A rare inscription dating back to the Renati Chola era has been unearthed in a remote village of Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.
- Found engraved on a dolomite slab and shale, which are part of a fragmentary pillar recently excavated from the fields of B. Sivanarayana Reddy, a farmer of Chinnadudyala village in Muddanur mandal.
- Going by the language and characters, the inscription was written in archaic Telugu, which was readable in 25 lines — the first side with 11 lines and the remaining on the other side.
- It was assigned to the 8th Century A.D., when the region was under the rule of the Chola Maharaja of Renadu.
- The inscription seems to throw light on the record of a gift of six marttus (a measuring unit) of land gifted to a person Sidyamayu, one of the Brahmins serving the temple at Pidukula village.
- He had, in fact, contacted the Director of Epigraphy, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Mysuru, for assistance in deciphering the content.
- The last lines are indicative of the priority given to morality in those days.
- The inscription says the people who safeguard this inscription for future generations will acquire the status of conducting Aswamedha Yaga, and those destroying it will incur sin equivalent to causing a death in Varanasi.
- Renati Chila had ruled Renadu region in Rayalaseema and were the first to use Telugu in administration and inscriptions instead of Sanskrit.
(Source: The Hindu and Times of India)
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