Texts
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This interface allows you to look for texts in the DHARMA collection. The search form below can be used for filtering results. Matching is case-insensitive, does not take diacritics into account, and looks for substrings instead of terms. For instance, the query edit matches "edition" or "meditation". To look for a phrase, surround it with double quotes, as in "old javanese". Searching for strings that contain less than three characters is not possible.
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Documents 1151–1200 of 1701 matching.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: The construction of a temple of Nirañjanēśvarattu-Mahādēva at Tiruvoṟṟiyūr by a certain Nirañjanaguravar of the place and the gift of 20,000 kuḻi of land by purchase from the assembly of Maṇali for its upkeep, are recorded in this inscription of Vijaya-Kampavarman dated in the 19th year. The document was drawn up by Rudrappōttar Kumāra-Kāḷan, the madhyastha of the village. The communities Mandirattār and Kombaṟuttār are mentioned in ll. 29-30.
The inscription is stated to have been engraved by Tiruvoṟṟiyūr-Āchāryaṉ alias Paramēśvaran, son of Śāmuṇḍāchārya.
The puḷḷis are marked in the inscription.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0105.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: The subjoined inscription, engraved in Pallava-Grantha characters, states that this rock-cut Śiva temple called Śrī-Śikhari-Pallavēśvaram was caused to be made at Siṅhapura by king Chandrāditya. This is the only record hitherto found for the king (See Plate V). This rock-cut temple contains no sculptures or ornamentation of any kind and it may be said to correspond to ‘the Mahēndra Style’ of architecture. The palaeography of the present record also suggests that the king who bore this title or name probably flourished in the time of Mahēndravarman or Narasiṁhavarman I at the latest. As, however, this title does not occur among the numerous birudas found for these in any rock-cut shrine, we have to conclude that Chandrāditya was a Pallava prince of this time, about whom we have at present no information.
Siṅhapura is identical with Śiṅgavaram which is the name of a village close by. The present name of Mēlaichchēri must have been given later to this hamlet with reference to the principal village Śiṅgavaram.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0115.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: The first portion of this record consists of a string of birudas in Sanskrit which describe the family, character and achievements of Kōpperuñjiṅgadēva. The concluding portion is in Tamil and contains an order of the chief issued, through his officer Nīlagaṅgaraiyar, to the residents of Āṟṟūr remitting, in favour of the god Āḷuḍaiya-Nāyaṉār, from the 5th year of the chief’s rule, the tax aripāḍikāval excluding kāvalpēṟu, on their village which was hitherto collected by the king. In the Sanskrit portion the chief is called Pallavakula-pārijāta, Kāḍavakula-chūḍāmaṇi, Avanipālana-jāta, etc. He claims supremacy over the Chōḷa, Pāṇḍya, Chēdi, Karṇāṭa and Āndhra kings. The chief’s conflict with Gaṇḍagōpāla and the extent of his dominions are indicated by the titles ‘Gaṇḍa-bhaṇḍāra1-luṇṭāka’ Kshīrāpagādakshiṇanāyaka, Kāvērī-kāmuka and Peṇṇānadī-nātha. The title ‘Khaḍgamalla’ corresponding to the Tamil ‘Vāḷvalla’ explains the heroism, while the epithets ‘Bhāratamalla’ and ‘Sāhityaratnākara’ describe the cultural attainments of the chief. His connection with Mallai i.e., Mahābalipuram and Conjeeveram is indicated by the titles Mallāpuri-vallabha2 and Kāñchīpurī-kānta.3 The last verse in the Sanskrit portion gives a clue to the identification of Kōpperuñjiṅga. This verse, conveying a double entendre, refers to the attempts of the chief to enjoy Dhātrī, i.e. Earth, when it is implied that the town Kāñchī was taken and Madhya-(dēśa) i.e., Naḍu-nāḍu was conquered. Since the capture of Toṇḍai-maṇḍalam and Naḍu-nāḍu is to be attributed to the elder Peruñjiṅga, this record may be assigned to him.
The officer Nīlagaṅgaraiyar, from the title piḷḷaiyār applied to him, appears to have been a favourite and important officer of Kōpperuñjiṅgadēva. Three generations of Nīlagaṅgaraiyars are known, viz., (l) Kulōttuṅgaśōḻa Kaṇṇappaṉ Nallanāyaṉār Pañchanadivāṇaṉ Nīlagaṅgaraiyar (16th year of Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa 111),4 (2) the officer figuring in the present inscription, and (3) his son, Pañchanadivāṇaṉ Aruṇagiriperumāḷ Nīlagaṅgaraiyar figuring in the time of Vijaya-Gaṇḍagōpāla,5 Sundara-Pāṇḍya6 and Kōpperuñjiṅgadēva II.7 They were in power in the present Chingleput district under the Chōḷas and their successors and sometimes issued orders in their own names.8
Aripāḍikāval may be explained as a tax payable in kind to the king for protection.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0120.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This inscription records in Tamil and Sanskrit the benefactions of the chief Sakalabhuvanachakravartti Kāḍavaṉ Avaṉiāḷappiṟandāṉ Kōpperuñjiṅga. He is called Bhūpālanōdbhava,1 Kāṭhakavaṁśa-mauktika-maṇi and the conqueror of the Āndhra and the Karṇāṭa kings. The record states that the chief constructed a temple for Hēramba-Gaṇapati on the banks of the tank at Tribhuvanamādēvī and that he repaired the embankments, sluices and irrigation channels of the tank which had breached in several places.
Since the inscription refers to the conquest of the Chōḷa (country), Madhyamamahī (i.e., Naḍu-nāḍu) and Tuṇḍiradēśa (i.e. Toṇḍai-maṇḍalam) by the chief, he may be identified with Kōpperuñjiṅga I.
Hēramba-Gaṇapati is generally represented with five elephant heads, 10 arms and as riding on a lion. [An early sculpture of this deity is found in a rock-cut temple at Tirupparaṅkuṉṟam near Madura-Ed.]
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0126.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This inscription is engraved in Pallava-Grantha characters in a single line on the beams of the upper and lower verandahs of the rock-cut cave (plates III and IV.) It gives a long list of birudas, some of them obscure in their import, of the Pallava king Mahēndravikrama (I) with whose name the inscription commences. These titles are in Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu and indicate the character, erudition and personal tastes of the king. Some of these birudas are also found in the upper cave at Trichinopoly (No. 8 above).
The rock-cut temple is described in the Memoir of the Archaeological Survey of India, No. 17, page 16.
Languages: Sanskrit, Source Language (other), Tamil, Telugu, Undetermined.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0013.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: Like the previous record this inscription also enumerates a few birudas of Mahēndravarman I (plate IV.) As this inscription is found on a detached pillar, it is evident that it must have formed part of a structural temple of the time of Mahēndravarman I. which has now disappeared.
West face.
Languages: Sanskrit, Source Language (other), Telugu.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0014.
