J.872.] Indm grants found in tlie Malnad. 197 



The Brahman's property is a vu'ulent poison, and poison is not called 

 poison, (because) poison kills a single person, but Brahman's property slays 

 the whole race, inclusive of the sons and grandsons. 



Note hi/ Translator. 



Kuppagadde is an Agrahar about 8 miles from Soraba, and situated in 

 that Talook. It is called Pushpagadde iu the grant. The present occu- 

 pants do not seem to be lineally descended from the original grantees, as their 

 respective gotras are different. The village, though styled agrahar, was to 

 all intents and purposes Sarkar, but the result of the settlement will restore 

 to it the status of an alienated village. The boundaries described in the 

 Sasanam are not, with a few exceptions, identifiable. 



The grant is engrossed on 3 sheets of copper protected by two more, 

 one underneath and the other on the top, the whole clasped together by a 

 massive ring of the same metal impressed with the seal of a boar at the 

 point of soldering. The last sheet of the writing is broken towards the 

 right-hand side, thereby rendering some of the ' Slokas' at the end unread- 

 able. 



The characters of the Sasanam are said to be ' Nandi Nagara,' and re- 

 semble those of the modern ' Balaband,' although there are several differ- 

 ences, which mark the writing in the Sasanam as a separate dialect. The 

 Sanskrit portion of the composition is not very creditable to the original 

 composers, and abounds with inaccuracies. In the translation, they have 

 been as far as possible rectified in the ' Slokas at the commencement and 

 termination. The Kanarese words used in the body of the grant do not im- 

 press one with its alleged antiquity when compared with those to be met 

 with in old stone inscriptions, whose genuineness is guaranteed by their not 

 being portable. 



At the commencement in reciting the titles of Jan amej ay a, the words 

 (chacha puta chacha puta) are inserted. It is not known to what they 

 refer, and what is their meaning. 



Certain eminent astrologers, who have been consulted on the subject 

 doubt the truth of the astronomical combinations said to have occurred on 

 the day of the grant. It is a problem, however, which is best reserved for 

 solution by learned antiquaries. The year of the grant is denoted by the 

 letters (ka, ta, ka) being the first letters of 2 series in the Sanskrit alphabet. 

 It is therefore, if true, 4861 years old, being executed in the year 111 of the 

 Kaliyuga, or 2960 years B. C. Janamejaya flourished at the commence- 

 ment of the Kali age. It is mentioned, however, in a Sanad confirming the 



