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South
Indian Inscriptions |
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ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1935-36
PART II.
INTRODUCTORY
At Śāttūr in the Ramnad district I found a mound locally known as Mettukkadu covering an area of about 30 acres, which abounds in potsherds and
other relies of ancient habitation, of a variety found in old village sites. The
temples at Śrīvillipputtūr and Śaṅkaranayinārkōvil in the Tinnevelly district
were inspected and photographs of several interesting objects including the fine
spacious dramatic theatre-hall attributed to Tirumala-Nāyaka in the former
were taken.
Virasikhamani near the latter village, famous for its caverns and
beds, ‘Pandava-padukkai’ was also
visited and its rock-cut cave temple
inspected. The hillock called Vāliyampottai near Tenkāśi abounds in
prehistoric burial-urns imbedded in the mound close to each other in
various states of preservation. Some of them are reported to have contained
fragments of bone. These urns are locally known as madamadattan-tali involving a tradition behind the name that ancient people grew shorter and
shorter before their death, till they suited the size of the pot to which they
were finally consigned and buried. Of great interest are smaller earthen-ware
vessels with narrow necks and pointed bottom found here, one of which
resembles a vessel of the Ādichchanallūr find of previous years.
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Kilambur and Sivasailam in the Ambasamudram taluk are also reported to contain a
number of sepulchral urns of ancient
times adjoining the village sites.
Pots of ancient design were also secured at Ukkirankottai a village about 18
miles from Tinnevelly. Near this village is a raised area of about 100 acres
in which are seen the remnants of an old moat. The temple of Chokkanāchchiyammaṇ
here has some fine sculptured friezes and well-carved images
of Vishṇu etc. of an early type. The early Pāṇḍyan Vaṭṭeluttu inscriptions
of this place establish the identity of the village with Karavandapura the native
place of Madhurakavi, the minister of the Pāṇḍya king Parāntaka who
excavated the Ānaimalai cave temple near Madura. This Karavandapura is
known to have had a fort surrounding it in ancient times and the extensive
area mentioned above should evidently be the present vestige of this ancient
fort. It is not impossible that the name Ukkiraṅkōṭṭai has its origin in the
name of the early Pāṇḍya king Ugra-Pāṇḍya called also Ugra-Peruvaludi.
2. An inscription (No. 336) engraved on the pedestal of an image (now
lost) kept in the open-air Archӕological Museum at Hampi records the construction
of a chaityālaya at Kandanavrōlu and the consecration of an image of
Kuṁṭhu-Tīrthaṅkara therein by
Bukka-Mantri, son of Baichaya, who
was a (lay) disciple of Dharmabhūshana-Bhaṭṭāraka of the Mūla-saṅgha.
Kandanavrōlu is evidently the modern Kurnool. The period when or the
circumstance under which an image set up at Kurnool was transferred to
Hampi where the pedestal now lies is not known. It is possible that the
statement is only a reference to the minister’s foundation at Kurnool.
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3. At Kaṇṇanūr in the Musiri taluk of the Trichinopoly district (different
from the Hoysaḷa capital of the same name which is in the Trichi nopoly
taluk) are noticed in a field a furlong off from the present village, a small
shrine dedicated to a hero locally known as Bommadēva, who is represented
in the sculpture as riding on horse-back with his wife (?) behind him on the
saddle, and holding in his right hand a long lance. He should evidently be
identical with the Mahāsāmantādhipati of the Vijayanagara king Dēvarāya
II named Kottai Bommaya-Nayaka who is mentioned in a record from that place
(No. 143), as having revived worship in the Alagapperumāḷ temple and made
a grant of a village in his jivita for
right of the present trunk-road con-
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