Emmanuel Francis.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0021.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This inscription gives Vīrapratāpa, Bhuvanaikavīra1 and Aḻagiya-Pallava as the titles of Kōpperuñjiṅgadēva. It is dated in the 27th year and records the writ of the officer Kachchiyarāyaṉ issued under orders of the chief to the trustees of the temple of Brahmīśvaram-Uḍaiyār regarding 20 mā of land which was situated in Paṉaiyūr, a hamlet of Ōgūr and originally granted, free of taxes, for the maintenance of a maṭha. The new order now issued retained only 4 out of 20 mā of land as maḍappuṟam transferring the remaining 16 mā as dēvadāna in order to conduct, from its income, a festival on the day of ‘Tiruvōṇam’ the natal star of the chief, to provide 1 padakku of rice daily in the month of Āvaṇi for offerings to the god during the service Aḻagiyapallavaṉ-śandi instituted in his name and for repairs to the temple.
The astronomical details of date given correspond to A.D. 1269, November 2, Saturday.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0230.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: The present inscription which is not dated gives the surnames Kāḍavaṉ Avaṉiyāḷappiṟandāṉ, Sarvajña, Khaḍgamalla,1 and Kṛipāṇamalla to Kōpperuñjiṅga II. It records that the chief constructed a sluice, with a feeder-channel, to the tank at Oḻugaṟai. In the Sanskrit version appended to the epigraph the channel is stated to have been named ‘Tribhuvananṛipanātha.’ The village Oḻugaṟai is in French India about 2 miles from Pondicherry. It was also known as Kulōttuṅgaśōḻanallūr (A.R. No. 175 of 1904), evidently after Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa I.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0246.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This is a Grantha inscription praising the greatness of Mahārājasiṁha, i.e. Kōpperuñjiṅga (II), son of Jīyamahīpati by his wife Śīlavatī. Jīyamahīpati is the same as the Tamil Śīyaṉ in the name Aḻagiya-Śīyaṉ. No. donation to the local temple is recorded in this inscription, but its eulogistic character is emphasised by engraving a Nāgarī1 and Telugu2 version of it in the same temple. The chief is called an ornament of the Kāṭhaka race, Avanyavanasaṁbhavaḥ, Sarvajña, Khaḍgamalla, Niśśaṅkamalla3 etc. He claims to have ‘destroyed the pride of the Karṇāṭa king’ and to have been a ‘Sun to the lotus tank of the Chōḷa family’. He was a devotee at the feet of the god at Chidambaram, where he built the eastern gōpura4 resembling Mount Mēru from the riches obtained by the conquest of his enemies and called it after his own name. The decorations on the four sides of this gōpura are said to have been made with the booty acquired by subduing the four quarters and from riches used in his tulārōhaṇa-ceremony. The inscription also refers to the gifts made by the chief to the temples, among others, at Drākshārāma, Ēkāmra (Conjeeveram), Vīraṭṭānam, Śvētajambu (Jambukēśvaram), Madura5 and Kāḷahasti. His inscriptions are not, however, found in the last mentioned three places; but they are found at Tirupati close to Kāḷahasti wherein he is styled ‘Kāñchi-Nāyaka.’
His Drākshārāma inscription is dated in Śaka 1184 (A.D. 1262) and since his gift at this place is referred to in the present record, the latter has to be placed after that date, if not at a later time in the very same year.
Two important statements made in this inscription establish Kōpperuñjiṅga’s relationship with the Chōḷas and the Pāṇḍyas. He claims to have elevated in the south a Chōḷa prince ‘who was shuddering with fear’ (l. 9). The Chōḷa prince referred to was evidently Rājēndra-Chōḷa III who must have received assistance from the Kāḍava chief, probably against Rājarāja III. He also calls himself a sūtradhāra in the installation (sthāpanā) of the Pāṇḍyarāya. This suggests that Kōpperuñjiṅga should have proceeded to the north as an advance-guard of the Pāṇḍya ruler Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Pāṇḍya I.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0247.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This record engraved in Pallava-Grantha characters on two detached pillars, gives the birudas of a Pallava king. From the florid variety of the alphabet1 used and from the occurrence of the titles Atyantakāma, Atiraṇachaṇḍa, etc., the king may be identified with Narasiṁha II whose identical birudas are also found engraved in the Kailāsanātha temple at Conjeeveram which is definitely known to have been constructed by him. As Tiruppōrūr is close to Mahābalipuram, it is possible that the pillars belonged to a structural temple of the time of Narasiṁha II built somewhere in this locality and may have been fixed up in their present position in the Kandasvāmin temple at a later date.
First Pillar.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0027.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This inscription consists of the first six verses of No. 21.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0022.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This is a label inscription1 in the Pallava-Grantha script engraved on the lateral face of a stray granite slab fixed at the northern entrance into the Okkapiṟandāṉkuḷam street. From general appearance, the slab seems to have formed the lintel of a structural temple in the village. The inscription reads ‘Śrī-Mahēndravarmmēśvaragṛiham’. A similar label is also found in the same village in the Kailāsanātha temple, engraved on the two wing-stones of the steps leading to the Mahēndravarmēśvara shrine which is stated to have been built by Mahēndravarman III (S.I.I. Vol. I. p. 23). The original location of this slab may be traced to this shrine where the present lintel appears to be a later substitution or to some other shrine not far from its present position.2
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0031.
Emmanuel Francis.
Languages: Sanskrit, Source Language (other).
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0023.
Emmanuel Francis.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0024.
Emmanuel Francis.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0025.
Emmanuel Francis.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0026.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This is a fragmentary record engraved in Pallava-Grantha characters of the 7th century A.D. A major portion of the inscription is erased, but from the preserved portion, the names of musical notes such as gāndhāram, pañchamam, dhaivatam, nishādam etc., can be read. A certain order is noticeable in the arrangement of the notes in seven sections with subsections. Unfortunately the subsections have been so erased as to make it impossible to follow the method adopted here. As the palaeography of the inscription resembles that of the Kuḍimiyāmalai epigraph, this record also may be attributed to the time of Mahēndravarman l.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0007A.
Emmanuel Francis.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0027.
Emmanuel Francis.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0028.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: Of the two monolithic caves, one at the foot and the other half-way up, of ‘the rock’ at Trichinopoly, the latter alone contains inscriptions, two of which, published in South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I, pages 29 and 30, state that the cave (upper) was constructed by Guṇabhara (i.e.) Mahēndravarman I. A verse inscription (No. 9 below) engraved on the beam over the inner row of pillars here, calls the cave ‘Laḷitāṅkura-Pallavēśvara-gṛiham’ after the title ‘Laḷitāṅkura’ of this king, which also occurs in his record at Pallāvaram. His birudas are engraved in bold Pallava-Grantha and Tamil characters on all the pillars in the upper cave at Trichinopoly. The outer wall of the sanctuary in this cave seems to have contained an inscription, but only a few letters of its first line are now visible, the rest being completely damaged. The name ‘Mahēndravikrama’ is found mentioned in the inscription on the extreme left outer pillar and most of the birudas occurring here are also found in the records of this king at Pallāvaram and other rock-cut excavations of his time. Some of these titles are unintelligible and appear to be Telugu in origin. The bottom of each of the four pillars contains a biruda in the Pallava-Tamil characters, of which only two are now clear, viz. Piṇapiṇakku and Chitti[rakāra]ppuli.
It is of interest to note that the birudas are alphabetically arranged and so engraved on the front face of the pillars. The same arrangement, though followed in the Pallāvaram inscription, is not so conspicuous there as in the present record (plates I and II).
