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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Ipur

Village in the former Tenali taluk of Guntur district. Two sets of Vishnukundin copper plates, kept as heirlooms in a Brahmin household, were secured here in 1919–20. One is a grant of Govindavarman's son Madhavavarman, the other of Madhavavarman II. With them were two early Eastern Chalukya grants.

Ipur is a village in what was the Tenali taluk of Guntur district. It is known to history for the copper plates once kept in the house of Brindavanam Gopalacharlu.12

The find

A. Rangaswamy Sarasvati was touring the Tenali taluk, and he persuaded the owners to bring out a number of old copper-plate grants.1 Some had been locked up in a Vishnu temple at Kodi-Tadiparru, others in Gopalacharlu’s house at Ipur.1 The epigraphy report for 1919–20 gave him credit for bringing to light documents “often deposited as heirlooms in orthodox families”.1

Two of the Ipur sets were grants of the Vishnukundin kings.123 They are the Ipur plates (set I) of Govindavarman’s son Madhavavarman and the Ipur plates (set II) of Madhavavarman II.123 E. Hultzsch edited both in 1924.123 Two more sets from the same collection were grants of the early Eastern Chalukya kings, Jayasimha I and a Vishnuvardhana.4

The village and the grants

Neither Vishnukundin grant concerns Ipur itself. The first was issued from a camp at Kudavada and gives a village in the Guddadi district.2 The second was issued from [Ama]rapura, and the name of the village it grants is lost.3

Footnotes

  1. 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 ↩6 ↩7

  2. E. Hultzsch, “Ipur Plates of Govindavarman’s Son Madhavavarman”, Epigraphia Indica XVII (1924), pp. 334–335 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. E. Hultzsch, “Ipur Plates of Madhavavarman II”, Epigraphia Indica XVII (1924), pp. 337–338 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

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

Photos

People

Madhavavarman (Vishnukundin)

c. 535–585 CE

The most famous Vishnukundin king. His own and his descendants' grants credit him with eleven horse sacrifices and a thousand agnishtoma rites. He married into the Vakataka royal family. Whether he was also Madhavavarman Janashraya, the son of Govindavarman and donor of the first Ipur and the Polamuru plates, is disputed: D. C. Sircar and V. V. Mirashi thought so, while other scholars made Janashraya a later king, Madhavavarman III. His date is also disputed: Sircar placed him about 535–585, Mirashi about 510–560.

Madhavavarman II (Vishnukundin)

c. 585–615 CE

Vishnukundin king, son of Devavarman and grandson of the great Madhavavarman. He is known from the second set of Ipur plates, issued from [Ama]rapura. The grant calls him lord of the Trikuta and Malaya mountains. Scholars have read this claim as an empty boast, as evidence of a western Vishnukundin realm, or as the name of a local hill. His place in the line and his date are disputed.

Inscriptions

Ipur plates of Vishnuvardhana III

c. 709–746 CE

Sanskrit copper-plate grant of the Eastern Chalukya king Vishnuvardhana III (reigned about 709–746), dated in his 23rd year. It records a gift of a field in Jalayuru, in the Plolnandu district near Pithapuram, and a house site with a flower garden. Prithivipothi, daughter of Maghinduvaraja, made the gift. The plates were kept at Ipur in Tenali taluk with two Vishnukundin grants. E. Hultzsch edited them in 1926, and he took the lady for a queen and her father for the Pallava king Mahendravarman III.

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

Sanskrit copper-plate grant of the Vishnukundin king Madhavavarman, son of Govindavarman. He issued it from his camp at Kudavada in his 37th year, giving the village of Vilembali in the Guddadi district to a Brahmin. It is one of two Vishnukundin sets found at Ipur in Tenali taluk, and E. Hultzsch edited it in 1924. Whether its king is the great Madhavavarman I or a later Madhavavarman III is disputed.

Ipur plates (set II) of Madhavavarman II

A damaged Sanskrit copper-plate grant of the Vishnukundin king Madhavavarman II, son of Devavarman and grandson of Madhavavarman I, issued from [Ama]rapura. It calls the king lord of the Trikuta and Malaya mountains. It was found at Ipur in Tenali taluk, and E. Hultzsch edited it in 1924. It is in the most archaic script of all the Vishnukundin grants, and its regnal year has been read as 47, 37 and 17.

References

Sources (2)
  1. Madras Government (Superintendent for Epigraphy, Southern Circle), Annual Reports on Epigraphy for 1920-21 to 1924-25 (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1925, pp. 97–99. Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1919–20, Part II, paras. 6–11. [Public domain]
  2. H. Krishna Sastri (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XVII (1923–24) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1924, pp. 334, 337. E. Hultzsch, Ipur plates (Nos. 20–21). [Public domain]

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