TIRUPATI: A fragmentary (damaged) inscription engraved on a stone dating back to 1167 CE was found on the outside wall of Simhachalam temple in Visakhapatnam. The inscription was written in Telugu and contained characters dated Saka 1089 (1167 CE) Uttarayana Sankranti. Archaeological Survey of India director (Epigraphy) K Muniratnam Reddy said it was the 501st inscription found at the temple and the second oldest identified so far.
The oldest inscription was Saka 1087 of Kulotunga Chola. Muniratnam Reddy said the ASI had officially recorded 500 inscriptions found in and around the Simhachalam temple in the South Indian Inscriptions Volume-VI. An ASI team will soon visit the temple and record the newly found inscription.
The ASI director said, “The inscription seems to be the record of the gift of 100 naragadyanas (gold coins) as a deposit in the temple bhandaram (treasury) by Tirupana Dasari Kuntta for lighting the perpetual lamp to Lord Narasimha, the presiding deity of the temple, on Uttarayana Sankranti.” Tirupana Dasari Kuntta wanted the treasury to light ‘Akhanda Deepam’ in the sanctum sanctorum, read the characters in the inscription. The inscription also mentioned the measurement known as ‘Narasimha Manika’, used to measure materials in that particular region.
“Since the inscription is fragmentary as all letters in four lines are missing, it is difficult to determine whether Narasimha Manika was used as a tool to measure the gold coins, while they were being deposited in the temple treasury,” the ASI director added. Sai Kumar who found the inscription five days ago at the Simhachalam temple, said the inscription stone might be the debris of the old temple, used for the construction of the new temple in 1268 CE as per the history.