The inscription records a grant made by the Vijayanagar ruler Mallikarjuna to a Vedic scholar on Śaka 1378, Dhātru Āshāḍha ba. 11, corresponding to Monday, June 28, 1456 CE.
The first Indian epigraphical reference to Halley’s Comet has been discovered in a copper plate inscription dated 1456 CE belonging to the Vijayanagar period and preserved at the Srisailam Mallikarjunaswamy temple in Andhra Pradesh.
Dr. K. Munirathnam Reddy, Director, Epigraphy Branch of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), who announced the discovery, told The Hindu that the inscription was written in Sanskrit, using the Nagari script, and refers to the appearance of a comet and a subsequent meteor shower — events that historically coincide with the 1456 appearance of Halley’s Comet.
The inscription records a grant made by the Vijayanagar ruler Mallikarjuna to a Vedic scholar on Śaka 1378, Dhātru Āshāḍha ba. 11, corresponding to Monday, June 28, 1456 CE.
The grant was issued “in order to mitigate the great calamity believed to arise due to the appearance of a comet (dhūmakētu mahōtpāta śāntyartham), and the associated meteor shower (Prakāśyāya mahōtpāta śāntyartham)”, said Dr. Reddy.
The king donated a village named Simgapura, located in Kelajhasima of Hastinavati Vemṭhe, as an agrahāra to a Brahmin named Limgaṇarya, a Vedic scholar from Kaḍiyalapura.
Dr. Reddy said this place was probably present-day Kaḍiyapulanka in Galividu mandalam, Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh, and noted that the scholar was probably well versed in astronomy.
Dr. Reddy noted that while references to ‘dhumaketus’ (comets) were found in ancient and medieval Indian texts, this was the first inscriptional record that had been discovered.
“What makes this particularly significant,” he said, “is that the year mentioned in the inscription and the reference to the comet’s appearance matches the year in which Halley’s Comet was later established to have appeared,” said Dr. Reddy.
He explained that in traditional belief systems and from the available historical records, the appearance of a comet and meteor shower was considered inauspicious, and associated with misfortune and calamities in many parts of the world.
Dr. Reddy said the appearance of the comet and the beliefs surrounding it were vividly expressed in the inscription in the phrase: Prakāśyāya mahōtpāta śāntyartham dattavān vibhuḥ — meaning: this grant was made in order to pacify the calamities that may arise due to the illuminating comets and meteor shower upon the king and his kingdom.
The discovery of reference to comets in the inscription was made during the critical “line by line” editing of a set of 21 unpublished copper plate charters held by the Srisailam temple authorities. The collection, comprising 78 copper leaves, would soon be published in book form, he added.
source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)