# SII 12.16: original edition by V. Venkatasubba Ayyar

Emmanuel Francis

Alternative title: No. 16. (A.R. No. 65 of 1909). TIRUKKAḺUKKUṈṞAM,
CHINGLEPUT TALUK, CHINGLEPUT DISTRICT. ON THE SECOND PILLAR IN THE UPPER
VERANDAH OF THE ORUKAL-MAṆḌAPA ON THE HILL

Author of digital edition: Emmanuel Francis

Identifier: DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0016

Repository: SII original (south-indian-inscriptions)

File path: SII_B_clean/SII12/DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0016.xml

Language: Undetermined [Script (unspecified)]

Commit: 2026-11-09 23:45 (242ff60), last modified 2026-09-29 11:08
(2b36d53)

## Summary

This is a damaged record engraved in Tamil characters, belonging to
Narasiṅgappōttaraśar ‘who took Vātāpi (Bādāmi)’ and it mentions the god
of ‘Mūlasthāna on the hill.’ The Mūlasthāna temple, according to a
record[1] of Rājakēsarivarman Āditya I, existed from the time of
Skandaśishya whose endowment to it was confirmed by Vātāpikoṇḍa
Narasiṁhavarman. Skandaśishya may be identified with Skandasēna the
excavator of the cave at Vallam in the Chingleput district. The rock-cut
maṇḍapa where the present inscription is found, is described in detail
in the Epigraphical Report for 1909, page 72 and in the Memoir of the
Archaeological Survey of India, No. 17, pages 19-21.

It may be pointed out here that this is the third early Pallava
inscription engraved in Tamil characters, so far known, the other two
being those found in the caves at Vallam in the Chingleput district,[2]
and at Tirumayyam in the Pudukkottai State.[3]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

## Commentary

Published in the Epigraphical Report for 1932-1933, page 55.[4]

## Bibliography

Digital edition of SII 12.16 by Venkatasubba Ayyar & Krishnamacharlu
1943 converted to DHARMA conventions by Emmanuel Francis.

### Primary

[SII] Venkatasubba Ayyar, V. & C. R. Krishnamacharlu. 1943. South Indian
inscriptions. Volume XII: The Pallavas (with introductory notes in
English). South Indian Inscriptions 12. Madras: Government Press. Page
9, item 16.

[1] Epigraphia Indica Vol. III. pp. 277 ff.

[2] This inscription is published with plates in South Indian
Inscriptions, Vol. II, pp. 340 ff.

[3] No. 7a above, fn. 1

[4] The blank in l. 3 of this page may be filled with the letters
taṉ-kūṟṟu.