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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
XVI.- Inscriptions of Parakesarivarman (Aditya II Karikala) who took the head of Vira-Pandya or the Pandya (King) No. 205 Tiruvalangadu copper-plates of the sixth year of Rajendra-Chola I No. 199 to 202 Ujjivanathasvamin, Nagesvarasvamin, Mahalingasvamin temple No. 203 to 204 Nahesvarasvamin temple at Kumbakonam ...Previous | (Tiruvalangadu copper-plates) | Next... No.
205.â THE TIRUVALANGADU COPPER-PLATES OF THE SIXTH YEAR OF
RAJENDRA-CHOLA I The
subjoined set of copper-plates discovered so early as September
1905, has been fully described in the Director-Generalâs Archaeological
Survey Report for 1903-04, pp. 233-5.
Its contents are discussed in the Madras Epigraphical
Report for 1916, Part II, paragraphs 11 to 20.
The plates and the massive seal[1]
on which they are hung weigh 8 maunds, 2 visses and 20 palams and
are thus nearly three times as heavy as the Paithan record of A.D.
1272 pronounced by Dr. Fleet to be an epigraphic curiosity in
respect of its weight.[2]
The Tiruvalangadu plates consist of thirty-one copper-sheets;
whereas the so-called larger Leyden plates of the same dynasty
already published[3]
contain only twenty-one. The
former supply also more information about the early Chola kings than
the latter. An earlier
set of Chola copper-plates issued by king Uttama-Chola Madhurantaka,
the grand-uncle of Rajendra-Chola I., has been published above.[4]
A set of still earlier copper-plates was recently discovered
by Mr. T.A. Gopinatha Rao at Anbil.
They belong to the time of Sundara-Chola Parantaka II., the
father of Rajaraja I., and are being edited by him in the Epigraphia
Indica. The
Sanskrit and Tamil portions of the Tiruvalangadu grant were written
at different periods, as has been already pointed out by Mr.
Venkayya,â the latter at the time to which the inscription refers
itself and the former about at least a decade later.
A detached inscription written in continuation of the
Sanskrit portion on sheet Xa and continued on Xb, is
stated by Mr. Venkayya to be a later addition.[5]
It registers a grant made to the shrine of the goddess at
Tiruvalangadu, perhaps contemporaneously with the grant of
Palaiyanur to the temple of Mahadeva (Siva) of that place,
but put into writing long
after. The
characters of the detached record are paleographically at least one
or even two centuries later than the characters of the Palaiynaur
grant and it is difficult to explain why a gift made to the shrine
of the goddess in the 6th year of Rajendra-Chola I. must
have been kept without being reduced to writing for such a long
period. In this
connexion it deserves to be noted that separate shrines of goddesses
in Siva temples are, generally, of much later origin than the
original Siva temples themselves and that in the stone inscriptions
registered on the walls of the Tiruvalangadu temple the shrine of
the goddess is referred to for the first time only in a record of
the 10th year of Tribhuvana-chakravartin Rajadhiraja II.,
i.e., in A.D. 1173 â clearly 155 years after the date of
the subjoined copper-plate grant.
The
tradition of the place Tiruvalangadu intimately connects it with
Ammai or Karaikkal-Ammai, a great devotee of Siva who, under the
orders of that god, put on a dreary emaciated appearance and
worshipped his dancing form at Tiruvalangadu.
The name Ammai-Nachchiyar which occurs in the detached
inscription on plate XVI as a name of the goddess of the temple does
not so appear in the stone records of Tiruvalangadu.
No. 469 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection for 1905
calls her Periya-Nachchiyar; in another record her name occurs as
Vandarkulal Nachchiyar (No. 497 of 1905), which is still current in
its Sanskrit form Bhramaralakamba. The god himself is named Ammaiyappa in v. 129.
He was perhaps so named on account of his being kind as a
father to his devotee Ammai or Karaikkal-Ammai.
Both the names Palaiyanur (or Palanai) and Tiruvalangadu
occur in the Devaram hymns. In the
hymn sung by Sundaramurti-Nayanar the goddess is referred to as
Vandarkulali-Umainangai and the god himself as Palaiyanur-Amma.
It is not impossible
that in the names Ammaiyappan and Ammai-Nachchiyar, Amma is
synonymous with the god Tiruvalangadu.
