C	Saka 1231 (1309), third year of Jagannathadeva	Visvanatha	Forty half-pagodas (gandamada) for offerings to the god
D	Saka 1240 (1318)	Purushottama	A golden necklace; the verses were composed by the poet Nrisimha

The table follows Hultzsch’s summary.² Inscription C is dated “in the [3rd] year of the victorious reign of the glorious Jagannathadeva”, while “the glorious Virabanudeva-Jiyya was ruling”.³

F. Kielhorn found that the weekday of A did not fit Saka 1195 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years), and suggested that Monday, 23 October 1273, was meant.⁴ He found the date of C irregular.³

Language

Hultzsch wrote: “The alphabet of the four inscriptions is Telugu. The language of A. and D. is Sanskrit verse, and that of B. and C. Sanskrit verse and Telugu prose.”² He published only part of C, leaving out two long passages in Telugu prose listing the offerings and the people among whom they were shared out.²

Rajaraja Narendra and the Telugu Mahabharata

The third verse of A speaks of Rajaraja, son of Vimaladitya.⁵ It says that he, “together with scholars, it is said, translated into Andhra (i.e. Telugu) the history of the excellent Bharata race”.⁵ The fourth verse says that he lived in Rajamahendrapattana.⁵

Hultzsch called this “an important epigraphical confirmation of the tradition”.¹ By that tradition Nannayabhatta, “the first Telugu translator of the Mahabharata, wrote his work at the direction of Rajaraja of Rajamahendri”.¹ Summarising inscription A in 1919, V. Rangacharya called it “very important as it confirms the traditions that Nannaya Bhatta first translated the Mahabharata in Rajaraja Narendra’s court”.⁶ See Nannaya and Rajaraja Narendra.

Where the sources disagree

• Vimaladitya’s dates. Hultzsch, writing in 1899, gave Vimaladitya’s reign as 1015 to 1022.¹ In 1901 V. Venkayya’s edition of the Ranastipundi grant fixed his coronation at 10 May 1011.⁷ Venkayya suggested that the later records counted Vimaladitya’s reign only from about 1015, when he may have come back from the Chola country.⁸

Footnotes

1. E. Hultzsch, “Four Pillar Inscriptions of Eastern Chalukya Chiefs at Srikurmam”, Epigraphia Indica V (1898–99), p. 31 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

2. Hultzsch, “Four Pillar Inscriptions at Srikurmam” (1899), p. 32 and notes (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

3. Hultzsch, “Four Pillar Inscriptions at Srikurmam” (1899), p. 36, translation of C and Kielhorn’s note (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

4. Hultzsch, “Four Pillar Inscriptions at Srikurmam” (1899), p. 34, translation of A, verses 6–10, and Kielhorn’s note (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

5. Hultzsch, “Four Pillar Inscriptions at Srikurmam” (1899), p. 33, translation of A, verses 1–4 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. I (1919), p. 689, Ganjam No. 230 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

7. V. Venkayya, “Ranastipundi Grant of Vimaladitya”, Epigraphia Indica VI (1900–01), p. 349, with F. Kielhorn’s note on the date (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

8. Venkayya, “Ranastipundi Grant of Vimaladitya” (1901), p. 350 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