Art Institute of Chicago stone Buddha statue, tank foundation, Śaka year 1580 author of digital edition Emmanuel Francis European Research Council (ERC), grant agreement no 809994 DHARMA Paris DHARMA_INSTamilNadu00168.xml CC BY-SA 4.0 2019-2026 as per external metadata 17th-century inscription recording the foundation of a tank. Engraved on the back of a 12th-century stone Buddha statue first noticed in Pōḻakkuṭi, possibly brought there from Nākappaṭṭiṉam, and presently kept in the Art Institute of Chicago (access no. 1964.556).

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Creation of the file
svasti śrī

cāli-vāka ṉa-cakāt=tam 1000 5 100 8 10 Itan mēl-c cellā ni ṉṟa piṟamāti Āṭi mutal

rācamānya rāca-śrī-mallāri-rāyar peḷaikkuṭi-k kuḷam ve ṭṭivicca paṭiyiṇālē Inta kouḷattilē tai mātam mutal yātām eo ruvar kūṭai-t taṇṇīr Ēṟṟaccālum cuṟṟi mara ṅkaḷai veṭṭiṉālum keṅkai-karaiyilē kār-ā m-pacuvai-k koṉṟa tō ṣattiḷē pōka-k-kaṭavar ākavum

1000 5 100 8 10 1000 500 60 The figure is clearly legible to me in an online video from the Art Institute of Chicago. piṟamāti piṟamāti peḷaikkuṭik peḷaikuṭik Ēṟṟaccālum eṟaiccalum veṭṭiṉālum veṭṭiṉalum pōkakkaṭavar pokakkattu [?]

Prosperity! Fortune!

Year 1580 of the Cālivākaṉa-Caka era, that is, date first of the month of Āṭi of the year Piṟamāti,That is, Jovian 60-year cycle year Pramāthin or Pramādin, as pointed out by (p. 491). which was current upon it.

According to the manner in which the glorious MallārirāyarOn this possibly being the Tamil rendering of the Marathi name Malhār Rao, see (p. 492)., king honoured by kings, had the tank in Peḷaikkuṭi dug, at this tank, starting from the month of Tai, if one, whoever yātam oruvar, lifts up water with baskets or cuts sourrounding trees, he should be deemed to undergo the sin of killing a black cow on the bank of the Ganges.

The date is problematic. Śaka 1580, that is 1658/59 CE, does not match any Jovian 60-year cycle year Piṟamāti, that is, Pramāthin (1639/40 CE) or Pramādin (1603/04, 1663/64 CE). See discussion in (p. 491), who suggests that the simplest solution is thus to understand the year as pramāthin, equivalent to Śaka 1560 or 1638 CE.

Reported in (ARIE/1950-1951/B/1950-1951/255); in , with photograph.

Edited and translated in (pp. 493-494), with photograph (fig. 10, p. 504).

This digital edition by Emmanuel Francis based on documentation kindly supplied by Nicolas Revire (including an unpublished reading by the late Michael Rabe) and on .

31 B/1950-1951 255