SII 3.43: original edition by Eugen Julius Theodor Hultzsch

Alternative title: “No. 43.—ON THE NORTH WALL OF THE MAHAMANDAPA IN THE BILVANATHESVARA TEMPLE.”

Author of digital edition: Emmanuel Francis (emfr).

Summary: This inscription and No. 44 are written continuously, the first two words of No. 44 occupying the end of line 46 of No. 43. The two first lines of No. 43 state that both inscriptions are copies of earlier stone inscriptions, and that these copies were made when the maṇḍapa of the temple was pulled down and rebuilt. Consequently the alphabet of Nos. 43 and 44 exhibits more recent forms than No. 42, though the date of No. 43 is anterior to No. 42.

No. 43 belongs to the 17th year of the reign of the same king as No. 42,—Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman (l. 3 f.). It records that three villages were granted to the temple at the request of the Bāṇa king Vikramāditya (l. 12 ff.). Two chiefs of this name are mentioned in the Udayēndiram plates of Vikramāditya II.1 The grant recorded in these plates must be prior to the time of Pṛithivīpati II., because the Chōḷa king Parāntaka I. transferred to the latter the Bāṇa kingdom, which he had wrested from two Bāṇa chiefs.2 The accession of Pṛithivīpati II. has to be placed before the 9th year of Parāntaka I., i.e. before about A.D. 909.3 Consequently, as pointed out by Dr. Fleet,4 Kṛishṇarāja, the friend of the Bāṇa king Vikramāditya II.,5 seems to have been the Rāshṭrakūṭa king Kṛishṇa II. (A.D. 888 and 911-12); and the Bāṇa king Vikramāditya, who is mentioned in the subjoined inscription as a contemporary of Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman in the 17th year of this king, may be identified with Vikramāditya I., the grandfather of that Vikramāditya II. who issued the Udayēndiram grant.

One of the three villages granted was Aimbūṇi (l. 6), apparently the modern Ammuṇḍi6 near Tiruvallam. The three villages were clubbed together into one village, which received the new name Viḍēlviḍugu-Vikkiramāditta-chaturvēdimaṅgalam (l. 9 ff. and 1. 20 ff.). The executor of the grant was Kāḍupaṭṭi-Tamiḻa-Pērarayaṉ (l. 15). The same title was borne by the executor of the Bāhūr plates of Vijaya-Nṛipatuṅgavarman. In the transcript of these plates, which is in my hands,7 he is called vīṭōlaiviṭukkakāṭupaṭṭittamiḻappērarayaṉ, which is evidently a mistake of the copyist for Viḍēlviḍugu- Kāḍupaṭṭi-Tamiḻa-Pērarayaṉ. This title and the surname of the village granted by the present inscription8 suggest that Viḍēlviḍugu, i.e. ‘the crashing thunderbolt,’ may have been a surname of Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman and of his son Vijaya-Nṛipatuṅgavarman.

Of great interest is the mention of persons who had to sing the Tiruppadiyam, i.e. the Dēvāram, in the temple (l. 32 f.). Hitherto the earliest known mention of the Dēvāram was in an inscription of Rājarāja I.9 The subjoined inscription proves that it was considered a holy book already in the 9th century A.D.

Language: Tamil (tam).

Version: (3992bd7), last modified (2ce46a2).

Edition

⟨1⟩ svasti śrī [||] ti(ruma)ṇṭapamiḻicciye(ṭu)ppa-

⟨2⟩ taṟku muṉpuḷḷa cilālekaippaṭi [||]

⟨3⟩ ko vijayanan=tivikkiramapanmar(k)ku yā(ṇ)ṭu 10 7

⟨4⟩ Āvatu paṭu(vūr)kk(o)ṭṭattu mīyāṟunāṭṭuttikk(ā)-

⟨5⟩ livallamu(ṭ)aiya parameśvarar(kku)

⟨6⟩ Iṉṉā(ṭṭu) Aim(pū)ṇiyum vi-

⟨7⟩ ḷattūrum Ittevar te(va)-

⟨8⟩ tā(ṉa)m Ama(ru)ṉṟimaṅka(lamu)-

⟨9⟩ m viṭelviṭukuvikkiramā-

⟨10⟩ tittaccaturvvetimaṅ-

⟨11⟩ kalameṉṉum perā-

⟨12⟩ l Ekakkirāmamāka māvali-

⟨13⟩ vāṇarāyaṉā(ṉa) vik(ki)ramā(tit)ta-

⟨14⟩ vāṇarāyaṉ viṇṇappat(t)ālu-

⟨15⟩ m kāṭupa(ṭ)ṭittamiḻap(p)era⟨ra⟩(ya)ṉ

⟨16⟩ Āṇattiyālum Ekakkirāmamākki (I)v(va)-

⟨17⟩ (ma)ruṉṟimaṅkalamuṉṉittīkarālivalla-

⟨18⟩ muṭaiya parameśvararkku Iṟuttu va-

⟨19⟩ (ru)kiṉṟa <nel> Iraṇṭāyirakkāṭiyum

⟨20⟩ poṉṉirupatiṉ kaḻañcumivvi-

⟨21⟩ ṭelviṭukuvikkiramātittaccat¿i?r-

⟨22⟩ vvetimaṅkalattuccavaiyār

⟨23⟩ Iṟuppārākavumiṉṉellilt(ti)-

⟨24⟩ ruvamirtukku nellu Aṟunūṟṟu-

⟨25⟩ kkāṭiyum tiruvuṇṇāḻikaiyuḷḷār(ā)-

⟨26⟩ ti(t)tuppācarikkum (śi)(va)brāhmaṇa-

⟨27⟩ rkku nellu Aiñ-

⟨28⟩ ñūṟṟukkāṭiyum śrīpa-

⟨29⟩ li koṭṭuvārkku nellu

⟨30⟩ Aiññūṟṟukkā(ṭiyu)m

⟨31⟩ tiruppaḷḷittāmam

⟨32⟩ paṟippārkkum tirup-

⟨33⟩ patiyam pāṭuvāruḷḷi-

⟨34⟩ ṭṭa palapaṇi ceyvār-

⟨35⟩ kku nellu nānūṟṟu-

⟨36⟩ kkāṭiyum tiruko(n=t)ā-

⟨37⟩ viḷakkukkum tirumeyppūccuk(kum)

