Tiruveḷḷaṟai’s well, time of Dantivarman, year 4

Editor: Emmanuel Francis.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSPallava00098.

Summary: Foundation of a well.

Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.

Repository: Pallava (tfa-pallava-epigraphy).

Version: (731357b), last modified (8cc44b7).

Edition

⟨1⟩ svasti śrī

bhāradvāja-gotrattiṉ· vaḻi-t tōṉ·ṟiya pallava-tilata-kulorbhavaṉ· tan=ti-varmmaṟku yāṇ·ṭu nāṉ·k-āvat’ eṭuttu-k· koṇṭu Ai(·)nt-āvatu muṟṟuvittāṉ· Ālam·p(ā)kka-vicaiyanal·lūḻāṉ· ⟨2⟩ tam·pi kam·paṉ· Araiyaṉ· tiruveḷ(·)ḷaṟai-t(·) teṉṉūr·-p· peruṅ·-kiṇaṟu

Itaṉ p¿i?⟨e⟩yar· mār·-p·-piṭuku p{·}eruṅ·-kiṇar’ eṉ·patu |

Itu ra¡tṣi!kṣip·pār· Ivv-ūr mū-v-¿āI?⟨āyi⟩ratt’ eḻu-nūṟṟuvarum· |

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ tilata • tilata is a tadbhava of Skt. tilaka.

Translation by Subrahmanya Aiyar 1911–1912

(1) Hail ! Prosperity !

(1–2) In the fourth year [of the reign] of Dantivarman who was born in the Pallavatilaka family which had sprung from the Bhāradvāja-gōtra, Kampaṉ Araiyaṉ, the younger brother of Vicaiyanallūḻāṉ of Ālampākkam, commenced [to build] the big well at Teṉṉūr1 in Tiruveḷḷaṟai and completed [it] in the fifth [year of the same reign].

(2) Mārppiṭuku-peruṅkiṇaṟu is the name of this [well].

(2) The three-thousand and seven hundred2 of this village shall protect this [charity].

Translation into French by Emmanuel Francis

(1) Prospérité ! Fortune !

(1–2) Kampaṉ Araiyaṉ, le frère cadet de Vicaiyanallūḻāṉ d’Ālampākkam, a commencé le grand puits de Teṉṉūr à Tiruveḷḷaṟai [en] la quatrième année de Dantivarman, qui est issu de la famille des Pallavatilaka apparue dans la lignée du gotra de Bharadvāja, et l’a achevé en [sa] cinquième année.

(2) Son nom est grand puits de Mārppiṭuku.

(2) Les trois mille sept cents de ce village protègent ceci3.

Commentary

See also inscription Pallava 525.

(1) pallava-tilata-kulorbhavaṉ. pallava-kula-tilatorbhavaṉ, "who appeared as the ornament of the Pallava lineage" would be more straightforward. Alternatively, as suggested by Christophe Vielle, pallava-tilata-kulorbhavaṉ can be translated as "who appeared in the lineage whose ornament is the sprout", with a play, attested elsewehere in the Pallava corpus, on the dynastic name Pallava ("sprout" in Sanskrit). As the the phrase pallava-tilaka, "ornament of the Pallava (lineage)", is also attested in the Pallava corpus as an epithet of Pallava kings, it seems that the present writer either deliberately used it in a new way or misused it. On this epithet, see Subrahmanya Aiyar 1911–1912, p. 157.

(2) mārppiṭuku. See Subrahmanya Aiyar 1911–1912, p. 156.

Bibliography

Edited in Subrahmanya Aiyar 1911–1912 (EI 11.15); text and summary in Mahalingam 1988 (IP 98).

This edition by Emmanuel Francis (2021), based on autopsy, photographs, and the facsimile published in Subrahmanya Aiyar 1911–1912.

Primary

[KVS] Subrahmanya Aiyar, K. V. 1911–1912. “Tiruvellarai inscription of Dantivarman.” EI 11, pp. 154–158.

[IP] Mahalingam, T. V. 1988. Inscriptions of the Pallavas. New Delhi; Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research; Agam Prakashan. Pages 335–336, item 98.

Secondary

Venkayya, V. 1906. G.O. No. 492, 2nd July 1906. Epigraphy. Recording the annual report of the Assistant Archaeological Superintendent for Epigraphy, Southern Circle, for the year 1905-1906, and directing that the report be forwarded to the Government of India. No place. Page 33, appendix B/1905, item 541.

Venkatasubba Ayyar, V. 1943. South Indian inscriptions. Volume XII: The Pallavas (with introductory notes in English). South Indian Inscriptions 12. Madras: Government Press. Page 16, item 40.

Notes

  1. 1. The southern part of Tiruveḷḷaṟai was probably called Teṉṉūr in ancient times.
  2. 2. The signatory of one of the inscriptions of Rājarāja (A.D. 985-1013) found at Māmallapuram in the Chingleput District is a certain Tiruvaṭikaḷ Maṇikaṇṭhaṉ, a native of Tiruveḷ⟨ḷ⟩arai. He calls himself as one of the 3700 of that village (South-Ind. Inscrs. Vol. I, p. 65). This seems to indicate that at an early period there was a body of 3700 at Tiruveḷḷaṟai to whom later members traced their descent. Reference to another such body of men is found in the expression Tiḷḷai-mūvāyiravar.
  3. 3. C’est-à-dire le puits en tant que donation.