The characters employed in the present inscriptions are of an ornate nature and provide an interesting contrast with the simpler variety of letters found in the Pallāvaram record of the same king, where almost all these birudas are repeated.
A description of the cave is found in the Memoir of the Archaeological Survey of India, No. 17, pages 13-15.
Languages: Sanskrit, Source Language (other), Tamil, Telugu, Undetermined.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0008.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This inscription records an endowment of 60 kaḻañju of gold, made in the 8th year of Vijaya-Aparājitavarma-Pōttaraiyar, by Paiytāṅgi Kaṇḍaṉ, chief of Kāṭṭūr in Vaḍakarai Iṉṉambar-nāḍu, a subdivision of Śōḻa-nāḍu, for providing on the day of his natal star Svātī, offerings to the deity and for burning a perpetual lamp in the temple of Mahādēva at Tiruvoṟṟiyūr. The money was deposited with the Karmakkīḻvar of Tiruvoṟṟiyūr and the offerings included rice, ghee, plantains, sugar, vegetables, arecanuts, betel-leaves, tender cocoanuts, pañchagavya, sandal paste and camphor.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0092.
Emmanuel Francis.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0029.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This is a Sanskrit verse engraved in Pallava-Grantha characters1 stating that the (upper) cave called ‘Laḷitāṅkura-Pallavēśvaragṛiham’ was constructed by the Pallava king Laḷitāṅkura (i.e. Mahēndravarman I).
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv12p0i0009.
Emmanuel Francis.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0002.
Emmanuel Francis.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0030.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This records an endowment of 30 kaḻañju of gold by Vēḷāṉ Tiruveṇkāḍaḍigaḷ alias Mūvēnda-Piḍavūr-Vēḷāṉ of Piḍavūr in Piḍavūr-nāḍu for burning a perpetual lamp in the temple of Tiruchchōṟṟuttuṟai-Mahādēva. The ūrkiḻār-makkaḷ of Koḍiyālam, the brahmadēya-kiḻavargaḷ and the ūrār of the village, held themselves responsible for the maintenance of the lamp. Evidently the same gift is recorded in No. 137 of 1931 also in Sanskrit, the text of which is given below. To judge from its writing and disposition with regard to No. 138 of 1931 of the 13th year of Parāntaka I, this is possibly a record of Gaṇḍarāditya.
Languages: Sanskrit, Source Language (other), Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv13p0i0126.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This is a bilingual record in Sanskrit and Tamil, of which the first portion is in Grantha. It records a gift of six mā of land for burning two perpetual lamps in the temple of Tiruchchēlūr-Mādēva at Rājakēsari-chaturvēdimaṅgalam, a brahmadēya on the southern bank, by Śēndaṉ Nakkaṉ of Kūṟṟamaṅgalam, a resident of the quarter of the village known as Naratoṅgachchēri evidently after the surname of of a king. This might possibly be a record of Sundara-Chōḷa’s reign.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv13p0i0169.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: The inscription opens with two verses in Sanskrit which are damaged, and which mention the heroic achievements in Siṁhaḷa (Ceylon) of a Bāṇa chief (name lost) ‘the ornament of Bali-kula’, and also refer to the daughter of Arikulakēsari. It records an endowment made by this princess, called Ariñjigai-Pirāṭṭiyār and the wife of the Bāṇa, for the conduct of worship and offerings and for burning 2 lamps during the three services every day to god Amarasundaradēva set up by her-probably in memory of her husband-in the temple at Tirunāgēśvaram, a dēvadāna in Tiraimūrnāḍu on the southern bank. Details of items required for each service are also given. As the record is incomplete the nature of the endowment is not clear.
Piḷḷaiyār Arikulakēsari, the father of the donatrix is no other than Ariñjaya. Rājakēsarivarman of this inscription should therefore refer to his son and successor Sundara-Chōḷa. The expedition to Ceylon mentioned in the record, wherein the Bāṇa prince is said to have distinguished himself (at the cost of his life), is known to have been led by the Koḍumbāḷūr chief and general Parāntakaṉ Śiṟiyavēḷār in the reign of Sundara-Chōḷa (Ep. Ind. Vol. XII, pp. 124 ff., and M.E.R. 1914., II, 15).
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv13p0i0197.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: A facsimile of this inscription was kindly forwarded to me by Mr. Rāghavendrāchārya of Vānūr. It consists of one Sanskrit verse, which is identical with the last verse of Rājasiṁha’s large inscription at Kañchī (No. 24, above). Hence it may be concluded, that the Panamalai Cave was founded by Rājasiṁha and that in his time the Pallavas ruled as far south as Panamalai.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0031.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This is a bilingual record in Sanskrit (portions damaged) and Tamil, and registers an endowment of 20 Karuṅkāśu made to the temple by Bāradāyaṉ Śēnda-Nakkapirāṉbaṭṭa-Sarvakratuyājiyār of Kūṟṟamaṅgalam (the same as the donor of No. 169 above of the 7th year of Rājakēsarivarman), with the proviso that the annual interest of 3 kāśu accruing therefrom was to be given as prize among the competitors, excluding those who were successful in previous years, to the best reciter of prescribed portions of Jaiminīya-Sāmavēda before the god on the night of Tiruvādirai in Mārgaḻi month. The record might be one of Sundara-Chōḷa Parāntaka II.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv13p0i0250.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This records a gift of 400 kuḻi of land for a perpetual lamp in the temple of Pulippagavadēvar at Kāvaṉūr in Mīyāṟu-nāḍu, made by [Ku]rōvi Channayakramavitta-Sarvakratukkaḷ, a member of the āḷuṅgaṇam of the village, after purchasing it tax-free from the sabhā. The gift was left in charge of the sabhā itself. This might probably be a record of Sundara-Chōḷa.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv13p0i0262.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: The subjoined Sanskrit inscription is engraved on three sides of an octagonal pillar,1 which was excavated at Amarāvatī by Mr. R.Sewell and sent by Dr. Burgess to the Madras Museum. The top of the pillar and some letters of the uppermost lines of the inscription have been broken off. The inscription has hitherto remained a puzzle, as each line seems to end incomplete. Finding, that the first words of some lines were connected with the last words of the following lines, I was led to suppose that the inscription must begin from the bottom and not from the top. Curiously enough, this is really the case. If the inscription is read upwards, we find that it consists of eleven complete verses and of a prose passage, the end of which is lost through the mutilation of the pillar at the top.
The inscription opens with an invocation of Buddha and with a mythical genealogy of Pallava, the supposed founder of the Pallava dynasty.
[[genealigical table]] Brahman. Bharadvāja. Aṅgiras. Sudhāman. Droṇa. Aśvatthāman, married to the Apsaras Madani. Pallava.
Verse 8 gives a popular etymology of the name Pallava. Then there follow the names of seven Pallava kings:—
1. Mahendravarman, son of Pallava.
2. Siṁhavarman I., son of 1.
3. Arkavarman, son of 2.
4. Ugravarman.
6. Nandivarman, son of 5, Śrī-Siṁhavishṇu.
7. Siṁhavarman II.
The inscription contains no information about the relationship, which existed between 3 and 4, 4 and 5, 6 and 7. Neither does the genealogy agree with the lists derived by Mr. Foulkes2 and Mr. Fleet3 from other Pallava inscriptions, although similar names of kings occur in them. For these reasons great care should be taken in using the above list for historical purposes.