⟨38⟩ citārik(ku)maṟṟum khaṇḍas¿p?uṭitana(va)ka-

⟨39⟩ ¿n?m(ā)¿t?ikaḷukkummākap(p)oṉ I(rupa)ti-

⟨40⟩ ṉ kaḻañcum Āka Iṉ(ṉe)llum

⟨41⟩ Ippoṉṉu(m) Ittevaṟkku

⟨42⟩ cantrātittavalliṟuppārkaḷā-

⟨43⟩ (ka)vum [|] Ipparicu nivan=tamāka-

⟨44⟩ cceytu kuṭutto(m) [|]

⟨45⟩ Iddhmamma panmāhe-

⟨46⟩ (śva)rarakṣai ||~||௳

Apparatus

⟨4⟩ tikk(ā) • Read tīkkā.

⟨17⟩ tīkara • Read tīkkā.

⟨19⟩ <nel> • This symbol is an abbreviation for nellu; see above, p. 7, note 8.

⟨36⟩ ko(n=t)ā • Read nontā.

⟨45⟩ Iddhmamma • Read Iddharmam.

Translation by Hultzsch 1899

(Line 1.) Hail ! Prosperity ! (The following is) a copy of a stone inscription which existed before the maṇḍapa of the temple had been pulled down and re-erected.

(L. 3.) In the 17th year (of the reign) of king Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman.

(L. 4.) Māvalivāṇarāya, alias Vikkiramādittavāṇarāya, (had made) the request that to (the temple of) Paramēśvara (Śiva) at Tīkkāli-Vallam in Mīyāṟu-nāḍu, (a subdivision) of Paḍuvūr-kōṭṭam, (should be given three villages) in the same nāḍu, (viz.) Aim[bū]ṇi, Viḷattūr and Amaruṉṟimaṅgalam, a dēvadāna of this god, (and that they should be clubbed together into) one village, named Viḍēlviḍugu-Vikkiramāditta-chaturvēdimaṅgalam.

(L. 14.) In conformity with (this request), and Kāḍupaṭṭi-Tamiḻa-Pēra[ra]yaṉ being the executor,10 (the three villages) were made into one village.

(L. 16.) The members of the assembly of this Viḍēlviḍugu-Vikkiramādittachaturvēdimaṅgalam shall have to pay two thousand kāḍi of paddy and twenty kaḻañju of gold, which were being paid before by this Amaruṉṟimaṅgalam to this (temple of) Paramēśvara at Tīkkāli-Vallam.

(L. 23.) Of this paddy, six hundred kāḍi of paddy (are allotted) for offerings; five hundred kāḍi of paddy to the Śiva-Brāhmaṇas who desire to be fed, beginning with those in charge of the store-room of the temple;11 five hundred kāḍi of paddy to those who beat (drums before) oblations; four hundred kāḍi of paddy to those who pick (flowers for) temple garlands, and to those who perform various (other) services, including the singers of the Tiruppadiyam; and twenty kaḻañju of gold for the perpetual lamps, for anointing the idol, for bark,12 and for repairing breaks and cracks, etc.

(L. 40.) (The members of the assembly) shall have to pay this paddy and this gold to this god as long as the moon and the sun exist.

(L. 43.) In this manner we13 have given (the village) for (providing) the necessaries.

(L. 45.) This charity (is placed under) the protection of all Māhēśvaras.

Bibliography

Digital edition of SII 3.43 by Hultzsch 1899 converted to DHARMA conventions by Emmanuel Francis.

See also edition by Emmanuel Francis (INSPallava00132).

Primary

[SII] Hultzsch, Eugen Julius Theodor. 1899. South-Indian inscriptions. Volume III: Miscellaneous inscriptions from the Tamil country. Part I: Inscriptions at Ukkal, Melpadi, Karuvur, Manimangalam and Tiruvallam. South Indian Inscriptions 3.1. Madras: Government Press. Pages 92–94, item 43.

Notes

  1. 1. Ep. Ind. Vol. III. p. 75.

  2. 2. Above, Vol. II. pp. 379 and 381.

  3. 3. Ep. Ind. Vol. IV. p. 222.

  4. 4. I am quoting from a manuscript article on the Bāṇas, which he has kindly placed at my disposal.

  5. 5. Ep. Ind. Vol. III. p. 75.

  6. 6. No. 2 on the Madras Survey Map of the Guḍiyātam tāluka. A different village of the same name (properly Aṉpūṇḍi, No. 101 on the map of the Vellore tāluka) is mentioned in Vol. I. pp. 87 f. and 135 f.

  7. 7. See Ep. Ind. Vol. IV. p. 180.

  8. 8. The second member of the triple compound Viḍēlviḍugu-Vikkiramāditta-chaturvēdimaṅgalam is the name of the Bāṇa chief at whose request the grant was made.

  9. 9. See above, Vol. II. p. 252.

  10. 10. On āṇatti see Ep. Ind. Vol. V. p. 52, note 10.

  11. 11. See above, p. 20, note 5.

  12. 12. See above, Vol. II. p. 130, note 2.

  13. 13. Viz. the king.