57. Velpuru pillar inscription, year 33.
EI. XXXVII, No. 21 (S. Sankaranarayanan); SN. No. Il.

This inscription is engraved on the northern and the western faces (A&B) of the lower part of a white marble stone pillar, the extant part measuring about 2.75m. in height, now set up in the front maíäapa of the Ràmaliìgåùvara temple in Vålpóru (Sattannapalle Taluk, Guntur District, A.P.). None of the lines of the epigraph is fully preserved and hence the record is very fragmentary. Above the engraving there are carved figures of two lions one behind the other, both facing proper right and resting on their fore legs and having the hindpart of their bodies raised. Similar figures are found on the top of one of the Ghantasala inscriptions of about the 3rd century A.D. (EI, XXVII, plate facing p, 2, Inscr. A). The following transcript is based on the plate published in El, XXXVII, between pp. 128-29. (SN).
The subjoined inscription, edited with the kind permission of the Government Epigraphist for India, comes from the village Vålpóru [Same as Velupuru of the Madras Presidency Atlas.] in Sattenapalle Taluk of the Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh. An early inscription of the time of Aira-Mànasada (c. 2nd century A.I).) from this village has been published in the pages of this Journal. [Above, Vol. XXXII, pp. 82 ff. and plate.] The present inscription is engraved on two sides of the lower part of a white marble pillar, about 2'75 metres in height, now set up in the front maíäapa outside the entrance into the Ràmaliêgasvàmin temple in this village. In 1925, only a portion of this record was copied [A. R. Ep., 1925-26, No. B 581.] as it was then partly built in. After the removal of this obstruction, it was again copied in 1937-38.[Ibid., 1937-38, No. B 350.] An imperfect transcript of this epigraph has been published in 1948.[SII, Vol. X, No. 1.] When I visited Vålpóru in the beginning of 1964, I found to my disappointment that a major portion of the record was lost and only a fragment was available. I, therefore, edit the record from the impressions prepared in 1925 and 1937-38 and preserved in the Office of the Government Epigraphist for India.
As already pointed out, the record is engraved on two faces, called hereafter Face A and Face B, of the pillar. Face A has twelve lines while face B has only four lines. None of these lines is completely preserved. The first four lines in face A have suffered damage in the middle, resulting in the loss of some letters in each line, though they can be restored with the help of other records of the Viøíukuíäin family to which the king of our record belongs. The proper left side of lines 4-6 is lost while only a few letters or words can be read in the remaining part of this face. Similarly, the proper right side of the face B is damaged. Thus the record is very fragmentary. However, from the appearance of the pillar and the inscribed text, it can be seen that the text on face B is a continuation of that on face A. The inscribed area of the record might have originally measured about 40 cm x 38 cm on face A and 24 cm x 16 cm on face B. Above the inscription, we find the carved figures of two lions, one behind the other, both facing proper right and resting on their forelegs and having their hind parts raised as we find in one of the Ghaíòasàla inscriptions. [Cf. above, Vol. XXVII, plate facing page 2, inscription A.] Perhaps, the lion was a crest of the Viøíukuíäins.[The Ràmatèrtham and Chikkulla plates of this family bear the figure of an advancing lion facing proper right (ibid., Vol. XII, pp. 133 ff. and plate; Vol. IV, pp. 193 ff. and Plate). But the seal of the Tuíäi grant of Vikramåndrabhaòòàrakavarman (ibid., Vol. XXXVI, plate facing p. 12) has the figure of a humped bull facing proper right; see D. C. Sircar, Òhe Successors of the Sàtavàhanas, p. 131. ]
(SS)

TEXT

Face A

1 Diòòham || Svasti [||*] Bha .......mi-pàd-ànudhyàta-Viøíukuíäi-
2 [gî]tràt=prabhavasya Gîvi.......... [s]ónîr=Ìmàdhavavarma[íî] ràjya-pravarddha-
3 mànå-trayastriìùat-saìvatsarå Tai..... la-vikramåía Màdhavavarìaíà
4 [i]ha skandhàvàra-gatî Vålpóru[då]ùam(ùaì)=ùàsan=[a]neka-samara-[mukh-à]...
5 vijaya-ùrèmàn=gî-sahas[ra]-p[ra]dàyèna........
6 [na]t-àtula-[Pa]llava-kula...............
7 .......ku[íä]yadhi ...........gaìdha-[ga]........
8 ..........rutî[sà].tî
9 ...................gràmå ...........
10 ............gatavàn [|*] a[tr=ai]va ànaka-[sthà]pan[à]dika .....
11 . ..............ùva[r]ya
12...................................

Face B

13.......................nt[i]mukha-svàminaõ pratimàm=ànèyya(ya)
14. ...... ùata........ [ra]íyaì da[t*]tvà mahà(ha)tà prayatnåna pójà[ì]
15............vaì vijayån=n=ànðtaì(tam) [|*] Sthàpita[ã=ca] nðpasy=à[.]
16............ [|*] Vinàyakaì namasyanti narà................ [||*]