Mēl Puñcai, hero-stone, time of Māntavarman, year 19

Editor: Emmanuel Francis.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSPallava00292.

Summary: Records the death of a hero.

Language: Tamil.

Repository: Pallava (tfa-pallava-epigraphy).

Version: (731357b), last modified (18e0138).

Edition

⟨1⟩ (mā)nta-parumaṟku pati⟨2⟩oṉṟ-āvatu

koṅka⟨3⟩ṇi Araicaru paṭai-Ōṭu ciri⟨4⟩-kaṅkaraicaru caṅka-maṅkalat⟨5⟩t’ eṟinta ñāṉṟu ciri-kaṅkaraicaru ⟨6⟩ cēvakar-Ōṭu [ca. 1*] kaṉāya⟨7⟩r Eṟintu paṭṭa kal

Translation by Emmanuel Francis

(1–2) Nineteenth [year] of Māndavarman1.

(2–7) [This is] the stone [of] Kaṉāyar2, who fell (paṭṭa3) fighting (eṟintu) along with (-ōṭu4) the servants (cēvakar) [of] the glorious Gaṅga king, when the glorious Gaṅga king fought (eṟinta) in Caṅkamaṅkalam with the army of the Koṅkaṇi king.

Translation into French by Emmanuel Francis

Commentary

The identity of the king Māndavarman (Māntaparumaṉ in the original Tamil) is unclear.

Bibliography

Reported in IAR 1971-72.

Edited in Nākacāmi 1972 (CN 1971/100); text and summary in Mahalingam 1988 (IP 292).

Encoded here by Emmanuel Francis (2021), based on previous editions.

Primary

[RN] Nākacāmi, Irā. 1972. Ceṅkam naṭukaṟkaḷ. TNSDA publication 21. Ceṉṉai: Tamiḻnāṭu Aracu tolporuḷ Āyvuttuṟai. Item 1971/100.

[IP] Mahalingam, T. V. 1988. Inscriptions of the Pallavas. New Delhi; Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research; Agam Prakashan. Page 684, item 292.

Secondary

[IAR] IAR 1971-72. Indian Archaeology 1971-72: A Review. Edited by M. N. Deshpande. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India, 1975. Page 59, item 39.

Notes

  1. 1. Māntaparumaṉ in the original Tamil.
  2. 2. Alternatively [ca. 1*]kaṉāyar, taking into account the missing character as part of the name of the decesed hero.
  3. 3. Note the phrase paṭṭa kal, attested also in IP 291, instead of the usual paṭṭāṉ/paṭṭār kal.
  4. 4. Mahalingam 1988 takes -ōṭu as part of the name of the deceased hero, that is, Ōṭu-kaṉāyār.