Copper plates found in Suryapet linked to Chalukya Bhima I

The plates, heavily corroded after centuries underground, were sent in May to the ASI’s Science Branch in Hyderabad for conservation.

The nine sets of copper plates that were recently discovered in a Muslim graveyard at Kodad village in Suryapet district (photo | Express)

HYDERABAD: Nine sets of copper plates recently unearthed from a Muslim graveyard in Kodada village, Suryapet district, are currently undergoing chemical treatment in Hyderabad under the supervision of the Department of Heritage and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

According to ASI Director (Epigraphy) Munirathnam Reddy, who examined the artefacts, all nine inscriptions are written in Sanskrit using Telugu script and are believed to date back to the reign of Chalukya Bhima I (888–918 CE) of the Vengi Chalukya dynasty.

Each set bears a royal seal featuring the Varaha (boar) symbol and the sacred legend Svasti Tribhuvanamkusa, a distinctive mark of Chalukyan authority.

The plates, heavily corroded after centuries underground, were sent in May to the ASI’s Science Branch in Hyderabad for conservation. “Once the chemical cleaning is complete, the Epigraphy Branch will create estam­pages to decipher, transcribe and analyse the texts,” Munirathnam said.

The discovery is expected to shed new light on the governance, language and administrative practices of the Vengi Chalukyas, who ruled parts of present-day Andhra Pradesh and Telangana between the 7th and 12th centuries CE.