South Indian Inscriptions

THE PALLAVAS

older temple and that they had probably been originally set up as independent slabs and later built into the pavement of the prākāra. Another record of Nandivarman dated in his 21st year comes from Āvilāla in the Chittoor district. (No. 188), and it mentions Vikramāditya Mahābali-Vāṇarāya as the local chieftain. This Bāṇa who may be identified with Vikramāditya II of the Guḍimallam plates (Ep. Ind., Vol. XVII, p. 1 ff) has already figured in the Guḍimallam (No. 229 of 1903) and Tiruvallam (S. I. I., Vol. III, No. 43) epigraphs as a subordinate of Nandivarman III. The Āvilāla inscription states that at the request of Atiprasādi alias Mahādēvi Vijjiyakkanār, the Bāṇa chieftain remitted the taxes kallāṇakkāṇam and vīdanāli of the village Āvilāli for the upkeep of the tank in that place. Vijjiyakkanār mentioned here was probably the wife of the Bāṇa chief and was different from Vijjavai-Mahādēvi, [the daughter] of Nandipanma-Kāḍuveṭṭigaḷ referred to in a record of Pārthivēndravarman from Tirumālpuram in the Chittoor district (S. I. I., Vol. III, p. 374) as they were separated by a long period. The remaining two inscriptions (Nos. 467 and 469) of this king come from Maṇalūrpet in the Tirukkoyilur taluk. No 469 which is an incomplete record dated in the 5th years of Nandivarman, consists of detached stones, and form it it is inferred that a certain Vayiramēganār was the son of Vāṇagōvaraiyar Siddhavaḍavanār and was ruling in the locality and that at the request of his younger sister Mahādēvaḍigaḷ, an endowment was made to the temple at Maṇalūr. In two inscriptions at Tiruvorriyūr (Nos. 158 and 161 of 1912) a certain Vayiramēgan alias Vāṇakōvaraiyan, the son of Perunaṅgai or Śāmiakkan is mentioned in the regin of the Pallava king Aparājita, and since in the present inscription a Vāṇakōvaraiyan Vayiramēgan is stated to be the son of Siddhavaḍavan he may be different from the former. No 468 dated in the 13th year of an unspecified king, but which palæographically resembles the record of Nandivarman noticed above, may be assigned to the same king. This inscription gives the name of the god of Maṇalūr as Tiru-Uludīśvarattu-Mahādēva, i.e., Mahādēva of Uludīśvaram (Rudrēśvaram?), but the origin of this name is not clear.

Nṛipatuṅga.
   24. There are two damaged records of Nṛipatuṅga (Nos. 172 & 173) dated in the 21st year from Tinnanūr which appear to be connected with each other. No. 172 refers to the formation of a colony composed of merchants from the Telugu country (Vaḍugavāṇiyach-chēri) in the name of Vāhūr-Tiruvaḍi in the vicinity of Ninravūr in Pular-kōṭṭam, and to the fixing of the rates of assessment to be collected from the settlers by the assembly of the village. The imprecation attached to the inscription states that the members of the assembly who transgressed this resolution were to be considered as having wronged their Tiruvaḍi.

Vāhūr-Tiruvaḍi, a title of the President of a village assembly.
   The name Vāhūr-Tiruvaḍi occurs in the inscription at Piḷḷaippākkam mentioned in para. 22 above which is dated in the 19th year of Parāntaka I, and records the regulations relating to the election of members for the village assembly by the wards of Ninravūr, a village in Pular-kōṭṭam. Vāhūr-Tiruvaḍi mentioned here appears to denote the ‘President of the assembly of Vāhūr (?)’ and not a personal name (ef. Ep. Ind. Vol. XXII, p. 231).

Aparajita.
   25. The last Pallava king Aparājita is represented by a single inscription (No. 165) from Tiruvorriyūr. It is dated in his 5th year and registers a gift of 30 kalañju of gold by Kuṭṭiyāḷi-Brahmādhirā- jan of Tirukkaḍavūr-nāḍu in Muṭṭukkūr- nāḍu for a perpetual lamp to the god Mahādēva at Tiruvorriyūr. It is stated that the endowed amount was deposited with the sabhā of Maṇali, bearing interest at the rate of 3 mañjāḍi per kalañju per month, which works out at 15 per cent. per annum.