History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c23.16

v1.c23.16

There is a long gap after the Tekkali plates of the year 154 and the next inscription in chronological order is the Chikakol plates of Devendravarman, son of Guṇārṇava of the year 183. It is quite evident that Guṇārṇava and his son Devendravarman are descendants or colaterals of Indravarman II and Dānārṇava II; but no connection can be proved between them. The grant mentions the shrine of the Lord Gokarṇasvāmin on Mahendra mountain and the Gaṅga family, but in the genealogical portion the king, Mahārāja Devendravarman, is mentioned simply as the son of Guṇārṇava. By this charter the king grants the village of Poppāṅgikā in the Kroṣṭuka-varttani on the occasion of the Uttarāyana in the month of Māgha to some Brāhmaṇas of the city of Kalinga of Kṛṣṇātreya gotra, who were brothers. The order was issued on the 20th day of the month of Śrāvaṇa of the year 183. The charter was incised by Sarvvachandra, son of the bhogika Khaṇḍichandra, who was the scribe of the grant of the year 154.² The next record was issued only a year later, in 184. It does not seem to have been published as yet, though it was noticed as early as 1921. They were sent to Mr. G. Venkoba Rao by the Diwan of the Raja of Parlakimidi. The record is dated in the 184th year and was issued by *Mahārāja* Devendravarman, son of Guṇārṇava. The names of the officers and engravers are the same in these plates also.¹ The same king issued another grant eleven years later. These plates were discovered at Siddhāntam near Chikakol in the Ganjam district. The charter records the grant of a plot of land, one plough in measure, in the village of Siddhārthaka in the district of Varāha-varttanī to a Brāhmaṇa named Tampara-śarman *Dikshita*, an inhabitant of Erandapali (the Erandapalla of the Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta) on the occasion of the *Dakshiṇāyana*. The order was issued on the 5th day of the dark half of the month of Śrāvaṇa of the year 195. The inscription was composed by Madanāṅkura Pallava, son of Mātṛichandra.² Anantavarman, the son of Devendravarman, who issued the grant next in order must be in the next generation. In the Parlakimidi plates of the year 204, the donor Anantavarman is called the son of Devendravarman and was evidently the grandson of Guṇārṇava. The plates were noticed for the first time in the Assistant Archæological Superintendent’s Annual Report for 1919-20. The charter records the grant of a village named Talaṭṭhere in the district of Kroṣṭuka-varttanī by Anantavarman at the request of his brother Jayavarman to a Brāhmaṇa of the Parāśara *gotra*, who was an inhabitant in the village of Śraṅgaṭikā in the district of Kāmarūpa or Assam named Viṣṇusomācārya.¹