SII 1.55: original edition by Eugen Hultzsch – PART II. TAMIL AND GRANTHA INSCRIPTIONS. II. INSCRIPTIONS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF VELŪR. No. 55. ON THE WEST AND SOUTH WALLS OF THE VIRŪPĀKSHEŚVARA TEMPLE AT VEPPAMBAṬṬU NEAR VELŪR.

Editor: Emmanuel Francis.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0055.

Summary: This inscription is dated in Śaka 132[8] expired and the Vyaya year current. It is a deed of sale of the revenue in gold and the revenue in rice of one half of the village of Veppambaṭṭu and of the village of Śiṟu-Kaḍambūr. The first-mentioned village belonged to Āndi-nāḍu, a division of Agara-paṟṟu. Both villages are stated to have been granted to the temple of Virūpāksha-deva1 at Veppambaṭṭu by Vīrapratāpa-Bukka-mahārāyar (of Vijayanagara), and the temple itself is said to have been consecrated one year before the date of the inscription in the Pārthiva year, i.e., Śaka 1328 current. This date is puzzling, as it does not agree with other inscriptions, according to which Bukka’s son Harihara II. was reigning in Śaka 1301 and 1321.2 The cost of one half of the first village and of the second village as well as the total are given in kuḷapramāṇas or kuḷas of gold (poṉ) and in paṇas. In line 2 of the south wall another gold standard, called kovai, seems to be mentioned. The numerous signs for fractions, which occur throughout the inscription, are palaeographically interesting.

Hand description:

Language: Tamil.

Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).

Version: (3cdd373), last modified (829da8c).

Edition

⟨Zone A: West.⟩ ⟨1⟩ svasti śrī vija{T}bh⟨y⟩udaya [||] śakābdaM 1000 3 100 2 10 (8) ṉ mel cellāniṉṟa pārttivasaṁvaTsarattukkuccellum viyasaṁvatsarattu jeṣṭabahuḷa ⟨Zone B: South.⟩ ⟨1⟩ AmāsyaiyuM viyāḻakkiḻamaiyum peṟṟa nāḷ [|] śrīmaNmahārājādhirājarājaparameśvaraśrīrapratāpapukkamahārāyar veppampaṭṭu virūpākṣatevaṟku ⟨Zone A: West.⟩ ⟨2⟩ AṃgaraṃgabhogaAmutupaṭikku dharmmaśāsanaM Āka kuṭutta sausti muṉṉāḷ vaiśākaśuddadvādaśiyum guruvārattu nāḷ pratiṣṭai ⟨Zone B: South.⟩ ⟨2⟩ Ākaiyāl Aṉṉāḷ mutal Ākakkuṭutta Akarappaṟṟu Āṉtināṭu veppampaṭṭu Ūr Oṉṟukku kuḷapramāṇam poṉ 2 100 4 10 2 <paṇam> 4 1/16 takukkovai ⟨Zone A: West.⟩ ⟨3⟩ poṉ 3 10 6 <paṇam> 5 1/8 [|] Itil nāyiṉār virūpākṣatevaṟku Addhyayanam paṇṇum brāmmaṇarkku sarvvamānnyaM Āka kuṭutta Ūr pāti⟨Zone B: South.⟩⟨3a⟩kku kuḷapramāṇam poṉ 100 2 10 1 <paṇam> 2 nīkkī Ūr pātikku kuḷam poṉ 100 2 10 1 <paṇam> 2 1/16 m [|] Irāvutta canti Opuḷi Āy ⟨Zone A: West.⟩ ⟨4⟩ kaṅki(n)ātarkkucceṉṟa [4+] nāṭu ciṟukaṭampūr Ūr 1 kku kuḷapramāṇaM poṉ 100 6 10 2 <paṇam> 4 1/2 1/5 1/40 [|] Āka Ūr 1 1/2 kku {ku}kuḷa⟨Zone B: South.⟩⟨4a⟩m poṉ 2 100 8 10 3 <paṇam> 6 3/4 3/80 [|] Akṣarattāl virūpākṣatevar AṃgaraṃgabhogaM Amṛtapaṭikku pārtthivavaruṣaM vaiśākacu⟨Zone A: West.⟩⟨5⟩ddhadudaśiyuM guruvāram mutalāka Eṉṟeṉṟaikku sarvvamānnya(m) dha(rmmaśā)sanaM Āka kuṭutta Ūr (Oṉṟu) Araikkum kuḷapramāṇam ⟨Zone B: South.⟩ ⟨5a⟩ poṉ (Iru)nūṟṟuEṇpattumūṉṟu paṇam Āṟemukkālemukkāṇikkum cuṅkam (U)bhaiyaM māmagaM Iṭattuṟai puṟampu Ā(ka) saka⟨3b⟩lasvarnnādāyamum sakalabhaktātāyamum cekkukaṭamai ⟨4b⟩ veṭṭivari tirupputiyitu Erimiṉvīṟppaṇam Uvaccavari ⟨5b⟩ vaṇṇārvari Uṭppaṭa Āca⟨ṁ⟩drārkka¿stā(hi)?sthāyi⟩ Āka sarvvamānnya Āka kuṭuttoM stāna{m}pūrvva{va}M [||] Aṟṟamari Āticiruppaṇaṅkaḷ Eḻuttu [||]

Apparatus

⟨2⟩ saustisausti seems to stand for svasti and to be inserted as a sort of maṅgala at the beginning of the mention of the date of the pratishṭhā.

