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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA The object of the epigraph is to record the construction of a temple by the sister’s son of Sōmāśiyār[1] who appears to claim some distinction. The name of this relative is partially preserved in the expression Kumā[ran]. This appears to be the earliest known reference to the construction of a structural temple in the Tamil country. The epigraph is importance on account of the fact that it is one of the few early inscriptions on stone written in archaic Tamil. Added to this is another fact that it is also one of the few inscriptions referring to the reigns of the early Pallava rulers and citing the regnal years. The epigraphs of early Pallava king of the Siṁhavishṇu line are characterised by the following notable features. They are incised generally on rocks and in caves ; their script is Pallava-Grantha of the ornamental variety and their language is Sanskrit. Most of them are of the nature of mere labels comprising royal titles and epithets. Even if we take into account a few more Tamil inscriptions of the early period belonging to private agencies,[2] purely Tamil epigraphical records as such containing specific allusions to the contemporary rulers are conspicuous by their paucity. Only two such instances have come to our notice so far. One is the Vallam cave inscription mentioning Pallava Mahēndravarman I and the other the Tirukkalikunram epigraph referring to his successor Narasiṁhavarman I.[3] The present record, therefore, makes a welcome addition to this meagre list.
There is probably only one place-name mentioned in the record and it is Ālavāy. This place is usually identified with Madura. But if we connect the word Ālavāyil with eḍuppitta occurring later, it will show that the temple was constructed at Ālavāy which may have been an early name of Tenkāraṇai, the provenance of the record.[4] TEXT[5] Upper Side
1 Śrī-Mahārāja- Paramēśvaravarummarkku yāṇḍu talaittā-
Right Side
3 ru-marumagan Kumā[ran] . . . .
Lower Side 5 . . . . ali[vu]m śe- Left Side 6 ydār taḍumāv=ērkka [|*] _______________________________________________
[1] Sōmāśiyār may be contracted either from Sōmayājiyār or Sōmājiyār.
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