South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

death of Taparāja-munigaḷ, Tapachchakravartigaḷ became the head of the Maṭha. The next stage of the transaction as mentioned in the Tamil section is the writing off of 148 Māḍais by Durgābhaṭṭar since he was a rāśi-mitra of Tapachchakravartigal. Durgā-bhaṭṭar also under-took to repay the 10 Māḍais and 30 Poṭṭis of paddy which had been additionally borrowed (by Tapōrāja-mahāmuni according to the Oriya version) from Uttarēśvara-nāyaka who was Durgābhaṭṭar’s father-in-law (or maternal uncle).

In the final portion of the Tamil section, the land is stated to have been re-dedicated for the purpose of the training of the ascetics, who hailed from the three Maṇḍalas (i.e. the Chōḷa, Pāṇḍya and Kāñchī dēśas according to the Oriya section) and were trained in the conventional code of conduct in the various Maṭhas (apparently of the three Maṇḍalas), no doubt in the Siddhēśvara-maṭha at Bhubaneswar for the long life, health and prosperity of Vīra-Nārasiṁhadēva. The Oriya part records the re-dedication of the land for the continuance of the Ēkādaśa-Rudra-bhikshā which was meant for the ascetics who were born in the three countries, viz., Chōḷa-dēśa, Pāṇḍyadēśa and Kāñchī-dēśa, and became devout followers of āchāra as a result of their initiation in the various Maṭhas. The word āchāra has been used in the Tamil part in connection with sampradāyam no doubt referring to the conventions of a particular Śaiva school that flourished in the Tamil country. The reference to the three Maṇḍalas in the Tamil section is clearly explained in the Oriya part. It is interesting to note that the third of the three divisions of the Tamil country is mentioned as Kāñchī-dēśa, i.e. Toṇḍai-maṇḍalam, which ceased to be a political unit after the fall of the Pallavas about the beginning of the tenth century but continued as a geographical and social unit. The Siddhēśvara-maṭha at Kṛittivāsa-kshētra (i.e. Bhubaneswar) apparently owed its origin to a religious school hailing from the Tamil country, though we have no means at present of tracing its history. It may be noted that the names of the pontiffs of the monastery, viz.., Tapōrāja-mahāmuni and Tapaśchakravartin, were only titles. They were no doubt Tamilians in origin. Durgābhaṭṭa-ācharya and Uttarēśvara-nāyaka appear to have been residents of Bhubaneswar and were apparently Oriyas.

The location of some of the geographical names mentioned in the records has already been indicated above. The village called Vāghamarā or Vāghamāra, where the gift land was situated, may be identified with the modern village of Bāghmāri which lies about 24 miles due west of Bhubanesvar.^[1]

TEXT^[2]

Oriya Part^[3]

1 Siddham^[4] [|*] Svasta(sti | ) śrī- Vīra-Naranārasī[ṅgha]dēva-
2 śa^[5] pravradhamānē vā(vī)yē-rājē^[6] sa-
3 ṁvata^[7] 22 śrāhi^[8] Kātrīka-krī[shṇa]^[9] 7 Ravī^[10]-vā-

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^[1] India and Adjacent Countries Series, Sheet No. 73.
^[2] From impressions.
^[3] The letters y, v and ksh have to be pronounced as j, b and kkh respectively.
^[4] Expressed by symbol.
^[5] Sanskrit ºsiṁhadēvasya.
^[6] Sanskrit pravardhamānē vijaya-rājyē.
^[7] Sanskrit saṁvat for saṁvatsarē. The letter ta had been at first omitted and was later incised in a smaller form.
^[8] The letter hi is written in a cursive form. The word is derived from Sanskrit śaradi through Prakrit sarahi
^[9] Sanskrit Kārttika-kṛishṇa.
^[10] Sanskrit Raviº.