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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
No. 26.- FOUR INSCRIPTIONS AT SOLAPURAM. Mr. G. Venkoba Rao, one of my assistants, lately visited Śôlapuram,[2] a village about 8 miles south of Vellore, and copied a number of inscriptions, of which I am now publishing the four most interesting ones. The ancient name of Śôlapuram was Kâṭṭuttumbûr (B. and D. below), which was including in Paṅgaḷa-nâḍu,[3] a subdivision of the district of Paḍuvûr-kôṭṭam[4] (B. below). In inscriptions of the Chôḷa kings Râjarâja I. (No. 421 of 1902) and Kulôttuṅga I. (Nos. 422 and 425 of 1902), the village is called Uyyakkoṇḍân-Śôlapuram and is stated to have belonged to Mugai-nâḍu, a subdivision in the north of Paṅgaḷa-nâḍu, a district of Jayaṅgoṇḍa-Śôla-maṇḍalam. From other inscriptions we know that Paṅgaḷa-nâḍu included Vêlûrppâḍi, a suburb of Vellore,[5] and that Tirumalai near Pôḷûr belonged to Mugai-nâḍu.[6] Vol. I. of South-Indian Inscriptions contains one inscription from Śôlapuram (No. 53), which I now republish (B. below) because my former transcript of it was not quite correct. A fresh copy (No. 422 of 1902) of another Śôlapuram inscription which was noticed in South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I. (No. 96), enables me to add that this record opens with the words Pugal-mâdu viḷaṅga and hence belongs to Kulôttuṅga I.[7] and that it mentions the temple of Râjarâjêśvara at Uyyakkoṇḍân-Śôlapuram, which, as well as Râjêndra-Chôḷêśvara,[8] is perhaps a later designation of the Nandikampîśvara temple.[9]
A.- INSCRIPTION OF VIJAYA-KAMPA. This inscription (No. 429 of 1902) is engraved on a long stone broken in three pieces, which were dug up by Mr. G. Venkoba Rao in a tope of trees opposite the ruined Ãsvara temple at Sôlapuram. The inscription consists of 2½ mutilated Sanskṛit verses in the Grantha character, and a passage in Tamil prose which is incomplete at the end. The Tamil portion is dated in the 8th year of king Vijaya-Kampa. The archaic alphabet of the inscription makes it probable that this king is identical with Kampavarman, whose inscriptions at Ukkal are dated in the 10th and 15th years.[10] As I shall show further on (p. 196 below), he was perhaps a son of the Gaṅga-Pallava king Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman and hence belonged to the ninth century of the Christian era. The The Tamil portion records that a chief named Râjâditya built a temple of Śiva and a tomb in memory of his deceased father Pṛithivigaṅgaraiyar and apparently made a grant to a Brâhmaṇa. The mutilated Sanskṛit portion contained a genealogical account of this Râjâditya. His earliest ancestor was Mâdhava of the Gâṅgêya family, whose son was “ he who was renowned as the splitter of even a stone-pillar.” In the inscriptions of the Western Gaṅgas, thisinscription consists of 2½ mutilated Sanskṛit verses in the Grantha character, and a passage in Tamil prose which is incomplete at the end. The Tamil portion is dated in the 8th year of king Vijaya-Kampa. The archaic alphabet of the inscription makes it probable that this king is identical with Kampavarman, whose inscriptions at Ukkal are dated in the 10th and 15th years.[10] As I shall show further on (p. 196 below), he was perhaps a son of the Gaṅga-Pallava king Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman and hence belonged to the ninth century of the Christian era. _______________________ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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