Indian Palaeography c15.s7.t1: (e) Inscriptions of the Kings of Śarabhapura
Indian Palaeography c15.s7.t1
- Language
- English
(e) Inscriptions of the Kings of Śarabhapura
c15.s7.t1.1
These inscriptions have been found in the upper valley of the Mahanadi river, which flows through the jungles of Chhattisgarh and falls into the Bay of Bengal in Orissa. The only well-known historical place in this area is Śrīpura, and it is not unlikely that its older name was Śarabhapura. This region produced two different styles of writing: (i) the one seen in the Arang plates of Bhīmasena II, already described,¹ which shows influence from the north received through the Uchchhakalpas and the Parivrājakas, and (ii) that seen in the Arang plates of Mahā Jayarāja and the Raipur plate of Mahā Sudevarāja (Pl. XV. 6). These inscriptions carry further the angular sub-variety of the hollow square head-mark type of the Vākāṭaka inscriptions; (iii) still later a local angular style developed, as is seen in the Pipardula copper plate of Narendra (Pl. XV. 7), which, properly speaking, is a development from the solid square head-mark type. In this inscription the head-mark is a long solid rectangle, placed on the top left of the verticals. This type may have been borrowed from the Gaṅgas of Kaliṅga. Between (ii) and (iii) the head-marks are the only distinction. In other respects they exhibit similar features. But there is a definite change in these inscriptions from those of the Vākāṭakas. Firstly, they copy only the later sub-variety of the Vākāṭaka inscriptions, which exhibit a special preference for angularity, and further they are distinguished by their greater stress on the verticality of the letter forms. Secondly, even if these long verticals remain unnoticed, no one can mistake the new influences as seen in the medial vowels and also the forms of some letters—influences which are traceable only to the Gurjara inscriptions of the sixth century A.D. Therefore the date of these inscriptions must lie towards the close of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century A.D. A still later survival of the hollow square type is seen in the Rajim plate of Tīvaradeva, which has been rightly dated by Fleet in the eighth century A.D. (Fleet, no. 81). The new change in the medial vowels is seen in the use of the circle type of the medial *i* and *ī*, which, though known in the inscriptions of Malwa and Gujarat in the fifth century A.D., was not used in this region in the Vākāṭaka records. The Śarabhapura inscriptions must have derived this feature from the Gurjaras, whose influence probably reached this region after the fall of the Vākāṭakas. That the influence is from the Gurjaras, and not from the Chālukyas, is proved by the use of at least three letters: *kha* with its larger rectangular looped base, *ta* with its angular hook reduced to a mere line attached to the right vertical, which is slightly curved, and *la* with its upper curve extended downwards. Other minor influences may be traced in the form of *tha* having a loop within a rough oval, the preference for the looped *na* and *ṇa*, the use of the Deccani *ḷa* (not found in the earlier inscriptions of this region), and a new type of the conjunct *jña*, in which *ña* has a loop on the left. It should not be confused with *ṇa*. We may also note the form of the *jihvāmūlīya*, which resembles that of *ma*, and the form of the initial *au*, which has a curved base in the ‘z’-form with an additional top curve to the right.
c15.s7.t1.2
¹ See above, p. 163.
c15.s7.t1.3
(*f*) So far we have been dealing with the square headed Deccani style within the home country of the Vākāṭakas and their successors in the jungles of Chhattīsgarh. Outside this region the Deccani style influenced the writing in the inscriptions of the Gurjaras, the Chālukyas, the Kadambas, the Madharas, the Pallavas, and the Gaṅgas. Unlike the Vākāṭaka inscriptional writing, here we have only solid squares, except in the Pallava records which have a mixture of solid and hollow squares side by side with thick head-lines. Secondly these inscriptions do not show any preference for angularity, which is marked in the later inscriptions of the Vākāṭakas. Hence it is legitimate to infer that this influence reached here quite early. The late fourth or the early fifth century a.d. is the most probable time when such a borrowing could have taken place. This is the first stage of influence. In the second stage we find a borrowing from one dynasty to the other, and in the third place we see a development of the style. Thus these inscriptions fall into three categories: (i) those which show influence directly from the Vākāṭakas, such as the inscriptions of the Kadambas and the Madharas, which may be dated in the late fourth or early fifth century a.d.; (ii) those which borrowed from (i), such as the Kudgere plates of Māndhātṛivarman,¹ the Jirjingi plates of the Gaṅga Indravarman, dated in the (Gaṅga) year 39 (a.d. 535–8), the even later Saṅkheḍa plates of the Gurjara Dadda, dated in the (Kalachuri) year 392 (a.d. 641),² the Yekkeri plates of the time of Pulekeśin II, and the inscriptions of the Pallava Siṁhavarman; (iii) those which show a development of a new style, such as the later inscriptions of the Gaṅgas, dated between the (Gaṅga) years 79 and 183.¹
c15.s7.t1.4
¹ *Epigraphia Indica*, vi. 14.