From the incomplete prose passage at the end of the inscription, we learn that, on his return from an expedition to the north, Siṁhavarman II. came to a place sacred to Buddha, which was called Dhānyaghaṭa (line 38) or Dhānyaghaṭaka (line 47). The lost part of the pillar must have recorded a donation, which the king made to Buddha.
Dhānyaghaṭa or Dhānyaghaṭaka is evidently identical with Dhānyakaṭa or Dhānyakaṭaka, “corn-town,” the well-known old name of Amarāvatī. The use of gha instead of ka can perhaps be explained by the Tamil habit of softening a single consonant between two vowels.4
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0032.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This is a record of Rājarāja I. It consists of two portions, a Sanskrit verse and a Tamil prose passage recording the same grant, viz., a gift of 30 suvarṇas (gold coins-kaḻañju ?) by Āditya for feeding a Brāhmaṇa in a maṭha at Gōvindapāḍi. In the Tamil portion his name and family are detailed as Madhurāntakaṉ Āchchapiḍāraṉ, the son of Vīraśōḻa Iḷaṅgōvēḷār of Koḍumbāḷūr in Kōnāḍu. The donor was evidently a later member of the dynasty of Koḍumbāḷūr chiefs who were connected by ties of marriage with the Chōḷa kings, and some of whom played an important part in the military campaigns of Rājarāja’s predecessors against Ceylon and the Pāṇḍyas (S.I.I. V, No. 980 and M.E.R. 1908, paras 84-91).
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv13p0i0033.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: An endowment of gold for a perpetual lamp in the temple by a lady named Koṟṟi in the name of her husband Kaṇḍiyūr Śaṅkaranārāyaṇa-Bhaṭṭa of Bhuvanachūḷāmaṇichchēri (quarter) of the village, who is called Viḍyāsāgara-pāraga and Guṇanidhi in the Sanskrit portion. The maṉṟāḍikkalaṉai including the vāriyaṉ agreed to the daily supply of ghee for the purpose. The name of the quarter suggests that it was called after the biruda of a king, possibly Parāntaka I.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv13p0i0340.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: The inscription records both in Sanskrit and in Tamil the provision made for burning a lamp in the temple of Perumānaḍigaḷ Kamsāri, i.e., Kṛishṇa, in the Sanskrit portion) at Gōvindapāḍi by a Veḷḷāḷa resident of Kuḷakkuḍi in Piḍavūr-nāḍu, a subdivision of Iruṅgōḷapāḍi. This is engraved almost as a continuation of, and in the same script as No. 311 of 1906 of the 34th year of Parāntaka I.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv13p0i0034.
Emmanuel Francis.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0033.
Emmanuel Francis.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0034.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: The subjoined five grants belong to the kings Narendra-mṛigarāja or Vijayāditya II, Amma I. or Vishṇuvardhana VI, Chālukya-Bhīma II. or Vishṇuvardhana VII, Amma II. or Vijayāditya V. and Vīra-Choḍa or Vishṇuvardhana IX. The place, which is occupied by each of these princes in the genealogy of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty, will be seen from the annexed table, for which all hitherto published Eastern Chalukya grants have been consulted, and in which numbers are prefixed to the names of those princes who really reigned, in order to mark their succession.1
The relation of the two usurpers (18) Tālapa and (21) Yuddhamalla to the direct line of the family is established by three inscriptions:—a. Tāḍapa is called the son of Vikramāditya’s brother (Ind. Ant. Vol. XIV. p. 56); b. Tāla is called the son of Yuddhamalla, who was the paternal uncle of Chālukya-Bhīma I. (Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII, p. 249, where pitṛivya has to be read for pitṛivyo); c. Bhīma II, the son of Kollabhigaṇḍa Vijayāditya, is at the same time called the son of Yuddhamalla, the son of Tālapa, i.e., he belonged to the next generation after (21) Yuddhamalla (Ind. Ant. Vol. XII, p. 92).
Three of the last kings, who are shown in the annexed table, viz., (28) Vijayāditya VI, (29) Rājarāja II. and (30) Vīra-Choḍa, are only known from the subjoined inscription No. 39.
This grant belongs to the Sir W. Elliot Collection of the British Museum, and was made over to me for publication by Dr. Burgess. It consists of five copper-plates with raised rims. Each plate measures 9 by 3 inches. The first and fifth plates are inscribed only on their inner sides, while the three middle ones bear writing on both sides. The preservation of the plates is tolerably good. They are strung on an elliptic ring, which is (1/2)" thick and 4(7/8)" by 3(1/2)" in diameter. The well-preserved circular seal, which is attached to the ring, measures 2(5/8)" in diameter. It bears the sun and the moon at the top, the legend śrītribhuvanāṁkuśa across the centre, and an expanded lotus-flower (side-view) at the bottom—all in relief on a counter-sunk surface.
The document is a grant of the parama-māheśvara Narendra-mṛigarāja, alias Vijayāditya II., the son of Vishṇuvardhana IV. and grandson of Vijayāditya I. The name of the district (vishaya), to the inhabitants of which the king addresses his order, is lost. On the occasion of a lunar eclipse (chandra-grahaṇa-nimitte2) the king gave the village of Koṟṟapaṟṟu to twenty-four brāhmaṇas. Of these, six adhered to the Hiraṇyakeśi-sūtra and eighteen to the Āpastamba-sūtra. They belonged to the following gotṛas:—Agniveśya, Kauṇḍinya, Kauśika, Gautama, Parāśara, Bhāradvāja, Vatsa, Śāṇḍilya, Saṁkṛiti and Harita. According to the colophon of the grant, “the excellent prince Nṛipa-Rudra, who was the brother of Narendra-mṛigarāja and a descendant of the Haihaya-vaṁśa (!), (was) the executor of this charity.”3
[[genealogical table:]] PEDIGREE OF THE EASTERN CHALUKYA DYNASTY. [C1]Kīrtivarman (until Śaka 489). [C1]Satyāśraya Vallabha (from Śaka 532 until at least 556).4 [C2]1. Kubja Vishṇuvardhana I. Vishamasiddhi5 (18 years; cir. Śaka 526-27 to cir. 544-45). [C1]2. Jayasiṁha I. Vallabha (33 years; cir. Śaka 544-45 to cir. 577-78).6 [C2]3. Indra Bhaṭṭāraka.7 [C1]4. Vishṇuvardhana II. (9 years; cir. Śaka 577-78 to cir. 586-87.) [C1]5. Maṅgi-yuvarāja (25 years; cir. Śaka 586-87 to cir. 611-12). [C1]6. Jayasiṁha II. (13 years; cir. Śaka 611-12 to cir. 624-25.) [C2]7. Kokkili (6 months; cir. Śaka 625). [C3]8. Vishṇuvardhana III. (37 years; cir. Śaka 625 to cir. 662.) [C1]9. Vijayāditya I. Bhaṭṭāraka (18 years; cir. Śaka 662 to cir. 680). [C1]10. Vishṇuvardhana IV. (36 years; cir. Śaka 680 to cir. 716.) [C1]11. Vijayāditya II. Narendra-mṛigarāja (48 years; cir. Śaka 716 to cir. 764).8 [C1]12. Kali Vishṇuvardhana V. (1(1/2) years; cir. Śaka 764 to cir. 765-66.) [C1]13. Guṇaga, Guṇagāṅka or Guṇakenalla Vijayāditya III. (44 years; cir. Śaka 765-66 to cir. 809-10.) [C2]Yuvarāja Vikramāditya. [C3]Yuddhamalla. [C1]14. Chālukya-Bhīma I. Drohārjuna (30 years; cir. Śaka 809-10 to cir. 