I agree with Jens that guḍi is more common in inscriptional Telugu than kōvil(a) or kōyil(a) (one instance of kōyilamu vs more than 10 instances of guḍi and its various forms of inflection). Do we assume the usage of  kōvila/kōyila for 'temple' is possibly a result of influence from Tamil or Karnataka areas?

I agree with Chandra that kōyilamu is unlikely to be a personal name given a clear neuter gender marker -mu.

Looks like Kannada has older instances of usage of kōvil(a/u/e) and kōyil(a/u/e).

Thanks,

Suresh.

On Sat, Jan 8, 2022 at 2:03 PM Periannan Chandrasekaran via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Thank you so much for the discussion and for the data that " the word guḍi is normally used for 'temple' in the early Telugu inscriptions."

However as for the meaning of kōyilamu in the inscription I referred to,  Budaraju asserts on page 292 that it means 'Temple' and is a variant of kōyila, kōvela.

Regards

Periannan Chandrasekaran

On Sat, Jan 8, 2022 at 5:06 AM Jens Thomas <jens.c.thomas@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Periannan Chandrasekaran,

the word guḍi is normally used for 'temple' in the early Telugu inscriptions.

K. M. Sastri (Historical Grammar of Telugu, p. 68) refers to SII X, 709 (kōyilala) but the text has kayilala (~ kavilala 'cows'), so it is probably a misprint.

The inscription that you refer to (e. g. IA 13, pp. 50-55) has peddakōyilamu 'old temple' but it occurs in the delineation of a grant and may hence rather be an individual name.

Apart from that I am not aware of another early inscription that has the words kōyila or kōvela. If I happen to come accross another instance I will let you know.

Best wishes,

Jens 

Am Fr., 7. Jan. 2022 um 23:32 Uhr schrieb Periannan Chandrasekaran via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>:

Dear Indology members

• I am looking for the earliest epigraphical attestations of Telugu kōyila, kōvela 'temple' which DEDR lists.
  
• DEDR has left out the form kōyilamu attested in an early 10th century inscription (p.186).
• The same DEDR entry has interestingly no cognate Kannada words. Is this still true?
  

Regards

Periannan Chandrasekaran

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Jens Christian Thomas, M. A.

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

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