154 Notes on Three Copper Sasanams. [No. 3, 



" Several princes of the name of Vishnu Vardhana have reign- 

 ed in Southern India ; but the present grantor is identified in these 

 plates as the younger brother of Satyashraya of the Chalukya dy- 

 nasty. 



' ' This dynasty was founded by Jaya Sinha, who invaded the Dec- 

 can about the beginning of the fifth century, A. D., but was defeat- 

 ed by Trilochana, king of the Pallavas, who were then the domi- 

 nant race in those parts. Jaya Sinha's posthumous son, Vishnu 

 Vardhana, subsequently reversed his father's misfortune, and esta- 

 blished himself in the kingdom of Kuntala, the capital of which 

 was Kalyan, which still exists in the neighbourhood of Beder in 

 the Nizam's territory, where his descendants reigned down to 

 the close of the twelfth century, A. D. His great-grandson, 

 Kirtti Varmma, had two sons, Satyashraya, who succeeded to the 

 throne of Kalyan, and Vishnu Vardhana, the donor of inscription 

 No. 1. 



" On the death of Kirtti Varmma, there appears to have been 

 some political disorder at Kalyan ; for Satyashraya did not succeed 

 his father until after his imcle, Mangalisa, had reigned for some 

 time. It was probably in consequence of this usurpation, that the 

 younger son, the grantor of No. 1, was induced to push his own 

 fortunes at a distance from the scene of the family troubles. What- 

 ever may have been the cause of the emigration, this Vishnu 

 Vardhana, who is surnamed Kubja, or Little, went eastwards into 

 the Telugu districts below the ghauts, and conquered Vengiparam, 

 the capital of the country, between the rivers Grodavery and Kistna, 

 and founded the dynasty of the Western Chalukyas, whose capital 

 was subsequently fixed at Eajahmundry, and whose territory ulti- 

 mately extended from Ganjam to Nellore, over which they reigned 

 down to the latter half of the eleventh century A. D. 



" The Agraharam of Kalavakonda which was bestowed by grant 

 No. 1, appears to have been swept away during this long interval, 

 or its name has been changed. I have made several inquiries 

 about it, from persons acquainted with the neighbourhood of its 

 probable site, but unsuccessfully. 



"My search for Dimila, the district in which this village was 

 situated, has been more successful. The Collector of Vizagapatam 



