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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA been ruling Irigalvāḍi as a subordinate of Prabhūtavarsha Śrīvallabha, i.e., Gōvinda II (c. 775 A.D.). The territorial division takes its name after Erigal which has to be looked for somewhere in this region. It may be suggested that Niḍugal of the modern maps in the Pavugaḍa taluk of the Tumkur District is the ancient Erigal. The provenance of the Maddagiri inscription close by renders the identification very likely. It may be added that the antiquity of Niḍugal is carried back to about 8-9th century A. D. by an inscription of Nolaṁba Pallava Bidichōrarasa of the time of king Mahēndra at the place.[1] Moreover, except for a few brief periods in the 8th, 9th and part of the 10th century A.D. when it was wrested from the Telugu Chōlas by the Nolambas in the reign of Pallavādhirāja Nolaṁba[2], the region was long associated with a line of Telugu Chōla rulers, known as the NIḍugal Chōḷas. Considering the early date to which the present inscription may be ascribed, the mention of the region Erigal in it leads to the conclusion that the region round about Niḍugal on the borders of the Pallava and Kadamba dominions must have formed one of the earliest settlements of the Chōlas in the Telugu country. It would appear that it was from this region that the eastward expansion of the Telugu Chōlas into the neighbouring tracts of Rāmaḍi-nāḍu[3], Rēnāḍu 7000, Siddhi 1000[4] and Hiraṇyarāshṭra[5] seems to have taken place : and this appears to be conveyed by the epithets Erigal-Mutturāju and Erigal-Dugarāju by which some of the Chōlas of Rēnāḍu describe themselves in their inscriptions found in the Rēnāḍu country (inss. A to F). Thus Dhanañjaya, in describing himself as Erikal-Muturāja ruling Rēnāṇḍu in the present inscription, signifies that he held the official position of a Mutturāju,[6] being attached to Erigal, which was probably the ancestral seat. Similarly, Puṇyakumāra (inss. E and F below) holds the same official position ; and in one inscription (F) he describes himself as the ruler of Rēnāṇḍu with Chirpali as capital. Again in two subjoined inscriptions of Chōla-Mahārāja (C and D) an Erigal-Dugarāju figures as the donor, and he was probably a prince of the family holding the official position of Dugarāju or Yuvarāju at Erigal.
It may be objected that in the compounds ‘ Erigal-Dugarāju ’ and ‘ Erigal-Mutturāju ’, the prefix ‘ Erigal ’ may not signify a place but stand for the name of a dynasty or clean of chiefs in the same manner as the compounds such as Vallava-Dukarāju (ins. B below). Vaidumba Mutrāju.[7] Chōḷika Mutturāju (or Muttarasa), Kāḍuveṭṭi Muttarasa,[8] Pṛithvī-koṅgaṇi Muttarasa[9] and Perbbāṇa Muttarasar.[10] the prefixes in all of which refer to a dynasty and not to a place. It is however quite possible that the prefix sometimes refers to a place name11 and the more so as a tract known as Erigalvāḍi is found. Further the forms Erigallu and Eya[ra]kallu (ins. I below, text ll. 6-7 and J, text, ll. 14-15) point to the same conclusion. ______________________________
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