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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA Nāḍu-vaḷampaḍutti, i.e., ‘ making the lands of the country fertile ’, is one of the duties of a good ruler and we may also note the occurrence of vaṇḍamil-nāḍu vaḷampaḍuttu in Śēkkilār’s Mūrtti-Nāyanār Purāṇam (verse 13). With the phrase perra-kulavikkurra narrāy pōl of the inscription compare Kulavi koḷbavarin ōmbumadi (Puram 5, l. 7), and Kulavi Koḷvārin-kuḍipuram tandu (Padirruppattu, 6th Padigam, l. 9) and (Sanskrit) (Yājñavalkya-smṛiti, I. 334). It will be seen that in the reading and interpretation of this inscription as given here, ‘ Vēndināḍu ’ and its conquest by Vikrama-Chōḷa noticed at p. 108 of ARSIE for 1920 find no place. The object of the inscription is to register a gift of 55 kalañju of gold (coins) as weighed by (the stone weight) Parakēsarikal─each coin bearing clear marks and having proper weight─ made by Vīrasaṅgādan Śūrriyadēvan-Vānavan-Uttaramantri, a Nānādēśiya-nāṭṭu-Cheṭṭi of Nandiyanallūr in Vaḍagarai-Tirukkalumala-nāḍu. This quantity of gold was received by the members of the assembly (sabhā) of Vīrasaṅgāda-chaturvēdimaṅgalam, a brahmadēya in Tenkarai-nāḍu who bound themselves to meet from the annual income of one hundred and ten kalam of paddy for kār and paśānam, arising from the deposited amount, (1) the expenses of 90 kalam of paddy per year for feeding daily 3 brāhmaṇas at the rate of three kuruṇi calculated at one kuruṇi each,[1] (2) eighteen kalam and nine kuruṇi of paddy per year, at the rate of 5 nāli by the parakēsari measure per day, for the man who cooked the meals ; and (3) one kalam and three kuruṇi for cloth to the latter.
In the phrase Parakēsari-kallāl-tuḷai-nirai-śempon aimbattaiṅ-kalañju, the last term aimbatt-aiṅ-kalañju (55 kalañju) is qualified by two adjuncts Parakēsari-kallāl and tuḷai nirai śempon of which the first denotes the stone called after Parakēsari for weighing gold ; every one of the three words tuḷai, nirai and śempon of which the second adjunct is composed indicates that the gift consisted of gold coins, tuḷai standing for the marks and impressions on the obverse of coin, nirai for the proper weight of the coin, and śempon for the name of the gold coin, the whole meaning ‘ gold coins having proper weight and marks or impressions’. Grantha letters are used in svasti, śrī, śrī, Chōḷadēva (l. 1), brahmadēyam śrī, chaturvēº and sabhaiyōº (l. 4), Paramēśvara and brāhmaṇa (l. 5), and Chandrādityavat, sabhaiyōº, i-ddharmam rakshai, śrīpādam and ºn-māhēśvaº (l. 8). TEXT 1 Svadsti śrī [|*] Kō-kKalimūrkka Śrī-Vikkirama-Chōḷadēvarkku=
ttiruvelutt=iṭṭu=chcheṅkōl=ōchchi veḷḷi-veṇ-kuḍai miḷirav=
ēndi nāḍu vaḷam-paḍuttu naiya[2] kuḍiy=ōmbi āril onru koṇ-
______________________________________________________________ [1] Besides three vegetable curries including kummāyam, each Brāhmaṇa had to be served daily with half a
kāṇa nāli of rice, one and a half piḍi of ghee, two areca nuts and five betel leaves.
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