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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA Cuddalore (Kûḍalûr), the head-quarters of the South Arcot distrcit.[1] It consists of 9 lines in the Tamil alphabet and language and forms a single big sentence, which can, however, be dissolved into several distinct periods with the help of the gerunds kêṭṭu, ‘having heard,’ in line 2, and enru, ‘having said,’ in lines 3 and 4. The pronoun namakkum, ‘to us,’ in line 9 shows that the subject of the passage beginning in line 4 is the plural of the pronoun of the first person. The language exhibits a few peculiarities. The letters ḍ and d are doubled after a nasal in yâṇḍḍu (l. 1), Śênddaº (l. 2) and elunddu (l. 9). Instead of the gerund koṇḍu (twice in l. 6, and l. 8), the poetical form koḍu occurs four times (ll. 2, 3, 4 and 9). Aruḷivittu (ll. 4 and 9), aruḷivikka (l. 9) and veṭṭivittu (l. 7) are vulgar forms of aruḷuvittu, etc. This inscription is distinguished from most other South-Indian inscriptions, as it does not record a donation or similar transaction, but is of a purely historical character. It is dated in the 16th year of Tribhuvanachakravartin Râjarâjadêva (l. 1) and must have been engraved at the instance of two military officers (daṇṇâkka[2]), named Appaṇa and Samudra-Goppaya[3] (l. 5), in the service of the Hoyśaṇa (or Hoysaḷa) king Vîra-Nârasiṁhadêva (l. 1). This king had heard that Kôpperuñjiṅga had captured the Chôḷa emperor at Śêndamaṅgalam. Anxious to vindicate his title ‘the establisher to the Chôḷa country,’ he started from Dôrasamudra and conquered the Maha[ra] kingdom. When at Pâchchûr, he ordered the two above-mentioned officers to continue the campaign. They advanced through the enemy’s country until they reaches Śêndamaṅgalam, forced Kôpperuñjiṅga to release the Chôḷa emperor, and accompanied the latter into his dominions.
The title ‘establisher of the Chôḷa country,’ which the inscription applies to Vîra-Nârasiṁhadêva (l. 3), and the statement that he conquered the Mahara kingdom, show that this king is identical with the Hoysaḷa Narasiṁha II., who in several inscriptions is styled ‘the establisher of the Chôḷa kingdom’ and ‘the uprooter of the Makara or Magara kingdom.’[4] As the inscriptions of Narasiṁha II. are dated between A.D. 1222 and 1234, it follows that the king Râjarâja, to whose 16th year the subjoined inscription belongs (l. 1), is the Chôḷa king Râjarâja III., who ascended the throne in A.D. 1216,[5] and whose 16th year accordingly corresponded to A.D. 1231-32. He is no doubt identical with the ‘Chôḷa emperor’ who was captured and released at Śêndamaṅgalam. The dates of other inscriptions of Râjarâja III. show that he continued to reign after his re-installation. His latest known date is A.D. 1243-44 in an inscription at Poygai.[6] The subjoined inscription mentions a considerable number of geographical names. Dôrasamudra, the capital of Narasiṁha II., is the modern Haḷêbîḍ in the Bêlûr tâluka of the Hassan district in the Mysore State. Pâchchûr, where he halted on his expedition against Kôpperuñjiṅga (l. 4), is perhaps identical with a village of that name in the Trichinopoly tâluka, opposite to the island of Śrîraṅgam, 2 miles north of the Coleroon river, and 9½ miles west by south of Kaṇṇanûr, the southern capital of Narasiṁha’s successor Sômêśvara.[7] If this identification of Pâchchûr is correct, it would follow that Narasiṁha II, left his dominions by way of the Gajalhaṭṭi pass, and that the Mahara (Makara or Magara) kingdom (l. 3) has to be looked for in the Coimbatore or Salem district. In the course of the expedition which Appaṇa and Samudra-Goppaya undertook against Kôpperuñjiṅga, they first destroyed the villages of Eḷḷêri, Kalliyûrmûlai and Tôludagaiyûr (l. 5). Then they worshipped the god at Ponnambalam
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