# Old inscription on Indian bronze



## Atlantia

Dear Colleagues, 

I have a small bronze with the above inscription on the base which I am unable to translate.
I have accented the script to try and make it clearer, but the area of grey lead infill is indistinct, so I can only guess based on the light marks that remain.
If anyone could help with an English translation I would very much appreciate it.


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## Dib

It looks like a variant of Kannada script, or a close relative of its - probably an older Kannada script. I can identify a few characters, e.g. the right-most character is a "kaa", the third from the right is "vi", etc. The 3rd character from the left on the 2nd part-photo from the left seems to be a "dhaa", suggesting it could be a part of a Sanskrit word. The second character from the left looks like a Brahmi or Kadamba "ya" (we are on the correct evolutionary track towards Kannada here) - or more likely "yam" given the small circle right after it. I am afraid, I can go no further.


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## Atlantia

Thank you Dib,
This forum was recommended to me. I can see that was good advice.
Kannada is helpful as it might also be an indicator of the origin of the piece, which I was thinking was probably southern Indian.
It is a finely modeled, very small (Laxmi) lamp statue.
Here is a picture:


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## Atlantia

Lots of people have looked, does anyone else have any thoughts?


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## Dib

Hi Atlantia, I am sorry to report more failure. I worked with a Kannada-speaking (though because of his circumstances, he may be less aware of all intricacies and variations of the script than an average Kannadiga) friend, but we couldn't really make any further headway.


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## mundiya

Dib said:


> It looks like a variant of Kannada script, or a close relative of its - probably an older Kannada script. I can identify a few characters, e.g. the right-most character is a "kaa", the third from the right is "vi", etc. The 3rd character from the left on the 2nd part-photo from the left seems to be a "dhaa", suggesting it could be a part of a Sanskrit word. The second character from the left looks like a Brahmi or Kadamba "ya" (we are on the correct evolutionary track towards Kannada here) - or more likely "yam" given the small circle right after it. I am afraid, I can go no further.



The second letter from the right looks like the Devanagari "taa" (ता).


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## Gope

The first six letters seem to make up the word śrī mañjunātha in (not entirely modern) Kannada script (in Bangalore I have come across a number of signboards like mannjunatha press, manjunatha cafe, etc.). That's as far as I can safely venture!


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## Gope

The next two letters could be 'devi'.


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## Atlantia

Dib, Mundiya, Gope.

Thank you all for the help, it is much appreciated.
Would anyone be able to take a guess at what the gist of the inscription might be?


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## Gope

Atlantia said:


> Dib, Mundiya, Gope.
> 
> Thank you all for the help, it is much appreciated.
> Would anyone be able to take a guess at what the gist of the inscription might be?


All right, if no one comes up with a response I shall venture further: it looks like śrī mañjunātha devi gāru to me. I know Telugu script well but only acquainted with Kannada script. It looks as though this is Telugu written in Kannada script. Śri is honorific. Mañjunātha is śiva (Lord of snow) devi is consort and gāru is honorific. The writing is far from regular, so I cannot vouch for 100 per cent accuracy of my reading. Maybe the artist was not as good with his script as with his metallurgy.
The statuette is an oil lamp holder, called paavai viLakku  (woman+lamp) in Tamil and deepaala sundari  (lamps+beautiful woman) in Telugu. Oil is put in the shallow bowl which the lady is holding. A cotton wick is put in and lighted. This kind of ornamental lamp was prevalent before the advent of electricity.
Of course I am absolutely open to correction.


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## Atlantia

Hi Gope,

Thank you so much!

The lamp is very small. I'll include a picture of it next to two others of more usual size to illustrate. It's only around 6cm tall.
I'm sort of confused, but let me see if I understand?
So would the inscription simply be saying that the statue is the divine consort of Shiva?

I sort of assumed that these bronze lamps were all 'Deepa Laxmi' and the differences in them just reflected her various aspects.
But wouldn't consort of Shiva be Parvati?


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## Gope

1. These bronze lamps are all lamp-holders. 
2. They are just 'damsels' and not Lakshmi, consort of Vishnu. You can look at a traditional representation of Lakshmi and ascertain this yourself.
3. The inscription : I could only be somewhat certain that the first word was sri manjunatha. I am not sure of the rest. Perhaps the remainder has to be read differently. Maybe it is the sculptor's signature. Maybe something I am not fitted to guess...


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## Atlantia

Gope said:


> 1. These bronze lamps are all lamp-holders.
> 2. They are just 'damsels' and not Lakshmi, consort of Vishnu. You can look at a traditional representation of Lakshmi and ascertain this yourself.
> 3. The inscription : I could only be somewhat certain that the first word was sri manjunatha. I am not sure of the rest. Perhaps the remainder has to be read differently. Maybe it is the sculptor's signature. Maybe something I am not fitted to guess...



Hi Gope,

Thank you for your reply.
These are often claimed to be representations of Laxmi/Lakshmi. You can see the central one in the picture of my three I believe is her (with her bird on her shoulder).
I've always wondered about the large (multi burner) one. She has a radiate crown and a symbol on her forehead. She also has a strange grin that I've not seen on Indian statuary before.
Perhaps she is Tara?
I'm sure you are right and these do represent various ladies. I wish I could identify the others.


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## gagun

it is looking like
*shrii manjunaathaa...... vinaakaa*

*श्री मंजुनाथा......विनाका*(devnagri)
*ಶ್ರೀ ಮಂಜುನಾಥಾ..... ವಿನಾಕಾ*(kannada)
*శ్రీ మంజునాథా......వినాకా* (telugu) but second image is not clear


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## Atlantia

Hi Gagun,
Thank you for your post.
What would Vinaakaa mean?


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## Atlantia

I would just like to add how grateful I am to everyone who has contributed.
As you can tell, I'm not a linguist!


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## gagun

Were your images in actual sequence that I mean to say isn't there space before *vinaakaa*?
And I don't know the actual meaning of vinaakaa in kannada but in Telugu "vinaakaa" is also used for the Lord Vinaayaka who was a son of Lord Siva(manjunaathaa) but there may be also like "*.....vi  naakaa*" so spce between* vi* and *naakaa *as i don't know kannada.


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## Atlantia

Hi Gagun,

Here are pictures of the inscription as it appears, thank you.


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