Indian Epigraphy c8.s2.t2: 2. Kannaḍa (Kanarese)
Indian Epigraphy c8.s2.t2
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2. Kannaḍa (Kanarese)
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Among the other languages of the Dravidian group, Kannaḍa appears in inscriptions from the 6th century A.D. An inscription of Cālukya Maṅgaleśa (598-610 A.D.) outside the Vaiṣṇava cave at Badami is one of the earliest records in the Kannaḍa language.³ The Halmidi inscription⁴ of about the end of the 6th century is also written in Kannaḍa while there is a Kannaḍa endorsement at the end of the Aihole inscription⁵ (634 A. D.) which may be slightly later than the main record. The copper-plate grants issued by the Cālukyas of Badami are written in Sanskrit, though most of the stone inscriptions of their age, both official and private, are in Kannaḍa. The introductory part of an inscription⁶ (699 A.D.) of Cālukya Vinayāditya is written in Sanskrit. But its latter part containing the details of the grant is in Kannaḍa which is called Prākṛta-bhāṣā in the epigraph.
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³ *Ind. Ant.*, Vol. X, p. 59.
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⁴ *A. R. Mys. Arch. Dept.*, 1936, pp. 72-81.; *IHQ*, Vol. XVII, p. 134.
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⁵ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. VI, pp. 1 ff.
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⁶ Cf. *Karnatak Inscriptions*, p. 3.
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Similar is the case with most of the official records of later imperial dynasties of the Kannaḍa-speaking area, such as the Rāṣṭrakūṭas, the Later Cālukyas, the Kalacuris and the kings of Vijayanagara. Among the copper-plate grants of the time of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas, a few like the British Museum plates¹ (804 A.D.) of Govinda III are written in the Kannaḍa language. The Haldipur plates² of the Pallava chief Gopāla, who seems to have flourished in the 8th century A.D., are written partly in Sanskrit and partly in Kannaḍa. The Kalas inscription³ (930 A.D.) of the time of Govinda IV contains good specimens of Kannaḍa poetry in various metres.
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¹ Ind. Ant., Vol. XI, p. 125. For the Rāṣṭrakūṭa charters in Sanskrit, see, e.g., Ep. Ind., Vol. XVIII, pp. 235 ff.
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² Ep. Ind., Vol. XXI, pp. 173 ff.
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³ Ibid., Vol. XIII, pp. 329-33.
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A few copper-plate grants of the Vijayanagara kings, who generally used the Sanskrit language and Nandināgarī characters for their charters, are written either in Sanskrit and Kannaḍa or in Kannaḍa only.⁴ Late rulers like the chiefs of Keladi and Mysore generally used Kannaḍa for their official charters.⁵
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⁴ A few grants of Harihara (A. R. Ep., 1956-57, No. A 63, dated 1414 A.D.), Virūpākṣa (ibid., No. A 8 dated 1465 A.D.) and Vijayabhūpati (ibid., 1952-53, No. A 12, dated 1714 A.D.) are written partly in Sanskrit and partly in Kannaḍa.
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⁵ For the charters of the Keladi chiefs, see ibid., 1951-52, No. A 8; 1954-55, Nos. A 7-8; etc., and for those of the Mysore chiefs, cf. ibid., 1947-48, Nos. A 1-2; 1952-53, No. A 11; etc. For miscellaneous late copper-plate grants in Kannaḍa, see ibid., 1953-54, Nos. A 20-21; etc.
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Private stone inscriptions of the age of the medieval dynasties are, in the majority of cases, written in Kannaḍa, although some of them have a portion written in Sanskrit.