Hanumantapuram hero-stone, time of Īccuvaraparumaṉ, year 17

Editor: Emmanuel Francis.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSPallava00513.

Summary: Hero-stone erected in honour of Kāṭaṭi Kaṟakkaṉ, who fell during a fight.

Language: Tamil.

Repository: Pallava (tfa-pallava-epigraphy).

Version: (e8a670e), last modified (117d0d9).

Edition

⟨1⟩ kō-vicaiya-Īccuvara-paruma[ṟk¡i!⟨u⟩]⟨2⟩yāṇṭu patiṉ ē¡ḻḻ!⟨ḻ⟩-āvat’

a¡ṉ!⟨ṅ⟩ka[ṭ]⟨3⟩kāṭ(ṭiṟai)kaḷ ceyi(k)ka-(v) aracar⟨4⟩māṟṟ-uṭai ceṉṟa tāṉ aṟupaṭṭāṉ ⟨5⟩ k(ā)ṭaṭi kaṟakka(ṉ)

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ °vicaiya-Īccu° ⬦ °vijaya-rājacu° ARIE 1899–1900 • This reading in Hultzsch 1900 is tentative though, as indicated by a question mark. — ⟨1⟩ °paruma[ṟk¡i!⟨u⟩] yāṇṭu ⬦ °paruma⟨ṟk’ i⟩yāṇṭu EH • It is not clear however whether EH’s reading [ṟk=i*] is meant for characters omitted and supplied. • We do not follow EH in considering that we have here iyāṇṭu, that is yāṇṭu with epenthesis. Although this is possible, it seems unlikely considering other attestations of the dative variant -ki for -ku. See, e.g., INSPallava00252, of the same Īccuvaravarman, where, in lines 1-3, we find kō-vicaiya-Ī(c)cuvaraparumaṟki paṉṉiraṇṭ-āvatu.

⟨2⟩ a¡ṉ!⟨ṅ⟩ka[ṭ]aṉka⟨ṭ⟩ EH • It is not clear however whether EH’s reading [ṭ*] is meant for a character omitted and supplied.

⟨3⟩ ceyi(k)ka-(v)ceyi(k)ka-v EH.

Translation by Hultzsch 1902–1903

In the seventeenth year [of the reign] of king Vijaya-Īśvaravarman, when Kāṭṭiṟai was victorious, Kāṭaṭi Kaṟakkaṉ himself, who went among the enemies of the king, was cut down.

Translation by Emmanuel Francis

(1–2) Seventeenth year of the victorious king Īccuvaraparumaṉ.1.

(2–5) When, there (aṅkaṇ), the honourable Kāṭṭiṟai vanquished, Kāṭaṭi Kaṟakkaṉ, who went (against) the change of property, was himself cut down.

Commentary

there (aṅkaṇ) = Kaṉaiyūr, see tfaPalllava253.

Hultzsch: fn6: māṟṟu seems to be used in the sense of māṟṟār, ‘enemies.’

Hultzsch: "Unlike other vīrakkals, the stone bears no sculptures of any kind." Untrue. See slab in Chennai Government Museum (acc. no. 2160/78). Hultzsch worked with estampages of the inscriptions only.

Hultzsch: Īśvaravarman = Gaṅga-Pallava

Hultzsch: kāṭṭiṟai, "king of the forester" = synonym of kāṭavaṉ, "forester" = synonym of kāṭaṭi (kāṭu, "forest" + aṭi, "His majesty"). + "It thus appears that a descendant of the PalIava dynasty was tributary to the Gaṅga-Pallava king Vijaya-Īśvaravarman."

See tfaPallava253, same slab (left of the present inscription).

Bibliography

Edited in Hultzsch 1902–1903 with facsimile and English translation (EI 7, no. 4.2b), based on an inked estampage; text and summary in Mahalingam 1988 (IP 253b); re-edited here by Emmanuel Francis (2020), based on autopsy and photographs (2019).

Primary

[EH] Hultzsch, Eugen Julius Theodor. 1902–1903. “Three memorial stones.” EI 7, pp. 22–26. Pages 23–24, item I/B.

[IP] Mahalingam, T. V. 1988. Inscriptions of the Pallavas. New Delhi; Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research; Agam Prakashan. Pages 627–628, item 253/B.

Secondary

[ARIE 1899-1900] Hultzsch, Eugen Julius Theodor. 1900. G.O. etc., Nos. 833-34, 22nd August 1900. Epigraphy. Passing orders on the annual report on – for 1899-1900. Copy to the Government of India. Madras: Government of Madras, Public Department. Page 49, appendix B/1900, item 17.

Notes

  1. 1. Sanskrit Īśvaravarman.