Urajam Plates of Indravarman 2, Ganga year ninety seven,(593 A.D.) Ganga dynasty rulers were not only conquerors and capable administrators, but they were also great supporters of religion, religious institutions, art, and architecture, as evidenced by the construction of several exquisite temples.The Ganga Dynasty had a significant impact on the states of Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh. There were two Ganga Dynasties: 1. Eastern Ganga Dynasty and the 2. Western Ganga The Western Gangas ruled in Mysore state from 250 to about 1004 CE. The Eastern Gangas ruled Kalinga from 1028 to 1434–35. The imperial Ganga kings ruled from Kalinga Nagara and had seized control of a vast region stretching from the Ganga River in the north to the Godavari River in the south.The Ganga kings were devotees of Siva. They gave vast lands to Vedic academics and temples. Most gifts were given to Vishnu temples and Vaishnavite Brahmins.
Provenance: Urajam village, 11 km, to the north-east of Narasanapeta, Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh. The second and third plates are now in Government Museum, Chinnai, while the first is, probably with the superintendent, A.S.I, South–Eastern Circle, Hyderabad. Footnote 1. The other grants known of this king are: 1. Achyutapuram plates of the year eighty seven (Ep.Ind, III, pp.1 27ff), 11) 2. Parlaki-medi Plates of the year ninety one (Ind. Ant, XVI, pp.131 ff. and Plate) Script: Box-headed variety of Brahmi of the southern class. But the boxes are solid and less prominant than those in Vakataka records. Language: Sanskrit. References: P.R. Srinivasan and R. Subrahmanyam, Ep.Ind, XXXVII , pp.159-62. Footnote 2. 1. From the facsimile in Ep.Ind, XXXVII between pp.160 and pp.161 2. Expressed by tha usual Spiral symbol. 3. Kalinganagara has been identifled with Mukhalingam. Footnote 3 1. ति-सहित are engraved over some letters written wrongly earlier. 2. चेताली is a Prakrit word for ‘river bank boundary-line. See Pt Hargovind Das, T. sheth, Pala-Sadda-Mahannavo,1928, pp.1023. 3. झोलिक is probably is for झोड meaning a betal-nut tree. तण्डि -कुप्पक is not clear. तण्डक means an upright post of a house or the trunk of a tree. in 1.15 below is evidently a professional designation of a man, named Domba, who had something to do with kuppies or oil-storage vessels. 4. Third plate Second Side, a word is overwritten over a word engraved earlier by mistake. English Translation of the inscription. Om Hail ! From Kalinganagara, which is pleasant in all seasons the illustrlous Maharaja Indravarman, the devotee of Mahesvara (Siva) meditating on the feet of his mother and father, with feet tinged with the beam of light, emenatng from the crest-jewels of all the feudatories, made to bow by his excessive prowess; the mainstay of the prestige of the glawless Ganga family, who aroused shouts of victory in the mellees of several battles whose flawless fame has spread over the surface of the earth girdled by the waves of the four oceans, who attained the sovereignty of the entire Kalinga as a result of the actions of the edge of his own sword; who is the support of descipline, morality and prosperity, and who has been freed from the impurities of the age of Kali by obeisance to the feet of the god, Lord Gokarna, the sole architect of the creation of the entire worlds, commands all the house-holders en masse in the village of Honjeri in the Kroshtukavartani district, Let it be known to you that the land along with a residence that was purchased in this village by Matrichandra-sarman from the Agraharika of Honjeri village, that land and house, we have granted with libation of water on the full-moon day of Maha-Karttika month to Matrichandrasarman , of Vatsa gotra and a student of chhandoga sakha, hailing from Bhattarakebhuj Knowing that nobody should create obstruction And in this respect, the boundary marks are: seven ant-hills located on the boundary line of Karuda village. From there to the north is Jholika (A betel nut tree) to its north is, Tandikuppaka and to its north is the anthill by a pair of sandal trees (2). to its west is the rock extending to the settlement of surannatata, to its south is the farm with a house inside and under cultivation by Domba-Kuppaka. The boundary marks of the internal pond section are: beginning with the pair of sandal (haridra) trees, to the north, there is a row of ant-hills, to its west there are a clustre of three dwarf tamarind trees arranged in order of kapatasandhi, to it’s south is a row of tamarind trees. further there is a banian tree and beyond is the nandi tree Anogeissus Lotifolia. and that forementioned rock on the forest edge. And this virtuous gift deserves to be preserved by the future kings. And also, there are verses sung by Vyasa: (Here follow three of the traditional imprecatory verses) Of the flourishing victorious reign years ninety seven, This charter of Rajasimha has been written on his oral order by Aditya manchin the son of Vinayachandra. The messenger (dutaka) is the lord Mahattara, Ravi svami. Kindly note that Lines L1.26 and 27 are engaged in the left margin, above the ring hole. Footnote 4. 1. Identified with the region around Narasannapeta, in the Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh, 2. i.e Karttika sukla 15, when the Jupiter and the moon were in the Krittika nakshatra. 3. Srinivasan explains the phrase, for the enjoyment of a certain deity (bhattaraka) But the phrase is ablative Or genitive, certainly not dative. 4. Haladra is possibly a corruption of Sanskrit Haridra, which stands for sandal wood tree. Footnote 5. 1. Kapata-sandhi is a mode of multiplying, in which the multipicand is placed in a peculiar manner under the multiplier. 2. Rajasimha is an alias of Indravarman 2. 3. Adityamanchin son of Vinayachandra. is already known from the chicacole plates of Indravarman 3, of the Year 128 (Ep.Ind, XIII, pp.120 ff & Pl.) where he figures as the engraver.
