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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA The first, Vayiramêgan, was apparently the saint’s contemporary, while the builder of the Triplicane temple must have lived prior to him. The military exploits of the third seem to have been fresh in the saint’s mind, and if this impression of mine be correct, the former might have lived a short time before the latter. It is not impossible that Vayiramêgan,[1] the Pallava contemporary of Tirumaṅgai-Âḷvâr, is identical with Dantippôttaraśar, during whose reign the Vayiramêga-taṭâka, at Uttaramallûr appears to have been built. If the battle of Maṇṇai mentioned in verse 3 of the Paramêśvara-Viṇṇagaram hymn[2] be the same as that fought at Maṇṇaikuḍi by the Pallava general Udayachandra against the Pâṇḍyas according to the Udayêndiram plates,[3] it may be concluded that the saint Tirumaṅgai-Âlvâr must have lived soon after the reign of Nandivarman-Pallavamalla. If this surmise prove correct, Vayiramêgan, the contemporary of the saint, must have been one of the immediate successors of Nandivarman. The facts and inferences above set forth would yield the third quarter of the eighth century A.D. for the period of the Vaishṇava saint Tirumaṅgai-Âlvâr and of his Pallava contemporary Vayiramêgan. The same would be the approximate date of the construction of the Vayiramêga-taṭâka at Uttaramallûr, and probably also of the subjoined inscription. It is sufficient to note that palæographical considerations do not militate against this conclusion.
Against this date of Tirumaṅgai-Âlvâr may be urged the Vaishṇava tradition that he was
letter than the saint Nammâlvâr[4]. And the latter would appear to have lived subsequent to the Pâṇḍya king Varaguṇa, whose accession took place in A.D. 862-63,[5] as mention is made in
the existing text of the Tiruvâymoli of the village Varaguṇamaṅgai,[6] called evidently after
Varaguṇa-Pâṇḍya. This argument would bring Nammâlvâr down to the 10th century A.D.
and make the interval between him and Râmânuja (11th century A.D.) very short. Vaishṇava tradition asserts that this period was occupied by Tirumaṅgai-Âlvâr and several âchâryas, the earliest of whom must have lived long after Tirumaṅgai.[7] Apart from this objection, there is some reason to suppose that the Tiruvâymoli known to Tirumaṅgai-Âlvâr is different from what
has come down to us. The âchârya Nâdamunigaḷ, who probably live in the 11th century
A.D.,[8] was informed by Vaishṇavas[9] both at Kumbhakonam in the Tanjore district and at
Âlvâr-Tirunagari, the birth-place of Nammâlvâr, that they had only heard of the name
Tiruvâymoli. It had disappeared somehow, and no copy of the work existed at the time. At
[1] From the Kaḍaba plates of Prabhûtavarsha (above, Vol. IV. p. 336) it may be concluded that Vairamêgha
was a surname of the Râshṭrakûṭa king Dantidurga (A.D. 754). It is claimed for this king that he subjugated
the ruler of Kâñchî. The genuineness of the Kaḍaba plates is, however, open to question (ibid. p. 333), and we
must have indisputable evidence of the occupation of the Pallava country byDantidurga before we admit that the
tank at Uttaramallûr could be called after him, or that reference could be made to his prowess in a Tamil hymn.
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