Annual Reports

INTRODUCTION

maṅgalam as the donor for a service called Tappilāvāchakan-śandi instituted by him in the temple of Vīraśēkharīśvaram-Uḍaiyār at Śākkaḷūr. Śēndamaṅgalam mentioned in the record is probably to be identified with the village of the same name in the Tiruvadanai taluk of the Ramnad District. The chiefs of this place are for the first time known from the present inscription. From the name of the service instituted by the chief it may be inferred that Tappilāvāchakan, i.e. ‘faultless in speech’, was the title of this chief. An inscription of the Vijayanagara king Viruppaṇṇa Uḍaiyar, son of Harihara, from Tiruvaṇṇāmalai (South Arcot District) dated Śaka 1310, Vibhava, (No. 74) gives us an idea of the exact nature of the tenure of land called agarapparru, i.e., land held as agrahāra. The inscription states that the village of Adigai alias Kaṁparāyachaturvēdimaṅgalam was formerly granted by the king’s elder brother Jommaṇa Uḍaiyār to Brāhmaṇas as Śrāddha-vṛitti and free of all taxes, for the merit of Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar. Since the date of the grant, the village was included in the agarapparru category in the revenue accounts and the donees had been paying rakshā-bhōgam tax. On hearing this, Viruppaṇṇa Uḍaiyar transferred the village from this classification to another category called Vagai exempting it from all taxes. It is obvious, therefore, that the land held on agarapparru tenure, though exempt from all taxes, was liable to the levy called rakshā-bhōgam, i.e. watchman or police tax.

   The success of an expedition against Travancore in the 16th century by the Vijayanagara rulers is evidenced by an inscription (No. 109) found on the bali-pīṭha of the Kanyākumārī temple at Cape Comorin recording the setting up of a Jayastaṁbha at the village by Appaṇa Nāyaka the daḷavāy (Commander) of Viṭṭhala. This confirms the information regarding this achievement found in a record at Ratnagiri (Trichinopoly District) that pillars of victory were erected at Rāmēśvaram and Kanyākumārī (Cape Comorin) by Viṭṭhala and his brother China Timma.

   Two records (Nos. 154 and 155) of the late Muhammadan chiefs of the Cuddapah District were secured from Pedapasupula, Cuddapah District. One of them (No. 154) dated Śaka 1655, Paridhāvi, records the construction of the eastern gate of the fort at the village by Yusupa (Yusuf) Khan Saheb, son of Hazara Nawab Jamsada (Jamshed) Khān Sāheb. The other record, dated twenty years later, in Śaka 1675, states that Hazarat Abdul Gani Saheb, son of Hazarat Abdul Khader Khan Nawab Saheb, constructed the south-west bastion of the fort.

   Among records of general interest may be mentioned one of the thirteenth century A.D. from Tiruvaṇṇāmalai (No. 70) which records a large number of benefactions and endowments made by a single individual which shows his great philanthropy. Among the gifts made by him to the temple at the place are a lamp-stand, a plate, a platform for idols, a vessel for bathing the idol, a stone slab for offerings of vegetables, a copper cauldron for the sacred bath (tirumañjanam) of the deity, sixteen towels for wiping the idol after bath and one perpetual lamp. He also constructed a well and a maṇdapa in the temple. To the village assembly he gave two trumpets and a gong for use by the assembly at the time of its sessions. He is also stated to have constructed a well for the use of the maṭha in the village, another for the use of the pāṇār and paḷḷi communities and several tanks and wells in Kaṇṇandaipūṇḍi and other villages.

   How an earthquake affected the temple at Tiruvaṇṇāmalai (North Arcot District) is recorded in an inscription found on the south wall of the fifth prākāra of the temple (No. 81). It is stated in the inscription that the wall, on which the inscription is engraved, fell down to the basement as a result of the shock and that it was erected anew in the regime of Tātti-Reḍḍiyār on Āḍi 16 of the year Prabhava. The record may be assigned on palaeographical grounds to the 16-17th century A.D.

   Among the bronze icons kept in the Śiva temple at Kāḷahasti (Chittoor District) one depicting Yālpāṇar, the deified bard of the Chōḷa country, is noteworthy. A label in Tamil engraved on the pedestal of the image (No. 84) discloses its identity and its chief interest lies in the representation of the Yāl, a stringed musical instrument which was in vogue in ancient South India.