South
Indian Inscriptions, Volume 2
|
Tamil
Inscriptions
part
- i
INSCRIPTIONS
OF THE TANJAVUR TEMPLE
INSCRIPTIONS
ON THE WALLS OF THE CENTRAL SHRINE
No.21
On
the North Wall, Lower tier
|
This inscription is dated âon the seventh day of
the year which was opposite to the fifty yearâ of Tribhuvanachakravartin
Konerinmai-kondan. As I have shown in a paper on the Tirunelli deed of Bhaskara
Ravivarman, which will shortly appear in the Indian Antiquary, the word
âoppositeâ (edir) is used in Tamil dates in the sense of âafter.â
âAccordingly, this inscription is dated in the year which followed after the
fifth year, i.e., in the sixth year of the kingâs reign. The name of the
king has remained a puzzle and has been misread in various ways, until my
assistant discovered an archaic inscription at Kuttalam near Mayavaram, in
which it is spelt. This spelling, â if compared with the usual forms, and â
shows that the first part of the name must be divided into. From the
assimilated form, which occurs in an inscription at Pallavaram, we may further
conclude that is meant for must be dissolved into âa kingâ âequality,â and is
an abstract of the root, which signifies negation. Ko-ner-l-mai-kondan
may thus be translated by âhe who has assumed the title âking of kings,ââ a
surname of the Chera king Bhaskara Ravivarman, to whose reign the Cochin deed
of the Jews[1]
belongs. Koneril or Koneril appears to have been corrupted subsequently into
Koneri. For, we find the surname Koneri-mel-kondan or Koneri-men-konda applied
to Vira-Chola and to Kulottunga-Choladeva; and on a coin,[2]
copies of which are not rarely met with at Tanjore and Madura, the legend is
Koneri-rayan.
The title Konerinmai-kondan is applied to the Chola
king Rajarajadeva in the large Leyden grant (line 112); to Kulottunga-Choladeva
in an inscription at Karuvur; and to Sundara-Pandya in an inscription of the
Madura temple,[3] in the
cave-inscription at Tirupparankunram,[4]
in the smaller Tiruppuvanam grant,[5]
and in inscriptions at Perur.[6]
The same surname was borne by Vira-Pandya and by Kulasekharadeva.[7]
The king to whose reign the present inscription belongs, must be different
from, and considerably later than, Rajarajadeva, whose inscriptions are written
in archaic characters, while those of the subjoined inscription are not very
far removed from the modern Tamil ones. There is no such objection to
identifying the Konerinmai-kondan of the subjoined inscription with one of the
three Pandya kings, who had that surname. But it is impossible to make any
final identification, as the inscription does not contain any historical
particulars about the king to whose reign it belongs.
The inscription records an order of the king, by
which certain lands that had been wrongfully sold during the third and fourth
years of his reign were restored to the temple of Rajaraja-Isvara at Tanjavur.
Translation
1. Hail! Prosperity! (The following are) the
contents of an order (tirumugam) which (the king) vouchsafed to
issue.
2. Tribhuvanachakravartin Konerinmai-kondan (addresses
the following order) to the Panchacharya (who wears) a silk garment
(in honour of) the feet of the lord of the temple of Rajaraja-Isvara at
Tanjavur, (a city) in Pandikulasan[I]-valanadu,[8]
to the Devar-kanmi,[9]
to those who perform (the duties of) overseers (kankani) of the Sri-Mahesvaras,
and to the person who carries on the management of the temple (srikarya):
-
3. âWe have ordered that the tax-free temple-land (devadana)
of this temple, which was sold in the third and fourth (years of our reign),
â (viz.) eighty-three veli of land in (the village of)
Sri-Parantaka-Chaturvedimangalam in this nadu; five (veli), three
quarters and one hundred-and-sixtieth of land in Vira-Rajendran-Nerkuppai;[10]
eleven (vali) and three quarters of land in Kulottunga-Soran-Nerkuppai;
eleven (veli), one half and three twentieths of land (in)
Kulottunga-Soran-Parisai; six twentieths, one eightieth and one hundred-and-sixtieth
(of a veli) of land in Neriyan-[I]rai[yur]; and seven (veli) and
one quarter of land (in) the flower-garden (nandavanam) (called
after) Gangai-konda-Soran, which forms part of Karundittaikudi, - shall
remain tax-free temple-land, as of old, from the year which follows after the
fifth (year of our reign). And we have ordered those (officers)
who divide (the land) for (levying) taxes (vari), to enter
(this land) as such in the account (book). This land shall be
taken possession of by this temple as tax-free temple-land from the year which
follows after the fifth (year of our reign).â
4. Written by the royal minister (who writes the
kingâs) orders,[11]
Rajendrasimha-Muvenda-Velan; (this is his) signature. The signature of
Viratarayan. The signature of [Chi]trarayan. The signature of Vay[ir]adarayan.[12]
The signature of [Pal]-lavarayan. The signature of Pritiyangaraiyan.
