SII 2.75: original edition by Eugen Julius Theodor Hultzsch

Alternative title: “III. INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHOLA DYNASTY. No. 75. ON A PILLAR AT UYYAKKONDAN-TIRUMALAI.”

Author of digital edition: Emmanuel Francis (emfr).

Summary: This short inscription is engraved on a pillar in the south-east corner of the veranda which surrounds the shrine of the Ujjīvanātha temple at Uyyakkoṇḍāṉ-Tirumalai, a village 3 miles west of Trichinopoly. It records the gift of a perpetual lamp in the 34th year of the reign of Madirai-koṇḍa Kō-Parakēsarivarman, i.e., of the Chōḷa king Parāntaka I.1 The donor was Pirāntakaṉ-Mādēvaḍigaḷār, a queen of Pirāntakaṉ-Kaṇḍarādittadēvar. The only king with a similar name, of whom we know, is Gaṇḍarādityavarman, the second son of Parāntaka I.2 As the inscription belongs to the time of Parāntaka I. himself, and as it prefixes the word Pirāntakaṉ to the name of Kaṇḍarādittadēvar,3 it is evident that Gaṇḍarādityavarman, the son of Parāntaka I., is actually meant here. The name Parāntaka also forms the first member of the name of the queen of Kaṇḍarādittadēvar; Pirāntakaṉ-Mādēv-aḍigaḷār probably means ‘the devotee (of the temple) of Mahādēva, (founded by) Parāntaka (I.).’

The hitberto published inscriptions of Parāntaka I. are dated in the 13th,4 15th,5 24th6 and 26th7 years of his reign. The latest sure date hitherto found is the 40th year in an inscription of the Pañchanadēśvara temple at Tiruvaiyāṟu.8

The large Leyden grant (l. 48 ff.) states that Gaṇḍarādityavarman, the second son of Parāntaka I., “founded, for the sake (of bliss) in another (world), a large village, (called) by his own name, in the country on the northern bank of Kavēra’s daughter (i.e., the Kāvērī river).” This village appears to be identical with Gaṇḍarāditya-chaturvēdimaṅgalam, which is mentioned in several Tanjore inscriptions9 as belonging to a district on the northern bank (of the Kāvērī), and with the modern Kaṇḍarādityam in the Uḍaiyārpāḷaiyam tālluqa.10 The fifth of the nine Śaiva hymns known as Tiruviśaippā was composed by Kaṇḍarādittaṉ, who calls himself ‘king of the people of Tañjai,’ i.e., Tanjore, and must be accordingly identified with the Chōḷa king Gaṇḍarādityavarman.11 The carpenter Kaṇḍarāditta-Perundachchaṉ in No. 66, paragraph 505, is apparently named after Gaṇḍarādityavarman, the grand-uncle of the then reigning king Rājarājadēva.

According to the subjoined inscription, the ancient name of Uyyakkoṇḍāṉ-Tirumalai was Nandipanmamaṅgalam, which suggests that the place may have been founded by one of the Pallava kings named Nandivarman. The temple was called Tirukkaṟkuḍi-Paramēśvara. This enables us to identify it with Kaṟkuḍi, a shrine which is referred to in the Periyapurāṇam as situated in the Chōḷa country to the south of the Kāvērī river.

Language: Tamil (tam).

Version: (3992bd7), last modified (0ec4724).

Edition

⟨1⟩ matirai koṇṭa koppara-

⟨2⟩ kecari(pa)nmarkku yāṇṭu mu-

⟨3⟩ (p)pattunālāvatu ten-

⟨4⟩ karai bra(hma)teyam nan=tipanmama-

⟨5⟩ ṅkalattu tirukkaṟkkuṭipara-

⟨6⟩ mesvaraṟkku pirāntakan kaṇ-

⟨7⟩ ṭarātittatevar teviyār

⟨8⟩ maḻaperumāḷ makaḷār pirā-

⟨9⟩ ntakaṉmātevaṭikaḷār

⟨10⟩ Orutirunontāviḷakku I-

⟨11⟩ ravum pakalum Erivatāka nica-

⟨12⟩ tam cūlaUḻakkāl Uḻakku

⟨13⟩ neyaṭṭi cantirātittava-

⟨14⟩ l Erip(pa)tāka vaitta cāvā

⟨15⟩ m¿u?vāpperāṭu toṇṇū-

⟨16⟩ ṟu [||] (panm)āheśvara⟨ra⟩kṣai [||]

Translation by Hultzsch 1895

In the thirty-fourth year (of the reign) of Madirai-koṇḍa Kō-Parakēsarivarman,—Pirāntakaṉ-Mādēvaḍigaḷār, the daughter of Maṛa-Perumāḷ (and) queen of Pirāntakaṉ-Kaṇḍarādittadēvar, gave ninety full-grown ewes, which must neither die nor grow old,12 to (the temple of) Tirukkaṟkuḍi-Paramēśvara at Nandipanmamaṅgalam, a brahmadēya on the southern bank (of the Kāvērī river), for supplying, every day as long as the moon and the sun endure, (one) uṛakku of ghee (measured) by the uṛakku (stamped with) a trident,13 in order to feed one sacred perpetual lamp which shall burn day and night. (This charity is placed under) the protection of all Māhēśvaras.

Bibliography

Digital edition of SII 2.75 by Hultzsch 1895 converted to DHARMA conventions by Emmanuel Francis.

Primary

[SII] Hultzsch, Eugen Julius Theodor. 1895. South-Indian inscriptions: Tamil inscriptions of Rajaraja, Rajendra-chola, and others in the Rajarajesvara temple at Tanjavur. Volume II, Part III: Supplement to the first and second volumes. South Indian Inscriptions 2.3. Madras: Government Press. Pages 374–375, item 75.

Notes

  1. 1. See p. 365, note 5.

  2. 2. See lines 38, 48 and 60 of the large Leyden grant.

  3. 3. Compare Parāntakaṉ-Kundavaiyār, i.e., ‘Kundavai, (the daughter of) Parāntaka (II.),’ in No. 6, p. 68.

  4. 4. Ep. Ind., Vol. III, p. 280 f.

  5. 5. Vol. I, Nos. 82 and 83, and Vol. II, No. 76.

  6. 6. Madras Christian College Magazine, Vol. VIII, p. 104 ff.

  7. 7. Ep. Ind., Vol. III, p. 147, and the endorsement of No. 74 above.

  8. 8. No. 232 of 1894 in my Annual Report for 1894-95.

  9. 9. No. 6, paragraph 14; No. 69, 78; and No. 70, 65.

  10. 10. See Vol. I, p. 112, note 6.

  11. 11. See Mr. P.Sundaram Pillai’s valuable article on the Age of Tiruñāṉaśambandar in the Madras Christian College Magazine, Vol. IX, pp. 344 and 511; and Ep. Ind. Vol. III, p. 280 f.

  12. 12. I.e., which have to be replaced by fresh ones when they die or grow old; see Vol. I, p. 114, note 1.

  13. 13. Śūla is used for triśūla.