ONGOLE: Two ancient Telugu inscriptions belonging to around 7th century CE and 9th century CE, respectively, were found recently engraved on two broken slabs in Gollavidipi village of Yerragondapalem (Y Palem) mandal in Prakasam district.Found at an agricultural field belonging to Vanukuri Surahmanyam, the broken inscriptions have letters and characters resembling the first Telugu inscription that was found in Erragudipadu village of YSR Kadapa district, belonging to Erragudipadu-Renati Chola kingdom period (around 575 CE).
Discovered by Y Palem Village Revenue Officer (VRO) and an enthusiastic historian, Turimella Srinivasa Prasad, the details of the inscriptions were sent to the Director of Mysore-Archaeological Survey of India (ASI-Epigraphy), K Muniratnam Reddy, for further research.The first inscription is believed to record the information of land which was gifted by Sri Kokkili to a brahmin named Kulla Bhata. The second inscription refers to the reign of King Sri Vijadi.
“These two inscriptions seems to belong to the Renati Chola Prince Mangi Yuvaraju’s (582- 706 CE) son Kokkili, who was the 7th generation prince of the King Kubja Vishnuvardhana and became the crown king of Chola dynasty for the Vengi kingdom and ruled for a short period. There is a historical evidence that King Kokkili arrived here for the holy darshan of Srisailam temple via Tripurantakam and stayed here for a short time near a Shiva temple of Daddanala close to the Gollavidipi village where these two fragmented inscriptions were recently found, revealing the historical importance of the region,” Srinivasa Prasad told TNIE.