The story of Karaikkal-Ammai is not referred to in the Devaram
so called. But the
eleventh Tirumurai of the sacred collection which describes
the god, at Tiruvalangadu was the composition of Karaikkal-Ammai
herself and the place of honour is given to it as muthathirupathigam. The
prasasti of the Chola family conveyed by the Sanskrit portion
of the grant (vv. 1 to 137) consists of 271 lines and is mostly
Puranic[6].
In verse 4 are introduced the sun and Manu, the latter of
whom was produced from the Sun by concentration of mind.
His son was Ikshvaku (v. 5) ; his son Vikukshi (v. 6) ; his
son Puranjaya (v. 7) surnamed Kakutstha (v. 8) ; his son Kakshivat
(v. 9) and his son Aryaman (v. 10).
In this family was born Analapratapa (v. 11); in his family
was born Vena; and his son born from the right arm was Prithu (vv.
12 and 13). In his
familywas born Dhundhumara, so called on account of his having
killed the demon Dhundhu (v. 14).
In (his) family was born Yuvanasva (v. 15) ; his son was
Mandhatri who ruled the earth as far as the Lokaloka mountain (v.
16) ; his son was muchukunda who, by killing the demon Kalayavana,
pleased the god Mukunda, i.e., Vishnu (v. 17).
In (his) family was born king Valabha[7]
who founded the city of Valabhi (v. 18) ; his son was Prithulaksha
who set the mountain Mandara whirling in the ocean for securing
nectar (v. 19) ; his son was Parthivachudamani (v. 20). In (his)
family was born Dirghabahu (v. 21) and then came Chandrajit[8]
(v. 22); his son was Sankriti who became the emperior at the close
of the Krita age (v. 23). In
that family was born Panchapa (v. 24)[9] ; in his family was born
Satyavrata who conquered Kasiraja, the king of Varanasi (i.e.,
Benares) (v. 25) and acquired the title Rudrajit (v. 26) by
conquering Rudra in battle. In
that family was born Sibi; an ornament of his family was king
Marutta[10]
who was an immediate predecessor of the Pandavas (vv. 27 and 28).
In his family was born Dushyanta; his son was Bharata and his
son was Chola after whose name the Solar race on this earth became
known as Chola (v. 29) and who ruled the Chola country which was
abundantly rich (v. 30). Cholavarmanâs
son was Rajakesarivarman and Rajakesarinâs son was Parakesarin
(vv. 30 and 31). These
two names were used as titles alternately by the Chola kings in the
order of their coronation (v. 32).
Parakesarinâs son was Chitraratha; his son was Chitrasva
and his son, Chitradhanvan (v. 33).
It is stated that this last king Chitradhanvan brought into
his dominions the river Kaverakanyaka, i.e., Kaveri, just as
Bhagiratha brought into the earth Ganga, the river of the gods (v.
35). In that family was
born Suraguru entitled Mrityujit (v. 36).
In his family was born Chitraratha who bore the title
Vyaghraketu after his banner on which was the figure of a tiger.
He also bore as an ornament on his head the flowers of the dhataki
(v. 37).[11]
His son was Narendrapati who became king at the end of the Treta
age. His son was king
Vasu entitled Uparichara on account of his having received a
celestial car from Indra by which he moved about in all directions
(v. 39). In his family
was born Visvajit at the close of the dvapara age (v. 40).
Thus verses 4 to 40 supply names of kings who ruled in the
Krita, Treta and the Dvapara ages and as such can hardly be of any
interest to the student of history, excepting perhaps the euponymous
name Chola and the titles Rajakesarivarman and Parakesarin of the
Treta age. Coming to the rulers of the Kali age, the first king mentioned is Perunatkilli who was born in this same family and was highly learned (v. 41). In his race[12] was born Kalikala who renovated the town Kanchi with gold and established his fame by constructing flood-embankments for the river Kaveri. The poet explains the name Kalikala as âthe god of Death (Kala)â either to the Kali age or to the elephants (kari) of his enemies (v. 42). Evidently here, the tradition recorded in Tamil literature that the name Karikala âthe burnt-legâ was derived from an accident which happened to the king while yet he was a boy, was either not known or was purposely ignored by the eulogist. In that family was born Kochchengannan whose former birth as a spider and deep devotion to Siva are described in verse 43. The story of Kochchengannan is found in the Periyapuranam under the name Kochchengatchola-Nayanar. He is there stated to have been the son of Subhadeva and Kamalavati and to have constructed many Siva temples in the Chola country. The classic Tamil poem Kalavali, which is devoted to the history of his life, describes his defeat of the Chera king at Kalumalam.
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