839-40.) [C1]15. Kollabhigaṇḍa, Kollabigaṇḍa or Kaliyarttyaṅka Vijayāditya IV. (6 months; cir. Śaka 840.) [C1]16. Amma I. Vishṇuvardhana VI. Rājamahendra (7 years; cir. Śaka 840 to cir. 847). [C1]17. Vijayāditya.9 [C1]18. Tāha, Tāla, Tāḍapa, Tālapa or Tāḻapa (1 month; cir. Śaka 847). [C1]19. Vikramāditya (11 months or 1 year; cir. Śaka 847 to cir. 848). [C2]20. Bhīma.10 [C1]21. Yuddhamalla (7 years; cir. Śaka 848 to cir. 855).11 [C1]22. Chālukya-Bhīma II. Vishṇuvardhana VII. Gaṇḍamahendra, son of queen Meḻāmbā (12 years; cir. Śaka 855 to 867). [C1]23. Amma II. Vijayāditya V. son of queen Lokamahādevī, ascended the throne in Śaka 86712 and reigned 25 years (to cir. Śaka 892). [C1]24. Dānārṇava or Dāna-nṛipa (3 years; cir. Śaka 892 to cir. 895). [C1]25. Aftor an interregnum of 27 years,13 Śaktivarman or Chālukyachandra reigned 12 years; circa Śaka 925 to circa 937. [C2]26. Vimalāditya married Kūndavā, daughter of Rājarāja of the Sūrya-vaṁśa and younger sister of Rājendra-Choḍa (7 years; cir. Śaka 937 to 944). [C1]27. Rājarāja I. Vishṇuvardhana VIII. married Ammaṅga-devī, daughter of Rājendra-Choḍa of the Sūrya-vaṁśa, ascended the throne in Śaka 94414 and reigned 41 years (to Śaka 985). [C2]28. Vijayāditya VI. received the kingdom of Veṅgī from his nephew Rājendra-Choḍa and reigned 15 years (Śaka 985 to 1000). [C1]Rājendra-Choḍa, alias Kulottuṅga-Choḍa-deva I, Kulottuṅga-deva or Rājanārāyaṇa, Choḍa king, married Madhurāntakī, daughter of Rājendradeva of the Sūrya-vaṁśa, and reigned 49 years (Śaka 985 to 1034). [C1]Vikrama-Choḍa (15 years; Śaka 1034 to 1049). [C2]29. Rājarāja II. (1 year; Śaka 1000 to 1001.) [C3]30. Vīra-Choḍa Vishṇuvardhana IX. ascended the throne in Śaka 1001; a grant15 is dated in the 21st year of his reign (Śaka 1022). [C4]Four other sons. [C1]Kulottuṅga-Choḍa-deva II. was reigning in Śaka 1056.16
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0035.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: The original of the subjoined inscription belongs to the Government Central Museum, Madras. According to Mr. Sewell,1 it “was found at the close of the year 1871 buried in the ground in a field in the village of Eḍeru near Ākiripalle in the Kistna District, 15 miles north-east of Bezvāḍa, a village belonging to the present Zamīndārī of Nūzivīḍu. The plates were presented to the Madras Museum by the then Zamīndār.” A rough transcript and paraphrase of the inscription were published by S. M. Naṭeśa Śāstrī.2 As the inscription deserves to be published more carefully owing to its bearing on a part of the history of the Eastern Chalukyas, I now edit it from the original plates, the use of which I owe to the kindness of Dr. E. Thurston, Superintendent, Government Central Museum.
The document is engraved on five copper-plates with raised rims, which are not less than (1/4) inch thick. Each plate measures 9(1/4) by 4(1/4) inches. The first and fifth plates are inscribed only on their inner sides, while the three middle ones bear writing on both sides. The characters are extremely elegant and must have been engraved by an accomplished calligraphist. The plates are strung on a slightly elliptic ring, which is (1/2) inch thick and measures about 5 inches in diameter. The well-cut circular seal, which is attached to the ring, rests on an expanded lotus-flower and measures 3(1/4) inches in diameter. It bears, at the top, a recumbent boar, which faces the right and is surmounted by the moon and the sun, two chāmaras, an elephant-goad and a symbol which I cannot make out; across the centre, the legend śrītribhuvanāṁkuśa; and at the bottom, an expanded lotus-flower (side-view),—all in relief, on a counter-sunk surface. Both the plates and the seal are in excellent preservation.
The inscription opens with a maṅgala, and then notices in prose and in verse the ancestors of the Eastern Chalukya king Amma I. Of the kings from Kubja-Vishṇuvardhana to Vishṇuvardhana IV. nothing but the names and the length of reigns is mentioned. The next king was Vijayāditya II., who is called Narendra-mṛigarāja in other inscriptions. He fought 108 battles during 12 years with the armies of the Gaṅgas and Raṭṭas, built 108 temples of Śiva in commemoration of his victories and ruled over Veṅgī for 44 years (verses 2 to 4). As Mr. Fleet has pointed out,3 “the Gaṅgas here referred to were mahāmaṇḍaleśvaras, feudatories of the Rāshṭrakūṭas, whose inscriptions are found in the Beḷgaum and Dhārwāḍ Districts.” The Raṭṭas mentioned in the grant were the Rāshṭrakūṭas themselves. If we deduct the sum of the reigns of the Eastern Chalukya kings from Kali-Vishṇuvardhana to Chālukya-Bhīma II. from the date of the accession of Amma II.—Śaka 8674—the accession of Kali-Vishṇuvardhana and the death of his predecessor Vijayāditya II. would fall in Śaka 764. Most inscriptions assign to the latter a reign of 48 years, two inscriptions a reign of 40 years,5 and the subjoined inscription a reign of 44 years. Accordingly, his accession would fall in Śaka 716, 724 or 720. Hence the war between Vijayāditya II. and the Raṭṭas—as suggested by Mr. Fleet—may have taken place during the reigns of the two Rāshṭrakūṭa kings Govinda III. and Śarva Amoghavarsha, who ruled at least from Śaka 7266 to 737 and from 7377 till at least 8008 respectively. As, in a grant of Śaka 730,9 the lord of Veṅgī is described as the servant of Govinda III., and as in a grant of Śaka 78910 it is stated, that Amoghavarsha was worshipped by the lord of Veṅgī, it seems that each party claimed the victory over the other. The fact, that Vijayāditya II. built 108 temples of Śiva, is also alluded to in two other inscriptions, where it is said, that he founded 108 temples of Narendreśvara, i.e., temples of Śiva called after his surname Narendra.11
Nothing of importance seems to have happened during the short reign of Kali-Vishṇuvardhana. His successor Vijayāditya III., who reigned from Śaka 765-66 to 80910, “having been challenged by the lord of the Raṭṭas, conquered the unequalled Gaṅgas, cut off the head of Maṅgi in battle, frightened the fire-brand Kṛishṇa and burnt his city completely” (verse 10.) The killing of Maṅgi and the burning of the city of Kṛishṇa is also reported in another inscription.12 The Kṛishṇa, whom Vijayāditya III. defeated, is probably identical with the lord of the Raṭṭas, who challenged him, and with the Rāshṭrakūṭa king Kṛishṇa II., whose earliest known date is Śaka 825.13
After the death of Vijayāditya III., the Rāshṭrakūṭas, as noticed by Mr. Fleet, seem to have been victorious; for his nephew Chalukya-Bhīma I., alias Drohārjuna, who ruled from Śaka 809-10 to 839-40, had to reconquer “the country of Veṅgī, which had been overrun by the army of the Raṭṭa claimants” (line 28f.) The length of the reign of Vijayāditya IV., the successor of Chalukya-Bhīma I., is not mentioned in the subjoined inscription; according to other grants he ruled six months.
