Discovery of Gavimath and Palkigundu
Discovery of Gavīmath:
In January 1931 the guru of the math communicated his knowledge about this inscription to Mr. N.B. Sastri of Kopbāl, who sent an eye-copy to Mr. G. Yazdani of the ASI, who dispatched Mr. Syed Yusuf, Assistant Director of Archaeology, to take rubbings. (Falk, Harry. (2006) Aśokan Sites and Artifacts: A Source Book of Bibliography. Mainz. Verlag Philipp von Zabern GmbH. pp. 72-73).
Discovery of Pālkīguṇḍu:
In January 1931, following information received from Mr. N.B. Sastri of Kopbāl, Mr. G. Yazdani sent Mr. Syed Yusuf, Assistant Director of Archaeology, to visit the site (cf. Yazdani 1932: 19). (Falk, Harry. (2006) Aśokan Sites and Artifacts: A Source Book of Bibliography. Mainz. Verlag Philipp von Zabern GmbH. pp. 86-88).
A NOTE ON THE DISCOVERY OF THE INSCRIPTIONS AT KOPBAL by G. YAZDANI
KOPBAL (150 21' N. and 76° 10' E.) is situated on the left bank of the stream Hire Halla—an important tributary to the river Tungabhadra. Its distance from MaskI is 54 miles (as the crow flies) and from Hampī 21 miles. The town is now the headquarters of the District of this name in the Jagir of Nawab Salar Jung Bahadur in H.E.H. the Nizam’s Dominions. Kopbal is on the railway line (Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway), situated between Hospet and Gadag junctions. The population of the town according to the latest census (1931) is over 11,000 (Plate V).
The town nestles at the foot of a rock 1,900 ft. above the sea-level (and about 400 ft. above the surrounding land). A fort is built on this rock (Plate VI). The fort is described in the Journal of the Hyderabad Archaeological Society for January 1916 (pp. 92-9).
Besides the fort-rock there is a range of hills to the west of the town, the highest spur of which, styled the Paucicundu (Palanquin or Canopy Boulder), rises 2,339 ft. above the sea-level. There is also a spur to the east of the town, called Gavīmath (about 150 ft. above the surrounding land), and another towards the south, styled the Bahadur Banda, the latter being 1,980 ft. above the sea-level. The fort-rock is situated in the middle of these spurs.
The Gavīmath hill has four caves—one of them, facing the north, is now occupied by the Lingayats, and a modern temple is built in front of it (Plate VII). The dimensions of this cave are 15 ft. (north to south) and 36 ft. (east to west).
In the principal court there is a hall, measuring 38 ft. 2 in. square externally and 28 ft. 11 in. square internally. A Linga is fixed in the middle of the hall, and below it is supposed to be the Samadhi of Lingayat Guru.
The votaries of this temple state that their Gurus have lived there for nearly 842 years.
To the west of this temple there is another cavern, which measures 8 ft. 6 in. x 7 ft. inwardly. The opening of die cavern is fitted with a carved stone frame measuring 2 ft. 6 in. x 1 ft. 4 in. The height of the rock ceiling of the cave is 5 ft. 4 in. Below this cavern, at the foot of the hill, is a small tank, near the south-east corner of which is another cave, which measures 21 ft. 2 in. x 21 ft. 5 in. A corridor is built in front of the cave which has five openings. The length of the corridor is 2 2 ft. and the width is 7 ft.
In front of this cave there are some Jaina Samadhis with square tombstones. The tombstones are carved, representing the figures of kings, queens, and peacocks.
On the rock to the north of this cave, the figures of some Tīrtharikaras and Gurus preaching to the congregation are carved.
The rock here rises precipitously to a height of 120 ft. and extends in the form of a high wall towards the south (Plate VIII). Proceeding about 120 yards in that direction, we notice that the rock-wall is broken in the form of terraces, comprising large boulders.
One of them is shaped like an elephant or boar’s head and is placed on the top of the rock (Plates IX and X). The lower part of this boulder seems to have been artificially cut to afford shelter from sun and rain to the Yogis who sat for meditation there.^ I he ^ hill from this point commands a beautiful view of the plains below, and the. choice ol the hermits on the selection of the spot must be highly admired.
Below the boulder a Brahmi inscription (Asokan Edict) is carved on the rock in eight lines. The surface of the rock being uneven, it is difficult to secure an absolutely distinct estampage of the inscription, so a photograph of it has been taken direct from the stone (Plate II).
The inscription was known to the Lingayats for some time, for the place is sacred to them, as they think that their Gurus sat in contemplation there. In January 1931. the present Guru of the Math drew the attention of Mr. N. B. Sastri, a Brahman resident of Kopbal, who is interested in the history of the place, to the inscription, suggesting that it was a Tamil record. Mr. Sastri found the characters somewhat unusual and sent ^ ^ an eye-copy of the inscription to us. The Department took immediate action on Mr. Sastri’s communication and deputed Mr. Syed Yusuf, Assistant Director, to secure estampages of all the inscriptions to be found there. In June 1931 the Director (Mr. Yazdani) visited the place and surveyed the entire site, staying there from the 5th to 12th June.
Below the boulder on which the inscription is carved is a natural cavern, the entrance of the cave is fitted with a small door-frame (2 ft. ix in. x 1 ft. 2 in.). The interior of the cave measures 20 ft. north to south and 18 ft. east to west—the height of the rock ceiling from the floor being 4 ft. 9 in.