SII 1.56: original edition by Eugen Hultzsch

Alternative title: “PART II. TAMIL AND GRANTHA INSCRIPTIONS. III. INSCRIPTIONS AT AND NEAR VIRIÑCHIPURAM. No. 56. INSIDE THE FRONT GOPURA OF THE VIRIÑCHIPURAM TEMPLE, SECOND INSCRIPTION TO THE RIGHT.”

Author of digital edition: Emmanuel Francis (emfr).

Summary: This inscription is dated during the reign of Vīrapratāpa-Devarāya-mahārāja (of Vijayanagara) and in the Viśvāvasu year, which was current after the expiration of the Śaka year 1347. It refers to a question of the sacred law (dharma) of the Brāhmaṇas, which was settled by the Brāhmaṇas of the kingdom of Paḍaivīḍu, among whom Karṇāṭa, Tamiṛ, Telugu and Lāṭa Brāhmaṇas are mentioned. Their representatives signed an agreement to the effect, that henceforth marriages among their families had only to be concluded by kanyādāna, i.e., that the father had to give his daughter to the bridegroom gratuitously. Both the father who accepted money, and the bridegroom who paid money for the bride, should be subject to punishment by the king and to excommunication from their caste. This practice was evidently adopted on the authority of the canonical works on sacred law, which condemn in strong terms the payment of money for the bride, and use the term āsura-vivāha for a marriage thus concluded. The four forms of marriage permitted to Brāhmaṇas are mere varieties of the marriage by kanyādāna.

To the end of the inscription a large number of signatures of Brāhmaṇas are attached. This part of the original is obliterated to such an extent that a satisfactory transcript cannot be given. In some cases, the places where the single Brāhmaṇas came from, are registered. As the identification of these localities might be useful for fixing the extent of the kingdom of Paḍaivīḍu, I subjoin those which may be read with certainty: Kaḷañjiyam, Kamalapādam, Marudam, Maṅgalam, Araiyapāḍi, Kaṇṇamaṅgalam,8 A[ga]tterippaṭṭu, Enādapāḍi. Two other inscriptions mention Guḍiyātam1 and Vallam2 as belonging to the kingdom of Paḍavīḍu3 or Paḍaveḍu.4 The kingdom of Paḍaivīḍu (Paḍaivīṭṭu rājyam) was called after the town of Paḍaivīḍu, now Paḍaveḍu in the Polūr Tālluqa of the North Arcot District.5 According to two Vijayanagara inscriptions, it formed a district of Toṇḍai-maṇḍalam.6 The name Paḍaivīḍu means “an encampment” and seems to owe its origin to a temporary camp of some king, around which a city arose in course of time.7

Language: Tamil (tam).

Version: (3992bd7), last modified (0ec4724).

Edition

⟨1⟩ śubhamastu

⟨2⟩ svasti [||] śrīmaṉmahāIrājādirājaparameśvarāṉa śrī(vī)rapratāpadevarāyamahārāja pri-

⟨3⟩ dhivirājyaM paṇṇi Aruḷāṉiṉṟa śakābdaM 1000 3 100 4 10 7 ḻiṉ mel cellāṉi⟨ṉ⟩ṟa viśvāvasu-

⟨4⟩ varuṣaM paṅkuṉi ௴ 3 k=ku ṣaṣṭiyu⟨m⟩ budhaṉ kiḻamaiyum peṟṟa Aniḻattu nāḷ paṭaiviṭṭu Irājyattu

⟨5⟩ Aśeṣavidyamahājanaṅkaḷum Arkkapuṣkar¿a?ṇ¿i? gopināthasannadhiyi(l)e

⟨6⟩ dharmmasthāpanasamayapatram paṇṇi kuṭuttapaṭi Iṟṟai nāḷ mutalāka Inta-

⟨7⟩ ppaṭaivīṭṭu rājyattu brāhmaṇaril kaṉṉa(ṭi)kar tamiḻ¿i?r teluṅkar Ilāḷar mutalā-