c15.s7.t1.5
² Ibid., pp. 39–40.
c15.s7.t1.6
¹ The Gaṅga era starts somewhere between A.D. 496 and 499.
c15.s7.t1.7
(i) Pl. XV. 8 is taken from the Talgunda pillar inscription of Śāntivarman and the copper plates of Mṛigeśvaravarman. Pl. XV. 10 is derived from the Uruvupalli and Vilavati plates of Siṁhavarman, the Pallava ruler, which will be described in the next section. Pl. XV. 11 is taken from the plates of Śaktivarman, Umaravarman, and Chandravarman. Of these the Talgunda inscription, being on a stone pillar, shows a high quality of engraving and the letters are clearly brought out, with emphasis on angularity. The head-mark is a mere fashion, and has not at all affected the local forms of the letters. This fact is a great distinguishing feature between the inscriptions of these dynasties and those of the Vākāṭakas. The writing differs from dynasty to dynasty. We also find in these inscriptions the influence of the stylus, clearly recognized in the notches and the rounded features in *i*, *e*, *kha*, *cha*, *ja*, *ḍa*, *tha*, *dha*, *pa*, *pha*, *ba*, *bha*, *ma*, *la*, *va*, *sha* and *ha*. The medial vowels and the general forms are of the local styles known from other contemporary inscriptions. These will be discussed subsequently, when the general character of all the inscriptions will be taken up.²
c15.s7.t1.8
² See below, p. 182.
c15.s7.t1.9
(ii) Pl. XV. 9 is taken from the Yekkeri rock inscription of the time of Pulekeśin II. In this as well as other inscriptions of this type the head-mark is again a small square, which does not affect the writing in any way. What is important is to decide the particular dynasty from whose record the style is borrowed. The Yekkeri style is obviously not in the local style of the Chālukyas, as the forms of *a*, *kha*, *ṇa*, *ba*, *ya* and *va* show. In fact in this inscription an attempt has been made to discard the influence of the stylus script. Relying on the forms of the letters, we can find their analogues in the inscriptions of the Gurjaras of Broach. It is from that source that the short curved hook of the letter *a*, the broad loop of *kha*, the looped *ṇa*, and the straight-sided *ba*, *ya* and *va* were derived. The medial vowels adopt the local style.
c15.s7.t1.10
(iii) Pl. XV. 12 is taken from the Gaṅga inscriptions of Hastivarman, Indravarman II, Indravarman III, and Devendravarman; dated between the (Gaṅga) years 79 and 183 (A.D. 574 and 680). The square head-mark shows another development in these inscriptions. Here we notice the solid square growing into a broad rectangle, and this mark is placed centrally over the verticals, as in *ka* and *ra*, and over both the verticals in letters like *a* and *ma*. The practice of giving head-marks to both the verticals is inherited from the Madhara records. But there is no doubt that the change of the square head-marks into broad rectangles is a distinctive feature of the later Gaṅga records. It is most probably from this type that the Pipardula plate of the Śarabhapura king derived its style, because in that region the solid square type had long been given up. In this Gaṅga style the influence of the stylus is clearly marked. The letter forms are in the Andhra style, not influenced by that of the Eastern Chālukyas or even by that of the Pallavas. In fact a northern influence is traceable in the open-mouthed type of *ṇa*, *ta* with an angular hook, and *na* with a head on the left. The distinctive letters are *a*, *ka* and *ra*, all of which have a short curve at the lower ends of the vertical, *kha* with a broad looped base, and *la* with a short upper curve. The medial vowels are all in the local style.
c15.s7.t1.11
In its latest phase the Deccani style developed two distinctive varieties—the first having the hollow square head-mark with angular forms, in Chhattīsgarh, and the second the broad solid rectangular head-mark with rounded forms, in Andhra. Both of these varieties survived, as far as we know, only up to the eighth century A.D. The only other region where this style had any effect is the Pallava kingdom, where a new style with angular features appeared.¹
c15.s7.t1.12
¹ See below, p. 201.