The Directorate of Archaeology and Museums in Karnataka is perhaps the oldest among the State Departments of Archaeology in the country. It had a humble beginning in 1885. Yet the Directorate did pioneering work in surveying valuable historical and cultural remains, lithic records, copper plates, coins, monuments, ancient sites etc. Later it carried out important excavations. The results of these investigations have thrown fresh light on, the history and culture of Karnataka.
Besides the preservation of our cultural heritage, an important function of the Directorate is to publish reports of discoveries and studies pertaining to them. The Directorate has carried out this responsibility with distinction: Epigraphia Carnatica in 12 columes and its supplements, annual reports of the Department, guide books on important historical places, monographs and technical reports on the archaeological excavations carried out by the Directorate have all been published from time to time. And they have been acclaimed by scholars as well as general readers.
It is, therefore, most appropriate that the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums has planned to bring out as part of its Centenary a series of publications on different aspects of archaeology, such as Prehistory, Epigraphy, Numismatics, Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, etc. I am sure the publications will be of use to scholars and common readers alike.
It is generally observed that there were no historians in the true sense of the term like the Greek and Roman historians: Herodotus, Thucydides, Justin etc. Nevertheless our country perhaps is fabulously rich in historical remains in the form of material relics of everyday use of prehistoric and historical periods, monumental structures, clay figurines, stone sculptures, bronze images, wood carvings, coirs; records which are the orders of emperors, kings, chieftains i.e. 'Sasanas' giving their genealogy, military exploits and particularly the meritorious grants they did that should serve as model for future rulers and the general public, engraved on rocks, copper plates etc., Such cultural relics and sites are fortunately found all over the country not in hundreds but in several thousands. Among these, epigraphical records are one of the most important sources, as is well known, for the reconstruction of the history and culture of our country for the historical period.
The Directorate of Archaeology and Museums ever since its inception is known for the survey of such epigrapical records and their publication, The Epigraphia Carnatica volumes and their supplements of this Directorate are too well known.
In the recent years the Directorate has acquired many copper plates. Dr. M. S. Nagaraja Rao, Director General of Archaeology and Dr. K. V. Ramesh, Director, Epigraphy Branch, Archaeology Survey of India, have been exceedingly generous to edit these copper plates for the Directorate. Dr. Ramesh and his colleague Dr. M. D. Sampath corrected the proofs day and night. I am therefore extremely grateful to them. Dr. Subramanya lyer and Sri J. C. Gupta helped in the lay-out of the illustrations. Sri P. Venkatesan assisted in preparing the manuscript. I am deeply indebted to them.
Members of the Samskrita Sahitya Sadana have printed neatly the manuscript in a record time. I am thankful to them.
For the views and theories expressed in this book the authors are wholly responsible. With pleasure I place this volume on behalf of our government before scholars and general public, which I hope will be received well.
In the present volume are included twelve copper plate inscriptions discovered in the course of the last one decade and now deposited in the Office of the Director of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Karnataka, Mysore. All these were acquired for the Directorate soon after their discovery through the efforts of Dr. M.S. Nagaraja Rao when he was the Director and some of them had been literally snatched from the jaws of destruction at the nick of the moment.
The twelve charters included here span over a long stretch of more than eight centuries, from the middle of the sixth to the end of the 13th centuries A.D. These records hail from as many as seven districts of Karnataka, viz., Shimoga, Bangalore, Gulbarga, Bellary, Belgaum, Hassan and Tumkur. The charters belong to as many as five dynasties, viz., the early Kadambas of Banavasi (Nos. 1 and 2), the Western Gangas of Talakadu (Nos. 3. 4 and 5), the Chalukyas of Kalyaņa (Nos. 6 and 7), the Kadambas of Gon (No. 8) and the Hoysalas of Dvårasamudra (Nos. 9, 10, 11 and 12). Four of these charters (Nos. 1, 2, 9 and 11) have been earlier published elsewhere but their texts have been reedited here with nezessary improvements while the remaining eight charters are being published here for the first time. Of these, the Manue plates of Śrivikrama (No. 3) and the Narihalla plates of Chalukya Ahavamalla Sömēśvara I (No. 7) are as yet the only available charters respectively issued by these rulers.
There is not much additional or fresh historical information to be obtained from a study of these twelve charters and whatever such data are available have been discussed while introducing each one of them. However, we propose to discuss below the significance of some interesting statements and technical expressions contained in these records.
In the Manne plates of Śrivikrama (No. 3), the writer, i.e., the engraver Ayatala is introduced as belonging to the Karddattara-sagötra, The engravers of some of the early Western Ganga charters, who were mostly drawn from the Visvakarma community of metal smiths, are usually designated therein as taffakara or tvashtakara perndaşțara or pendațțakara or pendaftara, (literally maha-tvashtakara), all of them, in all probability, standing for the gold-smith community.
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