SII 1.75: original edition by Eugen Hultzsch – PART II. TAMIL AND GRANTHA INSCRIPTIONS. IV. INSCRIPTIONS AT TIRUMALAI NEAR POLŪR. No. 75. ON THE OUTER WALL OF THE DOORWAY, WHICH LEADS TO THE PAINTED CAVE AT TIRUMALAI.

Editor: Emmanuel Francis.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0075.

Summary: This inscription is much obliterated. It consists of a passage in Tamil prose, a Sanskrit verse in the Śārdūla metre, and another Tamil prose passage, and records some gifts made by Vyāmukta-śravaṇojjvala or (in Tamil) Viḍu-kādaṛagiya-Perumāḷ, alias Atigaimāṉ[i]1 of the Chera race. The name of the capital of this prince seems to have been Takaṭā. He was the son of some Rājarāja and a descendant of a certain Yavanikā, king of Keraḷa, or (in Tamil) Eṛiṉi, king of Vañji.2 The king repaired the images of a yaksha and a yakshī, which had been made by Yavanikā, placed them on the Tirumalai Hill, presented a gong and constructed a channel. The Tirumalai Hill is here called Arhasugiri (the excellent mountain of the Arha[t]) and (in Tamil) Eṇguṇaviṟai-Tirumalai (the holy mountain of the Arhat). According to the Sanskrit portion of the inscription, it belonged to the Tuṇḍīra-maṇḍala; this seems to be a Sanskritised form of the well-known Toṇḍai-maṇḍalam.3

Hand description:

Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.

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

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

Edition

⟨1⟩ svasti śrī [||]

ceravaṅ·śattu Atikaimā(ṉi) Eḻiṉi ceyta dharmma ⟨2⟩ yakṣaraiyum yakṣiyāraiyum Eḻunta⟨ru⟩ḷuvittu Eṟimaṇiyum (I)⟨3⟩ṭṭukkaṭapperik(kālu)ṅkaṇṭu kuṭuttāṉ ||

I. Śārdūlavikrīḍita

śrīmaTkeraḷabhūbhṛ⟨4⟩tā yavanikānāmnā sudharmmātmanā tuṇḍīrāhvayamaṇḍalārhasu⟨5⟩girau yakṣeśvarau kalpitau [|]

ab

paścāttatkulabhūṣaṇādhika⟨6⟩nṛpaśrīrājarājātmajavyāmuktaśravaṇojvalena ta(ka)(ṭānā)thena jīrṇo⟨7⟩(ddhṛ)tau ||

cd

vañciyar kulapa(ti)y(e)ḻiṉi va(ku)ttaviyakkariyak(ki)yaro⟨8⟩ṭe(ñ)ciyava(ḻi)vu tirutti(yi)veṇkuṇaviṟai tirumalai vait(t)āṉ (A)⟨9⟩ñcita(ṉ) vaḻi varum (va)ṉ vaḻi mutali tali A(ti)kaṉavakaṉ [1+] nūl (vi)ñcaiyar ⟨10⟩ (stha)la puṉai taka(m)aiyar kāvalaṉ viṭukātaḻakiya¿y?⟨pp⟩erumāḷey [||]

Translation by Hultzsch 1890

Hail ! Prosperity ! Atigaimāṉ[i] of the Śera race placed on (the hill the images of) a yaksha and a yakshī,—meritorious gifts (formerly) made by Eṛiṉi,—presented a gong and gave a channel, which he had constructed (for feeding) the Kaḍapperi (tank).

(The images of) the two lords of the yakshas, which were made on the excellent mountain of the Arha[t]4 in the country (maṇḍala) called Tuṇḍīra by the illustrious and pious king of Keraḷa, called Yavanikā, were afterwards rescued from ruin by Vyāmuktaśravaṇojjvala, the lord of Taka[ṭ]ā and son of the illustrious Rājarāja, an eminent prince, who was the ornament of his (Yavanikā’s) race.

Viḍu-kādaṛagiya-Perumāḷ . . . . . . . . . . repaired the broken remains (of the images) of a yaksha and a yakshī, which had been given by Eṛiṉi, the lord of the race of the kings of Vañji, and placed them (on) this holy mountain (Tirumalai) of the god who possesses the eight qualities.5

Bibliography

Digital edition of SII 1.75 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 106–107, item 75.

Notes

  1. 1. This might be meant for Ati-igai-māṉi, “he whose pride consists in excessive liberality.”
  2. 2. Vañji or Karuvūr was the old capital of the Chera kingdom. Ptolemy calls it , “Karūr, the capital of the prince of Keraḷa;” see Dr. Caldwell’s Comparative Grammar, 2nd edition, page 96 of the Introduction; Dr. Burnell’s South-Indian Palaeography, 2nd edition, page 33, note 2; and Dr. Bühler in the Zeitschrift d. Deutsch. Morg. Ges. Vol. XXXVII, p. 99.
  3. 3. In a Western Chalukya inscription, Toṇḍai-maṇḍalam is called Tuṇḍāka-vishaya; see the fac-simile in Ind. Ant. Vol. VIII, p. 26, plate iiib, line 1. Toṇḍai-maṇḍalam itself occurs in No. 81.
  4. 4. Arha is probably a vulgar form for Arhat.
  5. 5. Eṇ-guṇaṉ is an attribute of an Arhat. The eight qualities are, according to the Jaina books: infinite wisdom, omniscience, omnipotence, boundless happiness, being nameless, without descent, without age and unobstructed. See Winslow, s. vv. eṇkuṇaṉ and eṇkuṇam, pp. 172 and 320, and Dr. Graul’s note on verse 9 of Tiruvaḷḷuvar’s Kuṟaḷ, p. 286.