There followed the king, who issued the grant, Amma I., alias Rājamahendra or Vishṇuvardhana VI. He, “having drawn his sword, which broke the dishonest hearts of his feudatory relatives, who had joined the party of his natural adversaries, won the affection of the subjects and of the army of his father (Vijayāditya IV.)” and of his grandfather (Chalukya-Bhīma I.)” (line 39 ff.) The natural adversaries of Amma I. were probably the Rāshṭrakūṭas under Prabhūtavarsha III., whose inscription is dated in Śaka 842.14
The grant proper, which takes up the remainder of the inscription, is an order, which Amma I. addressed to the inhabitants of the Kaṇḍeṟuvāḍi-vishaya, and by which he granted the village of Goṇṭūru15 together with twelve hamlets to Bhaṇḍanāditya, alias Kuntāditya, one of his military officers. The donee belonged to the Paṭṭavardhinīvaṁśa. His ancestor Kāḻakampa had been in the service of Kubja-Vishṇuvardhana, the first of the Eastern Chalukya kings, and had killed a certain Daddara in battle. Bhaṇḍanāditya himself had already served the donor’s father, who is here called Vijayāditya-Kaliyarttyaṅka. The second part of this name corresponds to the Kollabhigaṇḍa or Kollabigaṇḍa of other inscriptions. The grant closes with the enumeration of the four boundaries of the village granted and of the names of the twelve hamlets included in it, and with two of the customary imprecatory verses.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0036.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: The original of the subjoined inscription was kindly placed at my disposal by R. Sewell, Esq., then Acting Collector of the Kistna District, and was, at his desire, made over to the Central Museum, Madras, for safe custody. It was discovered recently, while digging a mound near the temple at Kolavennu, Bezvāḍa Tālluqa. The document consists of three copper-plates with raised rims. Each plate measures 9 1/4 by 4 5/8 inches. The first and third plates are inscribed only on their inner sides, while the second one bears writing on both sides. The writing on the third plate breaks off in the description of the boundaries of the granted village. As there is no trace of any letters after the words: yasyāvadhayaḥ pūrvataḥ, “the boundaries of which (are), to the east,” it seems that the document was left incomplete, perhaps because the necessary details of the surroundings of the village were not to hand, when the edict was issued. The plates are strung on a ring, which is 1/2 inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. The circular seal, which is attached to the ring, rests on an expanded lotus-flower and measures 2 1/4 inches in diameter. It bears at the top a standing boar, which faces the right, with the sun and the moon over it, a chaurī and an elephant-goad on its left and a chaurī on its right; the centre of the seal is occupied by the legend śrītribhuvanāṁkuśa and its bottom by a lotus-flower with eight petals (bird’s-eye view),—all in relief on a counter-sunk surface. Both the inscription and the seal are in fairly good preservation.
The inscription opens with a maṅgala, which mentions the lotus-flower that rises from Vishṇu’s navel,1 and then gives the usual vaṁśāvali of the Eastern Chalukyas from Kubja-Vishṇu to Vikramāditya, the younger son of Chālukya-Bhīma I. The ensuing reign of Yuddhamalla, the son of Tāḻapa, is left out. This omission is probably due to the fact, that Chālukya-Bhīma II. considered his predecessor, whom he conquered, as an usurper and ignored him purposely. The grant consists of an order addressed by Chālukya-Bhīma II. alias Vishṇuvardhana VII. to the inhabitants of the Kaṇḍeṟuvāṭivishaya2 and issued at the request of a vassal of the king, the Pānara prince Vājjaya. On the occasion of a winter-solstice (uttarāyaṇa),3 Bhīma II. gave the village of Koḍhatalli as an agrahāra to Kommaṇa, who know the kramapāṭha (kramavid) and adhered to the Āpastamba-sūtra. The donce was the son of Deṇiya, who know the kramapāṭha (kramaka), and of Kandamavvā, and the grandson of Revaśarman, an inhabitant of Ābharadvasukālmādi.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0037.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This inscription registers the remission of the taxes due on some land endowed for a perpetual lamp in the temple of Mūlasthānam-uḍaiya-Paramasvāmi at Pēriṅgūr, by Agniśarma Daśapuri-Bhaṭṭa-Sōmayājiyār of Puḷḷalūr, a member of the Āḷuṅgaṇam of the village, who paid a lump-sum of money therefor to the assembly (Peruṅguṟi-Perumakkaḷ). The alphabet of the inscription looks like that of No. 210 of 1906 of the time of Rējēndra-Chōḷa I, and the details of the date, viz. 4th year, Mithuna, śu. 7, Thursday, Hastā agree for A.D. 989, June 13, when Hastā commenced at ·25 of day. The record is therefore one of Rājarāja I.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv13p0i0083.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: Like the preceding inscription, this one was received from Mr. R. Sewell, who found it lying in the Huzūr Treasury attached to the Collector’s Office, Masulipatam, and was made over to the Madras Museum. The document consists of three copper-plates with raised rims. Each plate measures 7 3/4 by 3 3/4 inches. The first and third plates are inscribed only on their inner sides, while the second one bears writing on both sides. They are all much worn, and of the third plate one entire half is lost. The plates are strung on a ring, which is 3/8 inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. The circular seal, which is attached to the ring, rests on an expanded lotus-flower and measures 2 7/8 inches in diameter. It is much corroded, but still shows distinct traces of a standing boar, which faces the right, at the top, of the legend śrītribhuvanāṁkuśa across the centre, and of a lotus-flower with eight petals [bird’s-eye view] at the bottom—all in relief on a counter-sunk surface.
