South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

13 Aḍavi tan=râyâr Naṅga[n]i Naṅgaiyârkk=âga=chche-
14 yda mugamaṇḍagam [|*] id=aliâmai[1]kkâttân=a-
15 ḍi en muḍi mê-
16 la [||*]

TRANSLATION.

(Line 1.) Hail ! Prosperity ! In the third year (of the reign) of king Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman,─ Aḍavi, the headman of Tiruppâlaiyûr (near) Perumbâlaiyûr in Ûrrukkâṭṭu-kôṭṭam, having made a request to (i.e. having obtained the sanction of) the glorious Gaṅga king Nêrguṭṭi Perumâṇ,─ (this) Aḍavi made the maṇḍapa in front (of the shrine) for (the merit of) his mother Naṅga[n]i Naṅgai.

(L. 14.) The feet of him who protects this (gift) without destroying (it), (shall be) on my head.^[2]

No. 33.─ RANGANATHA INSCRIPTION OF GOPPANA ;
SAKA-SAMVAT 1293.

BY E. HULTZSCH, PH.D.

In theGuruparamparâprabhâva, a modern Tamil work which professes to be based on a Sanskṛit poem in 3,000 verses by Tṛitîya-Brahmatantrasvatantrasvâmin, we are told that, when the Musalmâns^[3] had captured Tiruchchirâppaḷḷi (Trichinopoly), the authorities of the Raṅganâtha temple on the island of Śrîraṅgam near Trichinopoly secretly removed the image of Alagiyamaṇavâlan (Vishṇu) to Tirumalai (Tirupati).^[4] Subsequently a certain Gôpaṇarâyar is stated to have brought the image from Tirumalai to Śiṅgapuram near Śeñji, and thence back to Śrîraṅgam, where he reconsecrated the god and his two wives (Lakshmî and the Earth).^{[5 ]}On this occasion he was praised by the Vaishṇava preceptor Vêdântadêśikain the following verse ^[:6]-

Mr. Venkayya has drawn my attention to another Tamil work, entitled Kôyilolugu, i.e. “ Renefactions to the Temple,” which registers the donations made to the Raṅganâtha temple at Śrîraṅgam from the earliest times. The authorities on which the statements of this book are based are not mentioned by the author. Among other facts it chronicles the same events which have been quoted from the Guruparamparâ, with fuller details. It states that in Śaka-Saṁvat 1149 expired,^[9] the Akshaya-saṁvatsara, the Muḥammadans (Tulukkar) occupied the Toṇḍai-maṇḍalam. When news reached the temple authorities at Śrîraṅgam that the enemies had passed Samayapuram (9 miles north-north-east of Trichinopoly), they removed the image of Aḷagiyamaṇavâla-Perumâḷ to Tirunârâyaṇapuram (Mêlukôṭe in the Mysore State)

__________________________________________________________
^[1] Read =aliyâmai=.
^[2] See South-Ind. Inscr. Vol. III. p. 92 and note 1.
^[3] Turushka- Yavan-âdigaḷ.
^[4] Madras edition of Kaliyuga 4990, the Virôdhi-saṁvatsara, p. 124 f.
^[5] Ibid. p. 127 f.
^[6] Ibid. p. 129.
^[7] Read °°
^[8] Read °.
^[9] This must be an error for 1249.