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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA As the figures of the elephant and the swan are found sculptured beneath the record of Narasiṁhavarman at Kīl-Muṭṭugūr, Hultzsch was inclined to assign this chief to the Gaṅga family.[1] There are two interesting epigraphs of the Western Gaṅga king Śrīpurusha in Vaṭṭeluttu characters at Oḍḍapaṭṭi[2] in the Uttangarai Taluk of the Salem District bordering on the North Arcot District. Inscriptions of other Gaṅga chiefs are also found in the North Arcot District. From Nammiyēndal in the Polur Taluk comes an epigraph recording an order of Gaṅgaraiyan Āḷappirandān, who claims to have been born in the Gaṅga family and bore the titles ‘ lord of Kuvāḷāla’, Kāvērīvallabhan and Nandagirināthan, to the Ūravar of Ammai-ēndal assigning their village with its taxes as maḍappuram to the maṭha of Aghōraśiva-Mudaliyār at Tiruvaṇṇāmalai to be enjoyed permanently by him and his disciples in succession.[3] A hero stone from Veṇmaṇi bearing an epigraph assignable to the 9th century A.D. records the death of one Gaṇavayan who is described as the disciple of the preceptor (āśān) Tennavan, when Veṇmaṇi was destroyed in the time of Valluvikkaṅgaraiyar.[4] During the second half of the ninth century, a branch of the Western Gaṅga family is known to have flourished in parts of the North Arcot Distric.[5] All these show that North Arcot was under the sway and influence of the Gaṅgas during the ninth century. The emblem of the elephant in the Kīl-Muṭṭugūr record suggests the association of Narasiṁhavarman with the Gaṅgas. It is, however, not possible to say precisely the nature of this association. He may have been an early member of the branch of the Western Gaṅga family which held sway over the North Arcot District. It may be said that he was an independent ruler and was the overlord of the Bāṇa chief Vāṇakōn Adiyaraiśar, mentioned in the inscription. Vāṇakōn Adiyaraiśar appears to be the same as Skandha Bāṇādhirāja who figures in the Baṅgavāḍi inscription of Narasiṁhavarman.
The use of the Vaṭṭeluttu script in this inscription requires explanation. The scribe who engraved the record may have hailed from the west coast where Vaṭṭeluttu was popularly used, or the warrior Paraiyamāḷiyar who was killed in action might have been a native of that region and the inscription recording his death might have been engraved in the script used in his native place. Instances of inscriptions engraved in characters unusual to a particular area are not wanting.[6] Mīkonrai-nāḍu as the name of a territorial division in the North Arcot District is also known from other inscriptions.[7] Mēl-vēḷūr may be identified with Vēḷūr, the findspot of the record under review. TEXT[8]
1 Kō-viśaiya-Naraśiṅgaparumarku [yāṇḍu*] iru(ra)ṇḍā-
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[1] Above, Vol. IV, p. 177. The views of Hultzsch were questioned by Jouveau-Dubreiul (The Pallavas, pp.
52 ff.) and T.A. Gopinatha Rao (Madras Christian College Magazine, April 1907, pp. 1 ff.) on rather insufficient
grounds. Narasiṁhavarman of the Kīl-Muṭṭugūr record cannot be identified with either of the two Pallava kings
of that name, viz. Narasiṁhavarman I (Vātāpikōṇḍa) or Narasiṁhavarman II (Rājasiṁha).
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