Translation by Hultzsch 1890

Hail! Prosperity! Victory! Fortune! On Thursday, the new moon of the dark half of Jyaishṭha of the Vyaya year, which follows the Pārthiva year (and) which was current after the Śaka year 132[8] (had passed), after having bathed, we gave as a sarvamānya, to last as long as the moon and the sun, all the revenue in gold and all the revenue in rice,3 excluding tolls, offerings, māmagam4 (and) iḍattuṟai, including the tax on oil-mills, the tax for the Veṭṭi,5 the holy first fruits, the money from the sale of the fish in the tanks, the tax on Uvachchas6 and the tax for the washermen, against (payment of the sum detailed below):—(1.) 242 kuḷapramāṇas of gold and 4 1/16 paṇas—equal to 36 kovais (?) of gold and 5 1/8 paṇas—for one village, (viz.) Veppambaṭṭu (in) Āndi-nāḍu, (a division of) Agara-paṟṟu, which, as the consecration of the temple took place on a former day, (viz.) on Thursday, the twelfth lunar day of the bright half of Vaiśākha, was given from that day forward by a dharmaśāsana, for (providing) enjoyments of all kinds and rice7 to (the temple of) Virūpāksha-deva (at) Veppambaṭṭu by the illustrious mahārājādhirāja-rājaparameśvara, the illustrious Vīrapratāpa-Bukka-mahārāyar; having deducted from this (sum of 242 kuḷapramāṇas of gold and 4 1/16 paṇas) 121 kuḷapramāṇas of gold and 2 paṇas for the (first) half of the village, which was given as a sarvamānya to the Brāhmaṇas studying the Vedas, (who are connected) with (the temple of) the lord Virūpāksha-deva, (there remain to be paid) 121 kuḷas of gold and 2 1/16 paṇas for the (second) half of the village; (2.) 162 kuḷapramāṇas of gold and 4 1/2, 1/5, 1/40 paṇas for 1 village, (viz.) Śiṟu-Kaḍambūr . . . . . . . . . . . . , in all, 283 kuḷas of gold and 6 3/4, 3/80 paṇas for the 1 1/2 villages (viz., 121 kuḷapramāṇas of gold and 2 1/16 paṇas for the second half of Veppambaṭṭu and 162 kuḷapramāṇas of gold and 4 1/2, 1/5, 1/40 paṇas for Śiṟu-Kaḍambūr); in words: two hundred and eighty-three kuḷapramāṇas of gold and six and three fourths and three eightieths paṇas (were to be paid) for the one and a half villages, which were given by a dharmaśāsana, as a sarvamānya, for ever, from Thursday, the twelfth lunar day of the bright half of Vaiśākha (of) the Pārthiva year, for (providing) enjoyments of all kinds and rice (to the temple of) Virūpāksha-deva.

The signature of Aṟṟamari Ādi-Śiruppaṇaṅgaḷ.

Commentary

Bibliography

Digital edition of SII 1.55 by Hultzsch 1890 converted to DHARMA conventions by Emmanuel Francis.

Primary

[SII] Hultzsch, Eugen Julius Theodor. 1890. South-Indian inscriptions, Tamil and Sanskrit, from stone and copper-plate edicts at Mamallapuram, Kanchipuram, in the North Arcot district, and other parts of the Madras Presidency, chiefly collected in 1886-87. Volume I. South Indian Inscriptions 1. Madras: Government Press. Pages 80–82, item 55.

Notes

  1. 1. The same is the old name of the Pampāpati Temple at Hampi (Vijayanagara).
  2. 2. See Mr. Fleet in Jour. Bo. Br. R. A. S., Vol. XII. p. 339.
  3. 3. With sakalasvarṇādāyamum sakalabhaktādāyamum compare Aṉaittu nellāyaṅkācāyaṅkaḷum in line 21 of the Poygai inscription No. 62.
  4. 4. According to Winslow, the Māmagam, Māmāgam or Māmāṅgam (Sanskrit Mahāmagha or Mahāmāgha) is a bathing festival, celebrated every twelve years at Kumbhakoṇam. A festival called Mahāmakham or Māmāṅṅam used likewise to take place every twelfth year at Tirunāvāyi in Malabar; see Dr. Gundert’s Malayāḷam Dictionary. The meaning of māmagam and iḍattuṟai in the present inscription is not apparent.
  5. 5. In this and other inscriptions, veṭṭi seems to stand for veṭṭiyāṉ , the lowest village servant, who is also called tōṭṭi.
  6. 6. The Uvachchas or Jonakas (i.e., Yavanas) are a low tribe of Muḥammadans; see Winslow.
  7. 7. Amutupaṭi means “raw rice” (Winslow). It is spelt amṛtapaṭi in line 4a of the south wall.