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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA The verses 10 and 11 are devoted to a king who is said to have been born in the linage of Kalikâla, and to have had two names,─ Madhurântaka, i.e. ‘the death to Madhurâ,’ and Pottapi-Chôḷa. The former name he acquired by conquering Madhurâ, the capital of the Pâṇḍyas, whose women he made widows ; the latter was given to him for having founded, in the country of the Andhras, the town of Pottapi. Madhurântaka Pottapi-Chôḷa is a name frequently met with as that of a local chief in the inscriptions at Conjeeveram, the ancient Kâñchîpura ; in the list compiled by Mr. Sewell[1] it occurs more than thirty times. Provided, however, that all these inscriptions are to be referred to the same person, it is impossible that that chief of Kâñchîpura should be identical with the ancestor of Tammusiddhi ; for one of his inscriptions is dated in the 18th,[2] and another in the 21st year of Tribhuvanachakravartin Rêjarâjadêva,[3] which correspond to A.D. 1233-34 and 1236-37, respectively. He must have been a much younger member of the family, and Mr. Venkayya, for other reasons, is inclined to identify him with Chôḷa-Tikka, who probably was the successor of Tammusiddhi.[4] The identification of Pottapi, which Madhurântaka Pottapi-Chôḷa is said to have founded, must be left to future researches.[5] In Madhurântaka Pottapi-Chôḷa’s race was born Tiluṅgavidya (v. 12). The only feat recorded of him is the erection of a pillar of victory with a figure of Garuḍa at the top of it at Ujyapurî.[6] Ujyapurî may be the modern Ûjîpuram or Ujjapuram, 18 miles east-south-east of Koḷḷêgâl in the Coimbatore district. Mr. Sewell states that there is an old ruined fort at that place,[7] and there is no difficulty in assuming that one of these Telugu Chôḷas should have extended his conquests beyond the Kâvêrî, if another boasts even to have taken Madhurâ.
With verse 13 begins a coherent genealogy of the direct ancestors of Tammusiddhi. In Tiluṅgavidya’s family was born king Siddhi (v. 31). His younger brother was Betta (I.), who had several sons (v. 14), the eldest of whom was Dâyabhîma (v. 15). Dâyabhîma’s younger brother was Êrasiddhi (v. 16). He again had three sons, Manmasiddhi or Manmasiddha, Betta (II.), and Tammusiddhi, whose mother bore the name of Śridêvî (vv. 17-20). Of these only Siddhi, Dâyabhîma and Manmasiddhi are described in terms implying that they actually reigned, while of Betta II. it is expressly stated that, being given to the practice of austerities, he conferred, after the death of Manmasiddhi, the government on his younger brother Tammusiddhi. In verse 21 we are informed that in the Śaka year 1129 (= A.D. 1207-8) Tammusiddhi allotted to the lord of Vaṭâṭavî all the revenues due to the king in the village belonging to the temple. The inviolability of this order is enjoined in the two concluding verses (22, 23). As regards the name of the god, it is apparently derived from that of the village where the temple is situated, Vaṭâṭavî ot its modern synonym Vaṭâraṇya being Sanskṛit rendering of the Tamil Tiruvâlaṅgâḍu, ‘the holy banyan forest.â The Tiruppâsûr inscription closely resembles the Tiruvâlaṅgâḍu inscription in outward appearance as well as in its contents. It is written Grantha characters, about 1¼” high. The form of the subscript jha in nirjjharâ in l. 19 slightly differs from that of the Tiruvâlaṅgâḍu inscription, the loop to the left having disappeared here altogether. The initial ê also has a ____________________________ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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