# Centalai, Sundareśvara temple, time of Māṟañ Caṭaiyaṉ, year 10

Valérie Gillet and Emmanuel Francis

Authors of digital edition: Valérie Gillet, Emmanuel Francis

Identifier: DHARMA_INSPandya00509

Repository: Pāṇḍya (tfa-pandya-epigraphy)

File path: DHARMA_INSPandya00509.xml

Language: Tamil [Grantha, Tamil]

Commit: 2026-10-01 13:11 (562e33f), last modified 2026-09-29 11:09
(e2e7d8a)

## Summary

Sundareśvara temple, Centalai, Tiruvaiyāṟu taluk, Tañcāvūr district. On
a pillar in the maṇḍapa at the entrance of the temple.

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## Edition

⟨1⟩ svasti śrī

kō-māṟa⟨ñ⟩ ca⟨2⟩ṭaiyaṟku yāṇṭu 10 Ā⟨3⟩vatu viṭēlviṭu⟨ku⟩
muttarai⟨4⟩ya¡n!⟨ṉ⟩ Aṭiyāṉ kiṭa(kava)¡n!⟨ṉ⟩ kāttā⟨5⟩ṉ niyama-mā-kāḷattu
piṭāri⟨6⟩yāṟk’ oru tiru-viḷakkinuk⟨7⟩kum Oru tiru-v-amurtukku
mu⟨8⟩tal-āka Ip-piṭāriyār Uḷ⟨9⟩ḷūrkaḷil kalli-k kuṭutta ⟨10⟩ nilam Arai
kāṇi-k kaṭa(ṉ) ⟨11⟩ <kalam> 5 10

Itu panmāheśva⟨12⟩ra-rakṣai

## Translation by Gillet 2017

Hail! Prosperity! This is the 10th year of king Māṟañcaṭaiyaṉ. Kiṭakavan
Kāttāṉ, servant (aṭiyāṉ) of Viṭēḷviṭuku Muttaraiyar, for the Piṭāri of
Mākāḷam of Niyamam, for one sacred lamp and sacred food, gave (kuṭutta)
as capital (mutal āka) half a kāṇi of land (nilam) ⟨along with⟩ 50
kalams for the taxes (kaṭaṉ), having worked ⟨on the land⟩ (kalli) in the
inside villages (uḷḷ-ūr-kaḷ-il) of this Piṭāri. This is under the
protection of the Panmāheśvaras.

## Commentary

This inscription is engraved on three of the facets of the octagonal
section of a pillar which square faces are engraved with long 8th
century Muttaraiyar inscriptions (EI 13.10). The other facets of the
octagonal section are engraved with a donation by the king Nandivarman
III Pallava dated with his 12th regnal year (SII 6.447). At the end of
the text on the middle facet, in a slightly different script, two words
are engraved on two lines which read ⟨1⟩ Amaru [3+] ⟨2⟩ Ū [1+] tta.

## Bibliography

Reported in ARIE 1898–99 (ARIE/1898-1899/B/1899/10), in Mahalingam 1992
(Tj 2614).

Edited in Subrahmanya Aiyer 1928 (SII 6.446). Edited and translated in
Gillet 2017, based on autopsy and photographs (Valérie Gillet, 2016).

This digital edition by Valérie Gillet and Emmanuel Francis.

### Primary

[SII] Subrahmanya Aiyer, K. V. 1928. South-Indian inscriptions (texts).
Volume VI: Miscellaneous inscriptions from the Tamil, Telugu and Kannada
countries. South Indian Inscriptions 6. Calcutta: Government of India,
Central Publication Branch. Page 185, item 446.

Gillet, Valérie. 2017. “Devotion and Dominion: Ninth-Century Donations
of a Pāṇḍyan King in Temples along the River Kāvēri.” IIJ 60 (3), pp.
219–283. DOI: 10.1163/15728536-06003002. [URL]. Page 263, item 13.

### Secondary

ARIE 1898–99. G.O., &c., Nos. 922-23, 19th August 1899. Epigraphy.
Passing orders on the annual report on – for 1898-99. Copy to the
Government of India. Edited by Eugen Julius Theodor Hultzsch. Madras:
Government of Madras, Public Department, 1899. Page 23, appendix B/1899,
item 10.

[TLI] Mahalingam, T. V. 1992. A topographical list of inscriptions in
the Tamil Nadu and Kerala states. Volume Seven: Thanjavur district. New
Delhi: ICHR.