Eastern Gangas

      Chicacole, Ganjam district, Orissa. 6th century AD.

     Three copper-plates found suspended by a ring on an iron bar across the mouth of a large pot, discovered in digging the foundations of a wall at Chicacole, in the Ganjam district, and presented to the Museum by Mr. W. F. Grahame, I.C.S., who purchased them. The ends of the ring, on which plates are strung, are soldered to the bottom of a seal bearing in relief the legend 'Pitribhaktah'.

     The inscription is in Sanskrit, the script employed being pre- Chalukyan.
    
     The Eastern Ganga king Nandaprabhanjanavarman gave the village of Deyavata, having constructed an agrahara, to a Brahman named Harischandrasvami. The command was issued from the city of Sarapalli.

     No date is given in the plates. From paleographical evidence they are very ancient and probably pre-Chalukyan.

Western Gangas

     Penukonda, Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh. 6th century AD.

   Three copper-plates purchased from M.R.Ry. Adembhatta, a purohit of Penukonda, Anantapur district. They are strung on a ring, the ends of which are secured by a seal bearing in relief on the countersunk surface a standing elephant facing proper left.   

     The inscription is in Sanskrit, the script employed being old Telugu- Kannada.   

     The Western Ganga King Madhava Mahadhiraja II, alias Simhavarman, gave sixty-five paddy fields, sowable with twenty five khandukas of paddy, below the big tank of Paruvi in Paruvi Vishaya, to a Brahman named Kumarasarma of the vatsa gotra. Paruvi is identified with the village of Parigi in Anantapur district.   

     The grant was made on the full-moon day in the month of Chaitra (lunar). No further deailts regarding the date are given. This Madhava Mahadhiraja is stated to have been installed on the throne, by the Pallava King Skandavarma Maharaja and Aryavarman, father of Madhava, was installed on the throne, by Simhavarma Maharaja, lord of the Pallava family. These plates are very important as there is mention of two contemporaneous Pallava Kings. Skandavarman appears to have been the son of Simhavarman and is supposed to have ruled during latter part of the 5th Century AD. The plates must therefore have been issued at the beginning of the 6th Century AD.

Pallava

      Maidavolu, Narasaraopet taluk, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. 4th century AD.

     Eight copper-plates found in 1899 during the digging of a field, in an abandoned village north of Maidavolu, a village in Narasaraopet taluk, Guntur district and presented to the Museum by Maidavolu Jayaramayya, the owner. The plates are strung on a ring by the ends of which is secured an elliptical seal, which bears in relief a couchant bull facing proper right, with the legend 'Sivaskandavarmanah' partially worn.
   
     The language of the inscription is Prakrit, the script employed being old Pallava.
    
     These plates record that the Pallava king Sivaskandavarman, while he was Yuva-Maharaja granted a village named Viripara situated in Andharapatha (i.e) the Telugu country, to two Brahmans.
    
     Viripara must have been situated near Amaravati, as Sivaskandavarman addressed his order to his father's representative at Dhannakada, the modern Amaravati. The grant was issued from Kanchipura, the capital of the Pallava kings. It is thus indicated that during the time of Sivaskandavarman, the Pallava kingdom was composed of Tondaimandalam and the Telugu country as far north as the Krishna river.

      The grant was made on the fifth tithi of the sixth fortnight of summer, in the tenth year of the reign perhaps of Sivaskandavarman's predecessor.  The date of Sivaskandavarman  may be fixed at about the beginning of the 4th Century AD.

Pandyas

      Locality unknown. 7th century AD.

     There are seven copper-plates preserved in the Museum for a long time without any history. They are strung on a ring without a seal.     

     The inscription contains two passages in Sanskrit, one at the beginning and another at the end, the script employed being Grantha. The rest is in Tamil, the script employed being Vatteluttu of Chera-Pandya alphabet.     

     The plates record that the Pandyan king. Maravarman, renowned in the world by the name of Jatilavarman (Nedunjadaiyan), gave the village of Velangudi, in Ten-Kalavali-nadu, having changed its name into Srivaramangalam, to a Brahman named Sujjata-Bhatta, son of Sihu - Misra.
   
     This Maravarman is stated to have conquered the Cholas, the Pallavas and the Keralas. He is said to have conquered and killed the king of Ven constructed the walls of the city of Karavandapuram.
   
     The grant was made during the seventeenth year of the reign of Nedunjadaiyan, another name of Maravarman.