5. (The above are) the contents of an order
which (the king) vouchsafed to issue on the seventh day of the year,
which followed after the fifth year (of his reign).
No. 22. On the South wall, first and second
tiers
This inscription is dated on the 64th
day of the 35th year of the reign of Tribhuvanachakravartin
Konerinmai-mondan and records the grant of the village of
Sungandavirtta-Soranallur,[13]
which formed part of the town of Karundittaikudi,[14]
and which was situated on both banks of the
Vira-Sora-Vadavaru[15]
and on the northwestern extremity of the city of Tanjavur. The village was
divided into 108 shares, of which 106 were to be enjoyed by the Brahmanas of
the village of Samantanarayana-chaturvedimangalam near Tanjavur, and 2 by the
temple of Samantanarayana-Vinnagar-Emberuman in this village. Both this village
and this temple had been called after his own name, and the granted village had
been purchased from its former owners, by a person, who is designated in the
text as the Tondaimanar, but whose proper name must accordingly have been
Samantanarayana. He was apparently a feudatory or high officer of the king, who
made the grant at his instance and on his behalf. At the present time the title
of Tondaiman is borne by the chiefs of the state of Pudukkottai in the
Trichinopoly district. Their ancestor is reported to have ousted one Pallavarayan
Tondaiman about 1680 A.D.[16]
This chief was probably a descendant of Samantanarayana Tondaiman and of
Karunakara Tondaiman, who, according to the Tamil poem Kalingattu-Parani,[17]
was king of the Pallavas, resided at Vandai[18]
and was the prime minister of the Chola king Kulotltunga. The title Tondaiman
means the king of Tondai[19]
or Tondaimandalam, the Tamil name of the Pallava country, the ancient capital
of which was Kanchipuram. The numerous Chola inscriptions found at this town
prove that the Pallava kingdom must have fallen a prey to the Cholas. From the kalingattu-Parani
it further appears, that the former rulers of Tondaimandalam were allowed to
retain possession of their dominions as feudatories. In the subjoined
inscription they appear in the same position during the time of
Konerinmai-kondan.
The chief difficulty in this inscription is the
numerous fiscal terms mentioned in connection with the grant. A good many of
them had to be left untranslated,[20]
while the translation of others is only tentative.
Translation
Hail! Prosperity! (the following is an order of)
Tribhuvanachakravartin Konerinmai-Kondan.
âFrom the rainy seas (kar) in the
thirty-fifty (year of our reign), (the village of)
Sungandavirtta-Soranallur, â which forms part of the town (nagara) of Karundittaikudi
in Tanjavur-parru, (a subdivision) of Tanjavur-kurram[21]
in Pandikulapati-valanadu,[22]
and which the Tondaimanar had purchased from Tennagangadevan, Sinattaraiyan and
other partners (ullittar), â was given for (providing) one hundred
and eight shares (pangu), viz., one hundred and six shares for one
hundred and six Chaturvedi-Bhattas, who had studied the Vedas and
Sastras and were able to interpret (them), (and who lived)
at Samantanarayana-chaturvedimangalam, â a village (agaram) in (the
neighbourhood of) Tanjavur, (a city) in Tanjavur-kurram, (a
subdivision) of Pandikulapati-valanadu, â which the Tondaimanar had
bestowed (on them and called) after his own name; and two shares for (the
image of) Samantanarayana-Vinnagar-Emberuman,[23]
which he had set up in this village (and called) after (his own)
name. The eastern boundary of (this village) is to the west of the
boundary of Kulottunga-Soranallur, which forms part of Karundittaikudi, and of
the boundary of the sacred flower-garden (called after)
Gengaikonda-Soran, which forms part of Karundittaikudi; (that part of)
the eastern boundary, which is to the south of the Vira-Sora-Vadavaru (river),
is to the west of the boundary of Nandavanapparru,[24]
(a quarter of) Tanjavur. (That part of) the southern boundary,
which is to the east of the wall (madil) of Mummadi-Soran, is to the
north of the boundary of Nandavanapparru; (that part of the southern
boundary, which is) to the west of the (same) wall, is to the north
of the boundary of Palatalipparru,[25]
