HYDERABAD: The recent discovery of a fifth copper plate inscription in a Muslim graveyard in Kodad, Suryapet district, continues to enrich historical understanding of the Vengi Chalukya dynasty’s political and administrative systems. Now preserved at the Department of Heritage, Hyderabad, it is part of a rare collection of nine such plates found in the region.
According to Archaeological Survey of India Director (Epigraphy) K Muniratnam Reddy, the inscription traces royal lineage from Kubja Vishnuvardhana to Vikramaditya II, son of Chalukya Bhima I and Vijayamahadevi. It records a land grant issued by Vikramaditya II, granting 12 khandukas of land in Kodajenu village, along with Ghattikallu and Bojjaprolu hamlets, to Gundayya (also known as Manma Gunda), son of Erra and grandson of Gunda.
Remarkably, the charter mandates that residents of 300 villages under Kondapalli vishaya remit one-sixth of their tax (bali), six cows, one adaka of ghee and a pair of garments (vastrayugalam) to Gundayya. The inscription, engraved in Sanskrit using Telugu script by Srikantha Ranabharana, was issued in Saka 848 (February 24, 927 CE), on a Saturday in the Phalguna month, likely during the Uttarayana festival. It bears the royal seal of a boar (Varaha) and the legend “Sri Tribhuvanamkusa”.
The grant was made in the presence of several mahasamantas at the royal palace and is believed to have been a strategic move to strengthen the kingdom’s security. Notably, this is the second copper plate of Vikramaditya II found in Kodad from the same year, the first marking his coronation, and the latest interpreted as a protective gesture for the realm.
“Kakatiya Gundayya, the beneficiary, is praised as valiant, devout, learned in scripture and statecraft, a protector of the people and a model royal servant,” says Muniratnam.