Annual Reports

THE CHOLAS OF RENANDU

verse engraved on the beam of the verandah, he has emphatically expressed his adherence to the Śaiva creed and describes all other religious faiths, including probably Jainism, as vipaksha-vṛitti. The word ‘Taṁchahara[ka]’ can be interpreted as a title of Mahēndravarman and to mean ‘he who captured Tañcha (Tanjore)’. From the Vēlūrpāḷaiyam plates, we know that Siṁhavishṇu, the father of Mahēndravarman, claimed to have conquered the Chōḷas, and in support of this fact, it may be pointed out that Kañjanūr in the Tanjore district bore the surname Siṁhavishṇu-chatuevēdimangalam in Chōḷa times (No. 265 of 1907), testifying to its connection with the king of this name. As Pallava influence began to be felt in the Chōḷa territory only from this period, it is possible that Mahēndravarman who may have participated in this southern expedition in the company of his father had adopted this title.

  4. On the stone platform of the same cavern is found the expression ‘Svasti Śrī-Rājēntra’ of the fuller name Rājēndra-Chōḷadēva (No. 131) in Grantha characters attributable to the 11th century A. D., while close to it is another complete inscription (No. 130) in characters of the same period consisting of a Sanskrit verse, containing an announcement by a certain Vādipraḷaya-Bhairava of his arrival at this place after having vanquished disputants and after having visited Karnāṭa-maṇḍala. It is not clear if he was a Jaina ascetic, but from the name ‘Bhairava’ we have perhaps to conclude that he was a protagonist of the Śaiva cult and that he settled himself in this place, under the patronage of either Rājarāja I or his son, were ardent Śaivas. It may be mentioned how-ever, that the title ‘a Bhairava of disputants’ was borne by Jaina monks also.

Erikal Muturāju Puṇyakumāra.
   5. Five inscriptions belonging to some early members of the Rēnāṇḍu family come from the Kamalapuram taluk of the Cuddapah district. The earliest of these comes from Tippalūru (No. 283) and is in characters of about the seventh century A. D. (Plate I). The inscription records grant of panāśa at Tippalūru to a Brahman named Pāradāya (Bhāradvāja) Kattiśarman of Tarkkapulōlu(prōlu) made by Erikal Muturāju Puṇyakumāra while he was ruling over the Rēnāṇḍu from Chepali, which is evidently the modern Chappalle. The king bears the epithets Gaṇyamāna, Madamadita, Maruntrapiḍuku and Uttamōttama, two of which remind us of the titles Mattavilāsa and Pagāpiḍugu borne by the Pallava king Mahēndravarman I (Epigraphical Report for 1909, pp. 74-75). In his article on the Mālēpāḍu of Puṇyakumāra, the late Rao Bahadur H. Krishna Sastri has drawn attention to the similarity of the birudas borne by king Puṇyakumāra and the birudas of Pallava Mahēndravarman I (Ep. Ind., Vol. XI, page 341), and has surmised a possible relationship, which was perhaps in the nature of a marital or political alliance between the two families. From the palæography of the present record this Erikal Muturāju Puṇyakumāra seems to have been a contemporary of Mahēndravarman and but for the late period to which the Mālepāḍu plates have been assigned, he could be identified with the donor of these plates. This inscription is of particular interest as it is the earliest known epigraph in the Telugu language.

Erikal Mutturaju.
   6. Two other records (Nos. 232 and 298) engraved in slightly different characters come from Erraguḍipāḍu and Veldurti respectively, and both of them belong to a certain Erikal Mutturāju. The former inscription, while registering a grant of land made by the king to a certain Kuṇḍikāḷḷu who in turn granted a portion of his gift-land to a Brahman, mentions as witnesses to the transaction Mutturāju, (son) of Dujayarāju, Navapriya Mutturāju and Vallava Dukarāju. In the other record (No. 298) the king is further called Pṛithivīvallabha Puṇ Puṇyakumāra. It is difficult to surmise the relationship of the king to, or his identity with, Pōrmukharāma Puṇyakumāra Pṛithivīvallabha Chōla-Mahā- rāja of the Rāmēśvaram inscription (No. 384 of 1904). We find from some contemporary records of this region (Nos. 310 and 330 of 1935-36) a certain Erigal Dugarāja figuring as a donor during the reign of a Chōla-Mahārāja.

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