The document opens with the usual vaṁśāvali of the Eastern Chalukyas from Kubja-Vishṇuvardhana. The donor is Amma-rāja II. alias Vijayāditya V. (who began to reign in Śaka 867). The king addresses his order to the inhabitants of the Gudravāra-vishaya, which must be identical with the Gudrāvāra- or Gudrahāra-vishaya of other inscriptions.1 The donee, whose name is lost, was the family priest (kulabrāhmaṇa) of the king and belonged to the Kauṇḍilya-gotra (sic). The object granted seems to have been a field, which had formerly belonged to the donee (etadīya-prāktana-kshetra), but had been taken away from him (vilupta) and was probably restored to him by the present document. The other details of the grant are lost.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0038.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: The original of the subjoined grant belongs to the Sir W. Elliot Collection in the British Museum and was lent to me for publication by Dr. Burgess. It had been previously in the possession of the karaṇam of Chellūr, a village in the Cocanada: Tālluqa of the Godāvarī District: The grant consists of five copper-plates with raised rims. Each plate measures 5 3/4 by 10 1/4 inches. The first plate bears writing only on its inner side, while the remaining ones are inscribed on both sides. The preservation of the plates is fairly good; the fifth only is somewhat damaged. The ring, which bears the seal, has been cut. It is 5/8 inch thick and 6 1/4 inches in diameter. The well-preserved seal measures 2 5/8 inches in diameter. It rests on an expanded lotus-flower and bears in relief on a counter-sunk surface the legend śrītribhuvanāṁkuśa. Over the latter, it contains a boar, which faces the right and is surrounded by two lamp stands, two chāmaras, the sun and the moon, an elephant-goad and a conch. Below the legend, there is a drum (?), an expanded lotus-flower (bird’s-eye view), an emblem resembling what Mr. Fleet supposes to be a makara-toraṇa,1 and a svastika.
Abstracts of the present inscription have already been published by Sir W. Elliot.2 It is the latest known document of the Eastern Chalukya a dynasty and possesses considerable interest, as it contains valuable details about the connection between the Eastern Chalukyas and the Choḷas and thus settles the dates of several kings of the last-mentioned dynasty.
The vaṁśāvali of the inscription consists of four parts:—
I. (Lines 1-16.) A genealogy of the lunar race down to Udayana, commencing with whom fifty-nine emperors are supposed to have reigned at Ayodhyā.
II. (Lines 16-28.) An account of five Early Chalukya kings, viz.:—
[[genealogical table]] Vijayāditya I., killed in a battle with Trilochana-Pallava. Vishṇuvardhana, married to a Pallava princess. Vijayāditya II. Pulakeśi-Vallabha. Kīrtivarman.
III. (Lines 28-46.) The usual succession of the Eastern Chalukyas of Veṅgī from Kubja-Vishṇuvardhana to Vimalāditya.
IV. (Lines 46-78.) An account of the later Eastern Chalukyas during their connection with the Choḷas, viz.:—
[[genealogical table]] [C1]Vimalāditya. [C1]Rājarāja I. [C2]Vijayāditya. [C1]Rājendra-Choḍa, alias Kulottuṅga-deva or Rājanārāyaṇa. [C1]Two sons, of whom one was Rājarāja II. [C2]Vīra-Choḍa, alias Vishṇuvardhana. [C3]Four other sons.
The first and second parts of the vaṁśāvali need not be treated in detail, as the first is entirely mythical, and Mr. Fleet considers the second to be “a mere farrago of vague tradition and Purāṇik myths, of no authority, based on the undoubted facts that the Chalukyas did come originally from the north, and did find the Pallavas in possession of some of the territories afterwards acquired by themselves, and on a tradition of the later Kādambas that the founder of their family was named Trilochana or Trinetra.”3
The third part of the vaṁśāvali agrees with Mr. Fleet’s grants of Rājarāja I. and of Kulottuṅga-Choḍa-deva II.4 Just as in the grant of Rājarāja I. a reign of 3 years is allotted to Dānārṇava, who is here also called Dāna-nṛipa, and an interregnum of 27 years is stated to have taken place after him. There follow the reigns of his sons Śaktivarman (12 years) and Vimalāditya (7 years). No mention is made of the Choḷa princess Kūndavā, whom the latter married according to the grant of Rājarāja I.
We now turn to the fourth part of the vaṁśāvali. The son of Vimalāditya, Rājarāja, who ruled for 41 years (line 47), married Ammaṅga-devī, the daughter of a Rājendra-Choḍa of the solar race (verse 7). Their son Rājendra-Choḍa (verse 8), Kulottuṅga-deva (verse 11) or Rājanārāyaṇa (verse 12) at first ascended the throne of Veṅgī (verse 9), conquered Kerala, Pāṇḍya, Kuṇtala and other countries (verse 10), and was anointed to the Choḍa kingdom (verse 11). He married Madhurāntakī, the daughter of a Rājendra-deva of the solar race (verse 12) and had by her seven sons (verse 13). When he rose to the Choḍa kingdom, he had given the kingdom of Veṅgī to his paternal uncle Vijayāditya (verse 14), who died after a reign of fifteen years (verse 15). Then he gave Veṅgī to his son Rājarāja (verses 13 and 16) and, when the latter had returned after one year’s reign (verse 17), to Rājarāja’s younger brother Vīra-Choḍa (verse 18), who was crowned at Jaganātha-nagarī5 (verse 20) in Śaka 1001 (verse 21). As the difference between this date and Śaka 944, the date of the accession of Rājarāja I. according to Mr. Fleet’s grant, is equal to the sum of the intervening reigns of Rājarāja I., Vijayāditya VI. and Rājarāja II. (41+15+1=57), it follows that Rājendra-Choḍa must have appointed Vijayāditya VI. viceroy of Veṅgī in the very year of his accession. The present grant of Vīra-Choḍa is dated in the 21st year of his reign, i.e., Śaka 1022, or 12 years before the death of his father Rājendra-Choḍa and before the accession of his elder brother Vikrama-Choḍa.
The chief importance of the Chellūr plates consists in the light, which they throw on a portion of the history of the Choḷa dynasty. The large Leyden grant and some of the Tamil inscriptions contained in the present volume mention three Western Chālukya kings, who were the antagonists of three Choḷa kings:—
1. According to the large Leyden grant, Rājarāja-deva (see Nos. 40, 41 and 66, below) conquered Satyāśraya. This was probably the Western Chālukya king Satyāśraya II. (Śaka 919 to about 930.) Consequently, Rājarāja-deva may be identified with that Rājarāja of the Sūryavaṁśa, whose daughter Kūndavā was married to the Eastern Chalukya king Vimalāditya (Śaka 937 (?) to 944). With this agrees the Koṅgu Chronicle, which places Rājarāja’s reign about Śaka 926.
2. According to Nos. 67 and 68, below, Rājendra-Choḷa-deva conquered Jayasiṁha. This was the Western Chālukya king Jayasiṁha III. (about Śaka 940 to about 964), who, in one of his inscriptions, calls himself “the lion to the elephant Rājendra-Choḷa” (see the introduction to No. 37). Consequently, Rājendra-Choḷa-deva must be identified with that Rājendra-Choḍa of the Sūryavaṁśa, whose daughter Ammaṅga-devī was married to the Eastern Chalukya king Rājarāja I. (Śaka 944 to 985), and who may be the same as that Rājendra-Choḍa, whose younger sister Kūndavā was married to Vimalāditya (Śaka 937 (?) to 944). If the last identification is correct, Rājendra-Choḷa-deva would have been the son of Rājarāja-deva.
