Gallery unveils copper plates with unknown facts of Vijayanagar empire

Bengaluru: In what is potentially a new discovery adding to the rich history of Karnataka, a coins gallery in Bengaluru unveiled three sets of copper plates on Tuesday, one of which has been deciphered by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to reveal never-before-known details of the Vijayanagar empire.

Falcon coins gallery procured three sets of copper plates from a numismatics collector last month.

The set from the Vijayanagar empire comprises five plates “tied” together by a copper ring, much like a modern-day spiral book.

It records the coronation ceremony of King Devaraya I of the Sangama dynasty, providing the exact date of November 5, 1406, a Friday.

Besides tracing the genealogy of the dynasty in both Sanskrit and Kannada words written in the Nagari script, the copper plates also record his act of donating the village of Gudipalli, along with two hamlets Rajendramada and Udayapalli, to Brahmins after dividing the land into 61 shares. It also mentions in Kannada the boundaries of the village, which is in Mulbagal taluk of today’s Kolar district.

The ASI team that presented the copper plates on Tuesday noted that the coronation date of King Devaraya I was neither confirmed before this discovery, nor was his mother Melambika’s name mentioned previously.

Interestingly, instead of the Varaha seal, which is the royal insignia of the Vijayanagar empire, the copper spiral binding the five plates bears the seal of Vamana, an avatar of Vishnu.

“Maybe, the reason for the Vamana seal to be used was that the plates record the act of land being donated to Brahmins on his coronation day. But the exact reason is unknown,” Hardik Parekh, the gallery’s manager, told a press conference at the unveiling ceremony. 

By generating estampages - paper impressions of the inscriptions - the ASI team is deciphering the other two sets: A 7th century set of two plates with a bull emblem and engravings in Brahmi, belonging to the Maitrakas; and a 14th century set of five plates in Hale Kannada, with an elephant emblem, belonging to the Western Gangas. The second set has a half-broken plate.

“We approached the ASI directly because we have been licensed by them. We will call one more conference when the ASI team deciphers the other two sets,” Kirti M Parekh, the gallery’s MD, said.