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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Ramatirtham

Village near Vizianagaram, where a family of pandits kept the copper-plate grant of the Vishnukundin king Indravarman. It was published in 1914 as the Ramatirtham plates. The grant itself concerns a village in the Plaki district, which most writers place in the Vizianagaram region.

Two long rocky hills with scattered trees rising beyond flat dry fields under a pale sky.
Two long rocky hills with scattered trees rising beyond flat dry fields under a pale sky. · Adityamadhav83 (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab)

Ramatirtham, near Vizianagaram, gave its name to the only known grant of the Vishnukundin king Indravarman. H. Krishna Sastri reported in 1909 that the plates belonged to “a learned family of Pandits at Rāmatīrtham (near Vizianagrum)”.1 E. Hultzsch edited them from Krishna Sastri’s impressions in 1914.2 See the Ramatirtham plates.

The plates and the place

The plates do not say where they were made or found. They were issued from Puranisangama and grant the village of Peruvataka in the Plaki district.2 Writers have nonetheless used the place where they were kept to judge how far north the Vishnukundins reached. Krishna Sastri noted that the Plaki district is also named in the Chipurupalle plates of the Eastern Chalukya Vishnuvardhana I, and so he placed it in Visakhapatnam (then Vizagapatam) district. He thought the family’s early home had been in that district.1 G. Jouveau-Dubreuil concluded that Indravarman had become master of Visakhapatnam district.3

D. C. Sircar thought a lasting Vishnukundin hold on the Vizianagaram region unlikely, because several local dynasties ruled nearby.456 In his view Indravarman made the grant during a raid.456

Sriparvata?

The Vishnukundin kings call themselves devotees of the lord of Sriparvata, usually taken to be Srisailam in Kurnool district.2 Krishna Sastri argued instead that Sriparvata should be looked for in Visakhapatnam district.1 K. R. Subramanian rejected this. He noted, though, that an old inscription on a seal found at Ramatirtham calls the place a saila (hill).7

Footnotes

  1. H. Krishna Sastri, Annual Report on Epigraphy, Southern Circle, for 1908–09 (1909), Part II, para. 62, p. 109 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. E. Hultzsch, “Ramatirtham Plates of Indravarman”, Epigraphia Indica XII (1914), pp. 133–134 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 91 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  4. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (1939), p. 120 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 121 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  6. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 138 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  7. K. R. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra and the History of Andhra between 225 and 610 A.D. (1932), p. 116, note 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Photos

People

Indravarman (Vishnukundin)

c. 625–655 CE

Vishnukundin king, called Indrabhattarakavarman in his son's Chikkulla plates, who issued the Ramatirtham plates near Vizianagaram in his 27th year. His grants praise his victories with war elephants. Most scholars identify him with the Indrabhattaraka against whom a group of kings fought, according to the Godavari plates of Prithivimula. His date depends on the disputed Vishnukundin chronology: about 469–496, 535, 570–600 and 625–655 have all been proposed.

Inscriptions

Ramatirtham plates of Indravarman

Sanskrit copper-plate grant of the Vishnukundin king Indravarman (Indrabhattarakavarman), issued from Puranisangama in his 27th year. It gives the village of Peruvataka in the Plaki district to a Brahmin. A family of pandits at Ramatirtham near Vizianagaram held it. It was noticed in 1909, and E. Hultzsch edited it in 1914. Its short family line confirmed the line of the Chikkulla plates and the Vishnukundin marriage with the Vakatakas.

References

Sources (5)
  1. Madras Government (Assistant Archaeological Superintendent for Epigraphy), Annual Reports on Epigraphy, Southern Circle, for 1906-07 to 1909-10 (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1910, pp. 109. Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1908–09, Part II, para. 62 (H. Krishna Sastri). [Public domain]
  2. Sten Konow (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XII (1913–14) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1914, pp. 133. E. Hultzsch, Ramatirtham plates of Indravarman. [Public domain]
  3. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (opens in a new tab), The author, Pondicherry (translated by V. S. Swaminadha Dikshitar), 1920, pp. 91. [Public domain]
  4. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (opens in a new tab), University of Calcutta, 1939, pp. 120–121, 137–138. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  5. K. R. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra and the History of Andhra between 225 and 610 A.D. (opens in a new tab), Madras (with a foreword by G. Jouveau-Dubreuil), 1932, pp. 116. K. R. Subramanian. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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