3. According to the fragmentary inscription No. 127, below, and according to an inscription at Māmallapuram, Rājendra-deva conquered Āhavamalla. This was probably the Western Chālukya king Āhavamalla II. or Someśvara I. (about Śaka 964 to about 990), who, according to inscriptions and according to the Vikramāṅkacharita, fought with the Choḷas. Consequently, Rājendra-deva may be identified with that Rājendra-deva of the Sūryavaṁśa, whose daughter Madhurāntakī was married to the Eastern Chalukya king Rājendra-Choḍa or Kulottuṅga-Choḍa-deva I. (Śaka 985 to 1034.) The inscriptions do not inform us, in what manner Rājendra-deva was related to his predecessor Rājendra-Choḷa-deva.
The subjoined table will show at a glance all supposed synchronisms:—
[[genealogical table]] [C1]Western Chālukyas. [C2]Choḷas (Sūryavaṁśa). [C3]Eastern Chalukyas (Somavaṁśa). 1. Satyāśraya II. fought with Rājarāja-deva, who was the father-in-law of Vimalāditya [C1](Śaka 919 to about 930.) [C2](about Śaka 926.) [C3](Śaka 937 (?) to 944). 2. Jayasiṁha III. fought with Rājendra-Choḷa-deva, who was the father-in-law of Rājarāja I. [C1](about Śaka 940 to about 964.) [C2](Śaka 944 to 985.) 3. Āhavamalla II. fought with Rājendra-deva, who was the father-in-law of Rājendra-Choḍa or (about Śaka 964 to about 990.) [C2]Kulottuṅga-Choḍa-deva I. (Śaka 985 to 1034.)
In order to prevent its re-occurrence, I conclude with alluding to the in all previous pedigrees of the Choḷas. This was the confounding of the two Choḷa kings Rājarāja and Rājendra-Choḷa with their Eastern Chalukya grandsons, who seem to have received their names from those of their maternal grandfathers. In reality the Eastern Chalukya king Rājarāja I. ruled only over Veṅgī. His son Rājendra-Choḍa or Kulottuṅga-Choḍa-deva I., though at first king of Veṅgī, seems to have inherited the Choḷa kingdom from his father-in-law, the Choḷa king Rājendra-deva, in Śaka 985.
After the vaṁśāvali, the subjoined inscription contains the grant itself. It is an order, which was addressed by the paramamāheśvara Vīra-Choḍa-deva (line 79), alias Vishṇuvardhana (line 78) to the inhabitants of the Guddavāṭi-vishaya6 (line 80). In the 21st year of his reign (line 113) the king gave a village of the above-mentioned district, whose name is indistinct, but seems to have been Kolāṟu7 (line 103), to a temple of Vishṇu at the agrahāra of Chellūru.8 This Vishṇu temple had been founded (verse 36) by the king’s senāpati (verse 30) Meḍamārya (verse 27), alias Guṇaratnabhūshaṇa (verse 29), who had also constructed a pond at the same village of Chellūru (verse 34) and founded two sattras at Drākshārāma9 and Pīṭhapurī10 (verse 33). He was the son of Potana of the Mudgalagotra (verse 24), who had received from Rājarāja11 the somewhat lengthy title of Rājarāja-brahma-mahārāja (verse 25), by Kannamāmbā (verse 26). The edict ends with the statement, that its executors (ājñapti) were the five ministers (pañcha pradhānāḥ), and with the names of the composer and the writer.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0039.
Emmanuel Francis.
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv01p0i0003.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This interesting inscription engraved in the Pallava rock-cut cave-temple on the hill at Tiruchchirāppaḷḷi is dated in the 4th year and 2,501st day of the reign of king Māṟañjaḍaiyaṉ, who is also called Pāṇḍyādhirāja Varaguṇa[varman]. Having destroyed the fort at Vembil (i.e., Vēmbaṟṟūr near Kumbakōṇam), the king was staying at Niyamam at the time of the issue of this record. He is described as an ornament of both the solar and lunar dynasties, probably because of an earlier marital alliance between the Chōḷa (solar) and the Pāṇḍya (lu2nar) ruling families. The king is stated to have made a gift of 125 kaḻañju of gold to the temple of Tirumalai-Bhaṭāra, by which the liṅga in the rock-cut cave is evidently meant. From the fact that provision was made for burning five lamps in this temple on the day of Ārdrā every month, it is probable that Ārdrā was the natal star of this king.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv14p1i0010.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This inscription dated in the 13th year of Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Chōḷapāṇḍya registers the sale by the sabhā of Rājarāja-chaturvēdimaṅgalam to the temple of Rājēndraśōḻa-viṇṇagar-Paramasvāmigaḷ, which according to other inscriptions is known to be the temple built by the Chēra king Rājasiṁha in the name of his Chōḷa overlord.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv14p1i0144.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This record belongs to the reign of the Pāṇḍya king Varaguṇa-Mahārāja and is dated in the 4th year and 4635th day of his reign. The puḷḷi is marked in many consonants which fact proves its early date.
The Sanskrit verse at the beginning states that a certain Kaḍambavēḷāṉ donated 15 kāśu and that from its interest a lamp was to be maintained in the temple of Śiva of Nūtanagrāma.
The Tamil portion records that Maṟavaṉ Aṇukkappēraraiyaṉ alias Kaḍambaṉvēḷāṉ of Perumāttūr in Muttūṟṟu-kūṟṟam made a gift of 15 paḻaṅgāśu and a lamp stand for burning a perpetual lamp in the temple and another similar amount for the supply of garlands to the deity. Tirupputtūr (Nūtanagrāma) is said to be a brahmadēya in Koḻuvūr-kūṟṟam.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv14p1i0015.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: These two records engraved in early Grantha and Vaṭṭeḻuttu characters belong to Māṟañjaḍaiyaṉ who is also called Parāntaka. They are important because the Kali year 3871 is also quoted for this king, thus furnishing a valuable chronological land mark for early Pāṇḍya history. The rock-cut temple of Narasiṁha was begun by Māṟaṉ-Kāri alias Muvēndamaggalappēraraiyaṉ, a vaidya of Karavandapura alias Kaḷakkuḍi and an Uttaramantrin (minister) of the Pāṇḍya king,1 but as he died subsequently, the work was completed by his brother Māṟaṉ-Eyiṉaṉ alias Pāṇḍimaṅgala-Viśaiyaraiyaṉ who succeeded him in the office of minister, who added the mukhamaṇḍapa and had the consecration ceremony performed. As the person first mentioned had also the title Madhurakavi, it has been tentatively assumed that he had some connection with the Vaishṇava Āḻvār named Kāri Māṟaṉ alias Nammāḷvār, the author of the Tiruvāymoḻi. Karavandapuram has been identified with Ukkiraṉkōṭṭai in the Tirunelveli taluk of the district of the same name, in the inscriptions copied from which, the village is called Kaḷakkuḍi and Kaḷandai.2
Languages: Sanskrit, Source Language (other), Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv14p1i0001-0002.
Emmanuel Francis.
Summary: This is a fragmentary inscription, the beginning and end being lost. The 6th regnal year of a Śrīvallabhadēva is mentioned in line 2. A gift of land in the village Durgābhagavatinallūr made probably by Kandāḍai Kāḷamēgha-Bhaṭṭa of the Āpastamba-sūtra seems to have been recorded originally. Palæographically the record may be assigned to the 12th century.
Languages: Sanskrit, Tamil.
Repository: South Indian Inscriptions (Original Edition) (south-indian-inscriptions).
DHARMA_INSSIIv14p1i0211.