Taṇṭarāmpaṭṭu hero-stone, time of Narasiṁhavarman, year 7

Editor: Emmanuel Francis.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSPallava00293.

Summary: Records the death of a hero.

Language: Tamil.

Repository: Pallava (tfa-pallava-epigraphy).

Version: (e8a670e), last modified (18e0138).

Edition

⟨1⟩ kō-vicaiya-narai⟨2⟩ciṅka-parumaṟku yā⟨3⟩ṇṭ’ Eḻ-āvatu

vāṇa-kō-mut⟨4⟩taraicaru nāṭu pāviya mēṟ-kō⟨5⟩valūr mēl vantu tañ ciṟṟa-p⟨6⟩-paṭikaḷai Eṟinta ñāṉ⟨7⟩ṟu paṭṭāṉ cēvarpari Aṭṭuṅ koḷ⟨8⟩ḷi turumā⟨9⟩vaṉār maka⟨10⟩ṉ mārkaṭa⟨11⟩laṉ

Translation by Emmanuel Francis

(1–3) Seventh year of the victorious king Narasiṁhavarman1.

(3–11) [This is] the stone [of] Mārkaṭalaṉ, the son [of] Turumāvaṉār (cēvarpari Aṭṭuṅ koḷḷi), he who fell at the time the royal Bāṇa Muttaraiyar attacked (eṟinta2) his (tañ3) uncle (ciṟṟappaṭikaḷ4), when marching (vantu5) upon Mēṟ-Kōvalūr (nāṭu pāviya).

Translation into French by Emmanuel Francis

Commentary

See DHARMA_INSPallava00294, from the same place and of similar content.

Mahalingam 1988, p. 685, n. 1 notes: “The figure of a soldier facing left is engraved on the stone. It bears a bow in the left hand and a short stagger in the right hand. There is a festoon over the right hand. To the right of the figure is seen a casket, mirror while on the side of the left leg is seen a spout.”

The inscription is described as follows in IAR 1971-72: “An inscription from Tandrampattu, in characters of about the eighth century A.D. and dated in the seventh year of the reign of Narasimhavarman, records the death of Marudakalan, son of Eruma[nda]nar while Merkovalur was auacked by Vanako-Puttaraisar.”

(1–2) Naraiciṅkaparumaṉ (Sanskrit Narasiṁhavarman) has been identified as the Pallava king Narasiṁhavarman I by Nākacāmi 1972.

Bibliography

Edited in Nākacāmi 1972 (CN 1971/69); text and summary in Mahalingam 1988 (IP 293); encoded and first translated 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 1971/69.

[IP] Mahalingam, T. V. 1988. Inscriptions of the Pallavas. New Delhi; Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research; Agam Prakashan. Pages 685–686, item 293.

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 40.

Notes

  1. 1. Naraiciṅkaparumaṉ in the original Tamil.
  2. 2. Literally "destroyed".
  3. 3. That is, taṉ in sandhi.
  4. 4. That is, ciṟṟappaṉ + aṭikaḷ.
  5. 5. Literally "coming".