First Telugu inscription at Kalamalla gets a replica

The first Telugu inscription dating back to 575 CE is all set to get a replica soon.

Not many might have witnessed the stone inscription unearthed and identified way back in the year 1904 at Chennakesava – Siddheswara temple in Kalamalla village near Yerraguntla in Kadapa district, but its replica is expected to bring the forgotten history to the reach of posterity.

Swarna Bharat Trust’s Managing Trustee Deepa Venkat, who is also the daughter of former Vice-President of India M. Venkaiah Naidu, initiated steps to prepare the replica, which will be formally unveiled at a programme organised by Janumaddi Sahithi Peetham on Dec 21 (Sunday) at the premises of C. P. Brown Research Centre for Languages, Kadapa.

Wear and tear

Interestingly, while the original stone measured 5’6” in height while recording, it has currently reduced to a four-foot-tall stone due to wear and tear, with the inscriptions barely visible.

“This is where the idea of making a replica germinated”, Janumaddi Sahithi Peetham’s convener J. Vijayabhaskar and historian Bommisetty Ramesh told the media.

ASI records inscription

The first inscription in full Telugu, written by Renati Chola king Erikala Mutthuraju, was copied in 1904 by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), but the stone was apparently left at the same place.

After several decades, ahead of the World Telugu Conference held in Tirupati in 2012, the organisers contemplated to highlight the inscription. Linguist and former Deputy Speaker Mandali Buddha Prasad, along with the ASI’s Director (Epigraphy) K. Muniratnam Reddy, launched a search at several places, but in vain.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Muniratnam Reddy said: “We searched for the Kalamalla inscription at the famous Egmore Museum in Chennai and also mooted a hunt at London Museum, but to no avail. A decade later, the stone was finally found in January 2022 at the same Kalamalla village, but at a location different from where it was originally sighted”.

Government whips C. Adinarayana Reddy (Jammalamadugu MLA) and R. Madhavi Reddy (Kadapa MLA), Collector Sridhar Cherukuri and Yogi Vemana University Vice-Chancellor B. Rajasekhar are among the participants at the unveiling of the replica.