Javantināthapuram, Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa temple, time of Māṟaṉ Caṭaiyaṉ, year 4 + 9

Editors: Valérie Gillet, Emmanuel Francis.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSPandya00341.

Summary: Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa temple, Javantināthapuram, Lālkuṭi taluk, Trichy district. On a stone (perhaps was it a doorjamb originally?), embedded in the right-side cement pillar of the gate. Regnal year 9 opposite to 4 of Māṟañcaṭaiyaṉ, aviṭṭa day, which falls on Monday in the month of dhanus.1 The last syllable of each line is not visible, even on the estampage published in 1940–1950 in EI 28, but can be easily guessed in most of the cases and thus restored in the text in square brackets with an asterisk. The inscription stops abruptly, the remaining part of it perhaps covered by cement.

Hand description:

Language: Tamil.

Repository: Pāṇḍya (tfa-pandya-epigraphy).

Version: (c311c11), last modified (c311c11).

Edition

⟨1⟩ svasti śrī

kō-mā[ṟañ] ⟨2⟩ (ca)ṭaiyarkki yā(ṇ)[ṭu] ⟨3⟩ ¡ṉ!⟨n⟩āṉk-ām āṭṭaikk’ e(t)i[r] ⟨4⟩ Oṉpat-ām yāṇ[ṭu] ⟨5⟩ taṉu-ñāyaṟṟu-t ti[ṅ]⟨6⟩(ka)ṭ-kiḻamai peṟṟa [A]⟨7⟩viṭṭa mutal āka I[ṭ]ai⟨8⟩yāṟṟu-maṅkalat[tu] ⟨9⟩ tiru-mayil-araṅkat[tu] ⟨10⟩ (p)erumāṉ-aṭikaḷuk[ku] ⟨11⟩ Iravum paka(lu)¡mm!⟨m⟩ I[ra]⟨12⟩ṇṭu noṉtā-viḷak[k]’ e⟨13⟩(ri)ppat’ āka kō-māṟañ [ca]⟨14⟩(ai)yar-āyiṉa pāṇ(ḍya)⟨15⟩-Ati¿v?⟨p⟩ati-varakuṇa-ma[hā]⟨16⟩[rā]jar Aṇṭaṇāṭṭu [vē]⟨17⟩ḷāṉ kaiyyil viṭu [ta]⟨18⟩nta poṉ pāṭi

Apparatus

⟨11⟩ paka(lu)¡mm!⟨m⟩pagalumm EI IEP; pakalum G.

⟨15⟩ Ati¿v?⟨p⟩ati-varakuṇa-ma[hā]⟨16⟩[rā]jar ⬦ adipati varaguṇa ma[gā]⟨16⟩[rā]jar EI; adipati varaguṇa ma⟨16⟩rājar IEP; atipati varakuṇa ma[hā]⟨16⟩[rā]jar G

Translation by Gillet 2017

(1) Hail! Prosperity!

(1–18) [This is] the 9th year opposite to the 4th year of king Māṟañcaṭaiyaṉ; from (mutal āka) aviṭṭam obtained on Monday (tiṅkaṭ-kiḻamai) in the month of dhanus; for Perumāṉaṭikaḷ of Tirumayilaraṅkam in Iṭaiyyāṟṟu maṅkalam, night and day, for burning (erippatāka) two (iraṇṭu) perpetual lamps, king () Māṟañcaṭaiyar alias Varaguṇa Mahārājar, the great Lord of the Pāṇḍyans, released and gave (viṭu-tanta) into the hand (kaiyyil) of Aṇṭanāṭṭu Vēḷāṉ, […] gold […]

Bibliography

Reported in ARIE 1946-1947 (ARIE/1946-1947/B/1946-1947/104).

Edited in Venkataramayya 1953, with visual documentation (EI 28.6). Text and translation in Krishnan 2002 (IEP 41). Edited and translated in Gillet 2017, based on autopsy and photographs (Valérie Gillet, 2009).

This revised edition by Valérie Gillet and Emmanuel Francis.

Primary

[EI] Venkataramayya, M. 1953. “Javantinathapuram inscription of Varaguna-Maharaja.” EI 28, pp. 38–42.

[IEP] Krishnan, K. G. 2002. Inscriptions of the early Pāṇḍyas (from c. 300 B.C. to 984 A.D.) New Delhi: ICHR & Northern Book Centre. Page 48, item 41.

[G] Gillet, Valérie. 2017. “Devotion and Dominion: Ninth-Century Donations of a Pāṇḍyan King in Temples along the River Kāvēri.” IIJ 60 (3), pp. 219–283. DOI: 10.1163/15728536-06003002. [URL]. Page 257, item 6.

Secondary

ARIE 1946-1947. Annual report on Indian epigraphy for 1946-47. Edited by Bahadur Chand Chhabra. [Delhi]: [Manager of Publications (Department of Archaeology)], 19?? Page 25, appendixes B/1946-1947, item 104.

Notes

  1. 1. M. Venkataramayya (EI 28.6, p. 40) calculates the date as Monday December 5th, 875 CE, date which conveniently fits the beginning of Varaguṇa’s reign around 862 CE.