⟨8⟩ ṉa Aśeṣagotrattu Aśeṣasūtrattil Aśeṣaśākh¿a?yilava¿T?kaḷum vivāham paṇ-

⟨9⟩ ṇumiṭattu kanyādānamāka vivāhaM paṇṇakkaṭavarākavum [|] kanyādānam paṇṇāmal

⟨10⟩ poṉ vāṅkippeṇ kuṭuttāl poṉ kuṭuttu vivāham paṇṇiṉāl Irājadaṇḍattukkum Uṭpaṭṭu

⟨11⟩ brāhmaṇyattukkum puṟampākakkaṭavāreṉ(ṟu) paṇṇi(na) dharmmasthāpanasamayapatram [||] Ippaṭikku Aśeṣavidyama-

⟨12⟩ hājanaṅkaḷ Eḻuttu [||] [**********]

Apparatus

⟨4⟩ Aniḻattu • Read Anuṣattu.

Translation by Hultzsch 1890

Let there be prosperity! Hail! On the day of (the nakshatra) Anusham,9 which corresponds to Wednesday, the sixth lunar day, the 3rd (solar day) of the month of Paṅguṉi10 of the Viśvāvasu year, which was current after the Śaka year 1347 (had passed), while the illustrious mahārājādhirāja-parameśvara, the illustrious Vīrapratāpa-Devarāya-mahārāja was pleased to rule the earth,—the great men of all branches of sacred studies of the kingdom (rājyam) of Paḍaivīḍu drew up, in the presence of (the god) Gopinātha (of) Arkapushkariṇī, a document (which contains) an agreement fixing the sacred law. According to (this document), if the Brāhmaṇas of this kingdom (rājyam) of Paḍaivīḍu, viz., Kaṉṉaḍigas, Tamiṛas, Teluṅgas, Ilāḷas,11 etc., of all gotras, sūtras and śākhās conclude a marriage, they shall, from this day forward, do it by kanyādāna. Those who do not adopt kanyādāna, i.e., both those who give a girl away after having received gold, and those who conclude a marriage after having given gold, shall be liable to punishment by the king and shall be excluded from the community of Brāhmaṇas. These are the contents of the document which was drawn up.

The following are the signatures of the great men of all branches of sacred studies:— . . . . . . . . . .

Bibliography

Digital edition of SII 1.56 by Hultzsch 1890 converted to DHARMA conventions by Emmanuel Francis.

Primary

[SII] Hultzsch, Eugen Julius Theodor. 1890. South-Indian inscriptions, Tamil and Sanskrit, from stone and copper-plate edicts at Mamallapuram, Kanchipuram, in the North Arcot district, and other parts of the Madras Presidency, chiefly collected in 1886-87. Volume I. South Indian Inscriptions 1. Madras: Government Press. Pages 82–84, item 56.

Notes

  1. 1. This village is situated in the Ārṇi Jāgīr, about half-way between Ārṇi and Vellore; it is spelt “Kunnamangalam” in the official List of Indian Post Offices, Calcutta, 1886.

  2. 2. In the Vandavāśi Tālluqa of the same district.

  3. 3. Ind. Ant., Vol. XIII, p. 132. Paḍavīḍu-rājya occurs also in two inscriptions published by Dr. Oppert (Madras Journal for 1881, pp. 251 and 257); Paṭavīṭa-rājya in a grant of Śaka 1460, the Vilambin year, from Śrīperumbudūr (Sewell’s Lists, Vol. II, p. 266), for the original of which I am indebted to Mr. J. Lee Warner, the Collector of Chingleput.

  4. 4. Sewell’s Lists of Antiquities, Vol. I, p. 170.

  5. 5. Ibid., p. 169.

  6. 6. The Paḍaveḍu inscription No. 81 mentions Toṇḍai-maṇḍalattu Paḍaivīṭṭu rājyam. According to the Koṇḍyāta grant (Ind. Ant., Vol. XIII, p. 132) the Paḍavīḍu-mahārājya belonged to the Jayaṅkoṇḍa-Toṇḍamaṇḍala.

  7. 7. Thus the present residence of the Sindhia at the foot of the Gwalior Fort still bears the name of Lashkar, i.e., “camp.”

  8. 8. Sanskrit Anurādhā.

  9. 9. Sanskrit Phalgunī.

  10. 10. Sanskrit Lāṭa, the old name of Gujarāt.