North Indian Inscriptions

JAMBUKESVARA INSCRIPTION OF VALAKA-KAMAYA.

5 giyârku=kkâlaśandiy=âga ammudu¹ śeyd=aruḷi tanmachcham=âga naḍakkira oru taḷigai ammudu-paḍikkum tiru-Mârgali-chchirappu ammudu śeyyavum tiru- nandavanam, payir=
6 cheygira tôppu-âḷ ilakkaikkum âga nammuḍaiya nâya[k]kat[ta]nam âna Vaḍakarai-Veṇkônkuḍiyil [ś]êtta² Irâjavibâḍan nilam vêli [||*] Inda nilam
7 Vêlikkum uṇḍâna karam pon-mudal nel-mudal uṇḍâna[du] mun eluding vagai ppaḍiyi[lê śa]ndir-âditta-varaiyum anubavittu=kko[ḷḷa]=kkaḍavar=âgavum ||
8 Indra tanmattukku agudam³ paṇṇinavan uṇḍânâl Gêṅgai-kkaraiyilê gô-vadai[y]ai konra⁴ pâvattilê pôga=kkaḍavargaḷ=âgavum ||

TRANSLATION.

......(Line 1.) Let there be prosperity ! Hail ! Fortune ! At the auspicious time of Mahâmagam (Mahâmâgha),⁵ (when) Jupiter (was standing in) Leo, (i.e.) on the day of (the nakshatra) Magam (Maghâ), which corresponded to a Sunday and to the full-moon tithi of the first fortnight of the month of Kumbha of the Plava saṁvatsara, which was current after the Śaka year 1403,― the glorious mahâmaṇḍalêśvara, a Bhîma among the Chôḷas, a Nârâyaṇa among the Chôḷas, the lord of Uraiyûr the best of cities, Vâlaka-Kâmaya, alias Akkalarâja, gave Âdi-Chaṇḍêśvara⁶ (in) the temple of the beautiful lord of Tiruvânaikkâ :―

......(L. 3.) “(One) vêli of land (which was called after) Râjavibhâṭa⁷ (and) which formed part of Vaḍakarai-Veṇkônkuḍi in our dominions, (was given to the temple) for (defraying the expense of) decorating a maṇḍapa on the festive day, on which the beautiful lord of Tiruvânaikkâ is carried in procession to Vaḍakarai-Veṇkônkuḍi for the sacred hunt (tiru-vêṭṭai) ;⁸ for one plate of rice which is offered at the daily worship to the goddess Akhilâṇḍa-nâyakî and afterwards treated as sacrificial remnants (i.e. distributed);⁹ for the rice to be offered at the festival in (the month of) Mârgali ;¹⁰ and for the maintenance¹¹ of a gardener¹² who cultivates the temple garden.

......(L. 6.) “(The donee) shall enjoy, for the above-mentioned purposes, as long as the sun and the moon last, the taxes on this vêli of land, the income gold (and) the income in paddy.

......(L. 8.) “If there be any person who injures this charity, he shall incur the sin of killing a cow on the blank of the Gaṅgâ.”
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......¹ Read amudu throughout the inscription.
......² Read śêrtta.
......³ This is a corruption of the Sanskṛit ahitam.
......⁴ Konra is pleonastic ; the correct expression would be gô-vadaiyai śeyda.
......⁵ According to the Dictionnaire Tamoul-Francais, the Mahâmagam, Mâmagam, Mâmâgam or Mâmaṅgam [Mahâmâgha in Sanskṛit] is “a festival which is celebrated every twelve years at Kumbhakôṇam on the full-moon of Mâśi, i.e. February, when Jupiter and the Moon are in conjunction in the 10th lunar constellation, called Magam [Maghâ in Sanskṛit], which forms part of the sign of Leo. Then crowds of people go to bathe in the sacred tank, called Mâmaga-kkuḷam or Mâmaga-ttîrttam, where the waters of the Ganges are supposed to arrive by invisible channels. This festival serves as an epoch in the country ; thus they say : ‘It is three Mâmâgam (i.e. 36 years) that he died.’ In Malabar this was also the period of the government of a viceroy under the kings of Vijayanagara.” See also Dr. Fleet’s Gupta Inscriptions, Introduction, pp. 119 and 167.
......⁶ On Âdi-Chaṇḍêśvara see South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I. p. 92, note 6, and on dêvar-kanmi, ‘a pûjârî,’ Vol. II. p. 112.
......⁷ This word occurs as a biruda of Vijayanagara kings in Kanarese inscriptions.
......⁸ This evidently refers to the procession on the day of Vijayadaśamî, which is even now celebrated in all the temples.
......⁹ Tanmav-echcham appears to be used in the sense of prasâda.
......¹⁰ This refers to the worship at about 4 A.M. during the month of Mârgali.
......¹¹ Ilakkai appears to be a vulgar form of irakshai (Sanskṛit rakshâ).
......¹² Tôppu-âḷ or top-âḷ and top-âṇḍi mean ‘a devotee who attends to groves.’ (Winslow.)