South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

a cavity which may be considered to be a natural shrine. On the inner sides of these two boulders facing each other are carved the figures of two Jaina deities, Gommaṭa and Pārśvanātha. “In the recess between them is found a loose slab about 4 feet high with a fairly archaic sculpture of the Jaina goddess Padmāvatī cut on it in high relief.”^[1]

The inscription comprises four lines. The letters in the first line of the record are bigger and the medial i signs of the aksharas sti, śrī and li are extended above their tops. In spite of the rough surface of the boulder the inscription is neatly engraved and the writing is in a good state of preservation.

The characters are Tamil of about the 10th century A. C. They stand fair comparison with those of the Tirukkōvalūr inscription of Kṛishṇa III, dated in his 21st year.^[2] The tripartite form of y, which is sometimes looped in the inscriptions of the earlier period,^[3] may be noted herein. The form of the letter tē in the expression tēvāram in the 4th line is peculiar. This peculiarity is due to the fact that the medial e sign, which is normally separated and placed before the main letter as in che in the same line, is joined to the bottom of the letter t, the left side loop of which is consequently dropped. Svasti and śrī in the first line are inscribed in the Grantha alphabet.

The language is Tamil. The epigraph states that the tēvāram was caused to be made by Śrīvēli Koṅgaraiyar Puttaḍigaḷ. No date is mentioned in the record. We may, however, assign it approximately to the 10th century A. C. on palaeographic considerations. The epigraph reads thus :

TEXT^[4]

1 Svasti [|* ] Śrīvēli
2 Koṅgaraiyar
3 Puttaḍigaḷ
4 śeyvitta tēvāram [ ||* ]

The main component of the rather longish name of the author of the tēvāram is Puttaḍigaḷ. He appears to have been a person of some importance and the suffix aḍigaḷ denotes his respectable status.^[5] A good number of Jaina inscriptions similarly carved on the rocks of hills have been found in close association with Jaina sculptures in the Tamil districts.6 A study of these in comparison with the present one, the Jaina associations of which are quite marked, should leave no doubt in our mind in regard to the nature of the record under study and the identity of Puttaḍigaḷ who might be a Jaina devotee.

An expression of some interest in the epigraph requiring comment, is the word tēvāram. Its two familiar meanings are well known, viz., 1) worship and 2) a collection of devotional

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^[1] An. Rep. on S. I. Epigraphy for 1936-37, p. 61.
^[2] Above, Vol. VII, inscription G, plate facing p. 144.
^[3] Compare the looped form in inscription A and the tripartite one in B and D ; above, Vol. III, plate facing p. 284.
^[4] From an impression.
^[5] it is interesting to note that Putta is the Tamil version of the Sanskrit name Buddha. This does not necessarily mean that the individual should be a follower of Buddhism. Buddha is one of the terms denoting the nigher status attained by an enlightened soul according to the Jaina philosophical concept. Vide Pravachanasāra (edited by A. N. Upadhye, Bombay, 1935), Introduction, p. XXXIV.
^[6] Compare for instance the Jaina rock inscriptions at Pañchapāṇḍavamalai (above, Vol. IV, pp. 136 ff) ; the same at Vaḷḷimalai (ibid., pp. 140 ff.) ; Mad. Ep. Coll., Nos. 67-74 of 1905.