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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA (V. 26.) When the thousand-eyed (Indra) in (his) court constantly hears of his (i.e. Tammusiddhi’s) brilliant fame, pleasant to the ear, from the sweet-voiced mouth of the Kiṁnaras, I am sure, he will covet again the wife of the sage Gautama[1] out of desire for the development of ears equal in number to his eyes.[2] V. 27.) Victorious is his sword, which is decked with shining pearls that have dropped from the cleft large frontal globes of the numerous princely elephants of (his) enemies, (and) which resembles the primeval spirit (Vishṇu), because it is dark-blue (and) covered with dust as (Vishṇu is sprinkled) with the water of the milk-ocean, (and) because it has established (his) royal power (as Vishṇu is united with Lakshmî). B.- ARULALA-PERUMAL INSCRIPTION OF SAKA-SAMVAT 1127. This inscription, which I edit from inked estampages supplied to me by Dr. Hultzsch, is engraved at the base of the north wall of the stone platform called ‘the mountain’ (malai) in the Aruḷâḷa-Perumâḷ temple at Conjeeveram.[3] It is written in Grantha characters which vary in height from ½” to 1¾”. Up to line 15, medial ai is expressed in the usual manner by putting the two spirals side by side ; see tasmai (l. 1), sainya (l. 1), guṇair (l. 7), sambhavair (l. 8), kîrttyai (l. 9), svairam (l. 10), yair (l. 12). But in the second half of the inscription the two signs are put one above the other ; see asy=Airasidhdhi- (l. 16), yair (l. 17), têjômayair (l. 17), nijair=nnayanais (l. 17), -âsmai Hastiśailêśvarâya (l. 20), akhilair (l. 20), jaṭâlair=mmakuṭair (l. 21). The language is Sanskṛit, and, with the exception of a short passage in ll. 19 and 20, the whole text is in verse. The spelling of the words patma (ll. 1, 3, 4), Vâlmîkivat bhânu- (l. 9), abhût bhuj-âpadânêna (l.9), utbhavati (l. 10), ushatbudha[4] (l. 15), sphâyat-bhûmnê (l. 20), prâdât grâmam (l. 20), bhavatbhir (l. 20) is in agreement with the practice followed in similar Grantha inscriptions. The group ddh is written dhdh in =Airasidhdhi and rôdhdhum in line 16.
This is another record of king Tammusiddhi. It enriches our knowledge by incidentally mentioning the surname of Tammusiddhi’s father, Êrasiddhi, and the time and place of Tammusiddhi’s inauguration. This information is found in l. 19 f. where it is recorded that in the Śaka year 1127 (= A.D. 1205-6) king Tammusiddhi, the son of Gaṇḍagôpâla and Śrîdêvî, the younger brother of the great king Manmasiddhi, having performed his anointment in the town of Nellûr, presented the village of Muṭṭiyampâkka, the head-quarters of Paṇṭarâshṭra, to the god, the lord of Hastiśaila. Nellûr is the modern Nellore, the chief town of the district of that name. Muṭṭiyampâkka and the district of Paṇṭarâshṭra I am unable to identify. The temple of the lord of Hastiśaila, i.e. ‘the elephant mountain,’ is the Aruḷâḷa-Perumâḷ temple[5] where the inscription is engraved. Except these data, the inscription contains nothing of historical value which is not known to us from the previously published records of Tammusiddhi, the four verses (4, 8, 9, 12) which here appear for the first time being merely eulogies of the king’s mythical ancestors : Brahman, Sagara, Bhagîratha and Kuśa. Perhaps it is worth mentioning that Tiluṅgavidya and Nallasiddhi are omitted in the genealogy, and that the name Betta is here constantly spelt Vetta (vv. 17, 19, 24). ________________________ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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