South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

(L. 5.) For supplying daily, as long as the moon and the sun shall last, one ulakku of tumbai flowers to this Nandikampîśvara temple and one ulakku of tumbai flowers to the Guṇamâlai temple, I gave one kalañju of gold ; I gave (it) in order that the great men (in charge) of the store-room of the temple^[1] of this god^[2] should cause (the flowers) to be supplied.

(L. 7.) When I, Alivîna-Kaḷakaṇḍa-Pṛithvigaṅgaraiyan, requested the lord Pṛithvigaṅgaraiyar to combine four villages into one village called Amaḷaṅgavalli-Attimallachaturvêdimaṅgalam (which should provide) for offerings to be made at the three times (of the day) in the Guṇamâlai temple, and when (accordingly) the lord combined (them) into one village, . . . . . [to] this Guṇamâlai temple . . . . . . . . . . . .

_____________________________

This inscription was noticed at Pagân by the Honourable Mr. A. T. Arundel, C.S.I., in the course of his tour through Burma. At his instance, Mr. Taw Sein Ko furnished me with an ink-impression of it in December 1902. After I had sent him a copy of the subjoined text and translation, he was good enough to supply me in February 1903 with three further ink-impressions and with following additional information :─ The inscription “ is engraved on sandstone and was found at Myinpagân, which is situated about a mile to the south of Pagàn. At Myinpagân lived Manôharî, the last of the Talaing kings, who was led into captivity by Anawrata, king of Pagân, in 1057 A.D. The captive king was surrounded by his fellow countrymen, who must have extended their friendship to colonists from Southern India. A Vaishṇava temple has been found at Pagàn, but none at Myinpagàn. The inscription may belong to that temple, or to some other building which has since been demolished.”

____________________________

No. 27.- A VAISHNAVA INSCRIPTION AT PAGAN.
BY E. HULTZSCH, PH.D.

This inscription was noticed at Pagân by the Honourable Mr. A. T. Arundel, C.S.I., in the course of his tour through Burma. At his instance, Mr. Taw Sein Ko furnished me with an ink-impression of it in December 1902. After I had sent him a copy of the subjoined text and translation, he was good enough to supply me in February 1903 with three further ink-impressions and with following additional information :─ The inscription “ is engraved on sandstone and was found at Myinpagân, which is situated about a mile to the south of Pagàn. At Myinpagân lived Manôharî, the last of the Talaing kings, who was led into captivity by Anawrata, king of Pagân, in 1057 A.D. The captive king was surrounded by his fellow countrymen, who must have extended their friendship to colonists from Southern India. A Vaishṇava temple has been found at Pagàn, but none at Myinpagàn. The inscription may belong to that temple, or to some other building which has since been demolished.”

The inscription consists of one verse in the Sanskṛit language and Grantha alphabet, and a prose passage in the Tamil language and alphabet. The Tamil characters are those of the thirteenth century of the Christian era.

The Sanskṛit verse is taken from the Mukundamâlâ^[3] (verse 6), a short poem by the Vaishṇava saint Kulaśêkhara, who, as shown by Mr. Venkayya, must have lived before the eleventh century.^[4]

The Tamil prose passage records gifts by a native of Magôdayarpaṭṭaṇam in Malaimaṇḍalam, i.e. Cranganore^[5] in Malabar. His name, Śrî-Kulaśêkhara-Nambi, stamps him as a devotee of the Vaishṇava saint Kulaśêkhara, from whose Mukundamâlâ the opening verse is derived. The recipient of the gifts was the Vishṇu temple of Nânâdêśî-Viṇṇagar at Pukkam alias Arivattanapuram, i.e. at Pagàn, which in the Kalyâṇî inscriptions is styled ‘Arimaddanapura alias Pugâma.’^[6] Nânâdêśi­-Viṇṇagar means ‘ the Vishṇu temple^[7] of those coming from various countries.’ This name shows that the temple, which was situated in the heart of the Buddhist country of Burma, had been founded and was resorted to by Vaishṇavas from various parts of the Indian Peninsula.
______________________________________

______________________________
^[1] See above, p. 145 and note 1.
^[2] The word dêva refers to Nandikampîśvara-dêva. Evidently the authorities of this temple had to make over one ulakku of flowers per day to the temple of Guṇamâlai-perumân.
^[3] Printed in the Kâvyamâlâ, No. 1.
^[4] See South-Ind. Inscr. Vol. III. p. 148.
^[5] Above, Vol. IV. p. 294.
^[6] Ind. Ant. Vol. XXII. p. 17.
^[7] On Viṇṇagar, ‘a Vishṇu temple,’ see above, Vol. V. p. 47, note 4.