A couple of early Telugu inscriptions dating back to 8th-9th Century A.D., engraved on fragmented and broken pieces of stone slabs, were found in the agricultural fields of Bapanapalli village (Ramachandrapuram-Agraharam), in Yarragondapalem mandal of Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh.
Epigraphy experts confirmed that it is written in Telugu and the characters relate to 8th-9th century A.D.
K. Muniratnam Reddy, Director (Epigraphy), Archaeological Survey of India, Mysuru told The Hindu that these inscriptions seem to record the gift of land and a house to God.
Decoding the text on an inscription, Mr. Muniratnam Reddy explained that there is a word Pannasa which means wet land. He said that in the same fragmented inscription, it is written that a piece of wet land and a house were donated by Dandiyama to the God Sri Umaravaiyidisvara. The God was praised as Kailasabhagavanta, means comparing the Lord as Kailasa Siva, as per the inscription. These donations happened when Sri Tripurantaka Bhatalu, bearing the title Makaradvaja, was administering the region. It further mentions the word ‘mandugrama’. He said that to know more details of these inscriptions, they need some more information or characters.
In another inscription, Mr. Muniratnam Reddy said that the title of a ruler is mentioned as Sameyaraditya Trilokaditya.
He said that these damaged and incomplete inscriptions were found by Thurimella Srinivasa Prasad, a revenue officer at Yerragondapalem. Mr. Prasad informed that apart from these two, four other stone inscriptions were there in the same village, which needed to be explored. He said that they identified inscriptions with similar characters at nearby places like the Ramalingeswara temple at Ayyambotlapalli village, and Gollavidipi village.
Stating that the inscriptions reveal that there was a great history for this region, he said their hunt for the archaeological assets would continue.
