Mahābalipuram Gopis’ churn word

Editor: Emmanuel Francis.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSPallava00363.

Summary: Isolated name found on a cistern excavated in a rock in front of the Trimūrti cave. This cistern is nowadays called the Gopi’s Churn in reference to Kṛṣṇa narratives. The inscription itself consist in four syllables in Grantha script. It appears to be a name, either a graffiti or a signature. It is not clear if it has a closer connexion with the cistern on which it is engraved.

Language: Sanskrit.

Repository: Pallava (tfa-pallava-epigraphy).

Version: 2024-10-29 23:21 (731357b), last modified 2024-06-06 16:22 (18e0138).

⟨1⟩ (śrī)-k(a/ā)viti

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ k(a/ā)viti ⬦ k(ā)viti ARIE; kadhīti JD1; k(a)viti IP • There is on the stone some mark that could be the glyph for -ā. Whether the inscription was not deeply engraved or has been worn out, both readings are possible, even though kāviti makes more sense. On the figures published by Jouveau-Dubreuil the reading is kaviti.

Translation by Emmanuel Francis

The glorious Kāviti.

Translation into French by Emmanuel Francis

L’illustre Kāviti.

Commentary

On kāviti, see MTL, s.v.: 1. Ancient title bestowed on Vēḷāḷas by Pāṇḍya kings; 2. Title conferred on Vaiśya ladies; 3. Minister; 4. Accountant caste; 5. Collector of revenues.

A poet named Peruṅkāviti Caṭaiyaṉpaḷḷi composed the verse in INSPallava00119, see line 13.

Lockwood 1993 (p. 163) suggests that kāviti, which he reads kaviti, in fact represents what would be pronounced gaviti in Tamil and would mean gokula. It seems that this interpretation is based on the assumption that the name Gopis’ churn has some relevance to the Pallava period, which one may doubt like in the case of other landmarks of Mahābalipuram recently (18th/19th century) renamed after Kṛṣṇa, e.g. the nearby Kṛṣṇa’s butter ball.

Bibliography

Reported in Sircar 1963.

Text in Mahalingam 1988 (IP 363).

Edited here by Emmanuel Francis (2020), based on autopsy and photographs (2017).

Primary

[JD1] Jouveau-Dubreuil, Gabriel. 1916. Pallava antiquities: Vol. I. Vol. 1. London: Probsthain. Plates XXXI, B (facing page 64).

[JD2] Jouveau-Dubreuil, Gabriel. 1916–1917. “Les antiquités de l’époque Pallava.” Revue historique de l'Inde française 1, pp. 5–76. Plates XXXI, B (facing page 59).

[IP] Mahalingam, T. V. 1988. Inscriptions of the Pallavas. New Delhi; Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research; Agam Prakashan. Item 363, page 762.

Secondary

[ARIE] Sircar, Dines Chandra. 1963. Annual report on Indian epigraphy for 1959-60. Delhi: Manager of Publications (Department of Archaeology). Page 73, appendixes B/1959-1960, item 266.

Lockwood, Michael. 1993. Māmallapuram: A guide to the monuments. Madras: Tambaram Research Associates, Madras Christian College. Page 163.

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The glorious Kāviti.

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L'illustre Kāviti.

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<p>On <foreign>kāviti</foreign>, see MTL, s.v.: 1. Ancient title bestowed on Vēḷāḷas by Pāṇḍya kings; 2. Title conferred on Vaiśya ladies; 3. Minister; 4. Accountant caste; 5. Collector of revenues.</p>

<p>A poet named Peruṅkāviti Caṭaiyaṉpaḷḷi composed the verse in <ref target="DHARMA_INSPallava00119">INSPallava00119</ref>, see line 13.</p>

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