No. 212.— Tiruchchengodu plate of Rajakesarivarman[1]

This short inscription in seven lines is engraved on the first side of the first plate of the set of copper-plates obtained from M.R.Ry.  Muthuswamy Konar of Tiruchchengodu.  It is dated in the 10^th year of the reign of king Rajakesarivarman and registers evidently an order of one of the feudatory chiefs of the sovereign named Malavaraiyan sundarasolan, stating that the taxes on full house-sites and half house-sites shall be recovered at ¼ th and 1/8^th (kasu?) respectively from the citizens of Tusiyur and that fines and faults, if any, shall be realized at the rate prevailing in Nandipuram.  The chief Malavaraiyan Sundarasolan gets the surnames Piradigandan and Kolli-Malavan in B and Orriyuran Piradigandavarman in No. 213.  Rao Bahadur H. Krishna Sastri has identified the king Rajakesarivarman of this and the following record with Rajaraja I and notes as follows regarding the donor’s father who, in B is stated t have died at Ilam (i.e., Ceylon)[2]: — “He was evidently a military officer of rajaraja I or of the one of his predecessors.  An inscription from Tiruvenkadu of the time of Rajaraja I refers to the general Siriyavelan of Kodumbalur who fell in a battle-field in Ilam in the ninth year of Ponmaligai-tunjina-deva (i.e., Sundara-Chola Parantaka II).  It is not impossible that the father of Malavaraiyan was also connected with the battle in which Siriyavelar fell”.

It is not possible to identify Tusiyur mentioned in this inscription.

Translation

Hail ! Prosperity ! My father having been killed in Ilam (Ceylon), I, Kollimalavan Piradigandan Sundarasolan,[3]made a sirupadu[4]  to the south-west of the boulder with a hole and gave it to the lord of thesacred stone temple at Tusiyur for (appeasing) his thirst.

No. 213.— Tiruchchengodu plate of Rajakesarivarman[5]

This inscription, engraved on three plates —  the last bearing writing only on the inner side —  is dated in the 5^th year of the reign of the Chola king Rajakesarivarman (identified with Rajaraja I) and registers gifts of lands made by the chief Kollimalavan Orriyuran Piradigandavarman, to the temple of Paramesvara of the sacred Mulasthana at Tusiyur.  Boundaries of the lands granted are furnished in detail and therein figure Kannadu, the dams called Punarru-anai and Kallodu-anai, the tanks Sulai-kulam also known as Kandaleri, Tamaraikkulam and Karali-eri also named Pudukkulam, the temple of Tantonripiran, Mukkurukka, Kattingagankuval-itter and Kanavadinallur, otherwise called Amankudi.

Kannadu (kal-nadu) which occurs more than once in this inscription refers evidently to hero-stones which are stated in ancient Tamil literature, as having been put up with great ceremony in honour of persons who had done valorous deeds in guarding their country and given up their lives in that cause.  Being associated with the word peruvarambu it may even be an engraver’s mistake for kannarru.

Traces of writing found in lines 13, 28, 29, 30, and 33 indicate that the present inscription is a palimpsest.

It is not possible to identify the places mentioned in this inscription.

Translation

Hail ! Prosperity ! In this yer, (viz.,), the fifth year, current by the king’s order, of (the reign of) king Rajakesarivarman, I, Kollimalavan Orriyuran Piradigandavarman[6] gave with libation of water, the following lands situated within the four great boundaries described, inclusive of the trees growing thereon, the wells sunk therein, the ant-hills, the mudakkurai, and containing all kinds of soil where inguanas run and the tortoises crawl,— after defining the boundaries and (boundary) stones, to the god (Paramesvara) in the sacred Mulasthana of the sacred stone temple at Tusiyur : -

The fine land in the field to the south of Tusiyur in my division, — the eastern boundary of which is to the west of the land belonging to Pidariyar, of Amaichchi and of the dam called Punarru-anai; the southern boundary is to the north of the big ridge and the hero-stone (kannadu) on theeastern side of the sacred boulder, and to the north of the hero-stone and big ridge on the western side of the (same) sacred boulder; the western boundary is to the east of the high road passing southwards from the southern entrance of Tusiyur and the tank called Sulai-kulam alias Kandaleri as well as the temple of Tantonriprian; the northern boundary is to the south of the old village of Tusiyur,— together with the lotus tank (Tamarai-kulam), the nirkovai (i.e., land covered with water) of this tank, the land of [Itadupiviran],[7] and the tank known as Karrali-eri alias Pudukkulam, together with the nirkovai of this tank.

The boundaries of the lands under this tank are as follow : — The eastern boundary is to the west of the hero-stone ; the southern boundary is to the north of the by-path called Kattinagankuvalitter ; the western boundary is to the east of Mukkuruga; the northern boundary is to be south of the tank ; they include Kanavadinallur alias Amankudi together with the lands and the dry lands belonging to that village.

I, Orriyuran Piradigandavarman, gave with libation of water, Kanavadinallur alias Amankudi to the god.  Paramesvara of the sacred Mulasthana in Tusiyur.  I gave with libation of water, Kanavadinallur alias Amankudi, to the god Paramesvara of the sacred Mulasthana of the stone temple[8] at Tusiyur and to the drummers who sound the five great sounds to him.  The feet of him who protects this charity shall be on my head.  He who acts against it, shall without fail lose progeny in seven births.

As the lands situated to the south of the sacred boulder lying under the tank known as Sulai-Kulam also called Kandaleri, an old devadana land in Tusiyur, had been constituted as a brahmadeya and given away, I, Kollimalavan Orriyuran Priadigandavarman made Kalaur as a substitute for that land.  The boundaries of this land are : -

To the west of Sirukarai ; to the north of the Pallichchandam ; to the east of Amaichchi and to the south of the dam called Kallodanai and Kusavankalani.  As an exchange of land, I gave the land lying within these four boundaries.