South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

A.─ JATAVARMAN KULASEKHARA.

44.─ In the Agastyêśvara temple at Tiruchchunai.^[1]

1 Tir[ibu]va[na]chchakkara[va]tt[i]gaḷ śrî-Kulaśêgaradê[varku yâ]ṇḍu 13 edir 14va-
2 du^[2]Mê[la-n]âyar[ru a]para-pakkattu pañjamiyum Budan-k[i]la[m]aiyum perra Mu(mû)lattu
3 [n]âḷ.

“ In the 14th opposite the 13th year (of the reign) of the emperor of the three worlds, the glorious Kulaśêkharadêva,─ on the day of Mûla, which corresponded to a Wednesday and to the fifth tithi of the second fortnight of the month of Mêsha.”

The manner in which the regnal year is given in this date ─ ‘ the 14th opposite the 13th year ’─ in my opinion renders it highly probable that the date belongs to Jaṭâvarman Kulaśêkhara of whom I have examined two dates, ‘ of the twelfth year opposite to the thirteenth,’ and of ‘ the year opposite to the thirteenth,’ i.e. of the 25th and 14th years, and whose reign I have found to commence between (approximately) the 27th February and the 29th November A.D. 1190.^[3] If this should really be the case, the date, being of the 14th opposite to the 13th, i.e. of the 27th year, would have to fall in either A.D. 1216 or A.D. 1217. It is actually correct for Wednesday, the 29th March A.D. 1217. This was the 5th day of the month of Mêsha, and on it the 5th tithi of the dark half (of Chaitra) ended 9 h. 38 m., while the nakshatra was Mûla, by the Brahma-siddhânta for 9 h. 12 m., according to Garga for 14 h. 27 m., and by the equal space system from 2 h. 38 m., after mean sunrise.

With this result, I would definitely assign the date to Jaṭâvarman Kulaśêkhara,^[4] the time for the commencement of whose reign would be reduced by it to the period from (approximately) the 30th March to the 29th November A.D. 1190.

45.─ In the Agastyêśvara temple at Tiruchchunai.^[5]

1 o||| Svasti śrî [||*] Tiribuvanachchakkaravattigaḷ śiri(śrî)-Kulai(la)[śêgara]dêva[r]ku i-
2 y[â]ṇḍu padinm[û]nra(nrâ)vadu Tulâ-nâyar[ru] . . . . -[pakshat]tu ashṭami-
3 yum Viyâla-kkilama(mai)yum perra Pûśattu nâḷ.

“ In the thirteenth year (of the reign) of the emperor of the three worlds, the glorious Kulaśêkharadêva,─ on the day of Pushya, which corresponded to a Thursday and to the eighth tithi of the . . . . fortnight of the month of Tulâ.”

This date is in the same temple as the preceding date, and is also one of the Tribhuvanachakravartin Kulaśêkharadêva. It may therefore be reasonably assumed that here also Kulaśêkhara is identical with Jaṭâvarman Kalaśêkhara. A date of that king’s 13th year would be expected to fall in A.D. 1202 or A.D. 1203, but for either year the date would be quite incorrect.

My calculations have led me to suspect that the date may be one, not of the 13th, but of the 13th opposite the 13th year of Jaṭâvarman Kalaśêkhara, and that its equivalent may be Thursday, the 6th October A.D. 1216. This was the 10th day of the month of Tulâ, and on it the nakshatra was Pushya, by the equal space system and according to Garga for 3 h.
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^[1] No. 131 of the Government Epigraphist’s collection for 1903.
^[2] The la of Mêla is entered below the m of mê.
^[3] See above, Vol. VI. pp. 301 and 302, Nos. 1 and 2.
^[4] In the Pâṇḍya date No. 14, above Vol. VI. p. 307, Jaṭâvarman Sundara-Pâṇḍya I. is simply called the Tribhuvanachakravartin Sundara-Pâṇḍyadêva.
^[5] No. 132 of the Government Epigraphist’s collection for 1903.