(a quarter of) Tanjavur. The western boundary is to the east of the
highroad (peru-vari) of Kodivanm-udaiyal; (that part of the western
boundary, which is on) the northern bank of the Vira-Sora-Vadavaru, is (at
the same time) to the east of this river.[26]
The northern boundary is to the south of the boundary of Kadavan-mahadevi, alias
Virudarajabhayamkara-chaturvedimangalam.[27] Altogether, (the land) included
within these four boundaries, â excluding the cultivated land (vilai-nilam)
and the dry land (punsey) of) Ava-kamallakulam, alias
Jagadekavira-Suvarnamangalam, the cultivated land and the dry land of
Palatalipparru, and the cultivated land and the dry land of Nandavanapparru, â
(is divided into) fifty blocks (karani).[28]
Of (these), the wet land (nanse[y]-nilam), â excluding ancient gifts to
temples (devadana), (and) including the portion on the bank of
the river (padugai-irai) and the portion consisting of the causeways
between fields (tala-varamb-irai), â (contains), according to the
book (pottagam),[29]
sixty veli; the land on which the (village) servants subsist, (contains)
fourteen veli; the land (which is occupied by) the village-site (agara-nattam),
the place used for sacrificing to the gods (deva-yajana-bhumi), and the
place used as pasture for the cows (go-prachara-bhumi),[30]
(contains) six veli; the land which includes the houses of the
cultivators (Vellan), the ponds, channels, hills, jungles and mounds, (contains)
twelve (veli), one quarter and one eighth. Altogether, the land which
includes the wet land and dry land, the site of the village, the places used
for sacrificing to the gods and as pasture for the cows, and the houses of the
cultivators, the ponds, channels, hills, jungles and mounds, (contains),
according to the book, ninety-four (veli), one quarter and one fortieth.
Deducting from this nine blocks in possession (kani) of Tennagangadevan,
which contain sixteen (veli) of land, three quarters, four twentieths,
one eightieth and one hundred-and-sixtieth, (there remain) forty-one blocks,
containing seventy-seven (veli) of land, six twentieths and one
hundred-and-sixtieth.[31] These seventy-seven, six twentieths and one
hundred-and-sixtieth (veli) of land, which may be more or less,[32]
we gave, â including the trees over ground and the wells underground in this
land, and all other benefits (prapti) whatever kind,[33]
having first excluded the former owners and the hereditary proprietors, and
having purchased (it) as tax-free property (kani) for the one
hundred and six Bhattas of this village and for the two shares (of
the image) of Samantanarayana-Vinnagar-Emberuman â from the rainy season in
the thirty-fifth (year of our reign), as a meritorious gift
(dharmadana), with libations of water, with the right to bestow, mortgage or
sell (it), as a tax-free grant of land, to last as long as the moon and
the sun. (This grant) includes all kinds (varga) of taxes (kadamai)
and rights (kudimai), viz., (the right) to cultivate kar,[34]
maruvu,[35]
single flowers (?oru-pu), flowers for the market (kadai-pu), lime-trees,
dry crops, red water-lilies, areca-palms, betel-vines, saffron, ginger,
plantains, sugar-cane and all other crops (payir); all kinds of revenue
(aya), including the tax in money (kasu-kadami), odukkum-padi,
urai-nari, [36](the
share of) the village watchman (? Padi-kaval) (who is placed)
over the Vettis, (the share of) the Karanam who measures (the
paddy?), the unripe (fruit?) in Karttigai, the tax on looms (tari-irai),
the tax on oil-mills (sekk-irai), the tax on trade (sett-irai), tattoli,
the tax on goldsmits (tattar-pattam), (the dues on) animals and
tanks,[37]
the tax on water-course (orukku-nir-pattam), tolls (vari-ayam), inavari,[38]
the tax on weights (idai-vari), (the fine for) rotten drugs (arugal-sarakku),
the tax on bazaars (angadi-pattam), (and) the salt-tax (upp-ayam);
. . . . . . . . . . . the elephant-stalls (and) the horse-stables. Thus,
in accordance with this order (olai), it shall be engraved on stone and
copper. On the sixty-fourth day of the thirty-fifty year (of our reign).â
|
>
|
This is the signature of Gangayan, a native of
Tunjalur in Miralai-kurram. This is the signature of Pallavarayan, a native of
Tunjalur in Miralai-kurram.
|
>
|
|