......The
Tamil portion of the grant consists of 524 lines engraved on
twenty-one copper-plates.The
first 145 lines are actually taken up by the order issued under the
authority of the king by his ministers and other officers.The next 281 lines contain a detailed description of the
boundary line.The last
98 lines state the conditions and privileges with which the village
was granted as a devadana to the temple and supply the names
of the artisans who engraved the grant.The order was addressed to the headmen of the districts, the
headmen of the brahmadeya villages and the residents (urar)
of the devadana, pallichchanda, kanimurruttu, vettipperu and
ara-chchalabhogam villages in Menmalai-Palaiyanaur-nadu, a
subdivision of Jayangondasolamandalam.This classification seems apparently to distinguish
therevenue villages of the State from those granted to brahmanas,
temples, Jaina shrines, Jaina teachers, and service âimams and charitable feeding houses.The king being seated in his private room on the upper storey
of his palace at Mudigondasolapuram ordered that Palaiyanur in
menmalai Palaiyanur-nadu which originally was a brahmadeya of
the assembly of Singalantaka-chaturvedimangalam in Naduvinmalai
Perumur-nadu should from the 6th year and the 88th
day of his reign, cease to be a brahmadeya and be included
under vellan-vagai villages.Healso ordered that in consequence the tax 598 kalanju
and one kunri of gold which it was paying with
Singalantaka-chaturvedimangalam must now bereduced but that unlike
other vellan-vagai villages, it must be made to pay as of old[1]
the permanent tax (in kind) of 3238 kalam 7 kuruni
and 5 nali of paddy together with 193 kalanju, 1 manjadi
and 1 ma of gold, including palli and be given over as
a devadana to the temple of Mahadeva at Tiruvalangadu.
Two
executive (karumemarayum) officers of the king and two
arbitrating (naduvillirukkum) officers passed the order that
the royal writ may be entered in the account books just as it had
been signed and issued by the four secretaries (Olai-nayakam)
on the strength of a letter received from the officer who wrote the
orders of the king, evidently under his direct dictation.This order was further supported by the approval and
signature of three chief executive officers.Accordingly on the 90th day of the same year, two
officers of the department of taxes (puravuvarithinaikalam),
and the officers called varipothagam, mugavetti, varri pothaga-kanku,
variellidu, pattolai and Kizhmugavetti being present, the necessary
entries were made in the registers.
>
Two
other officers and a third, perhaps a non-official, were also
appointed to superintend the ceremony of going round the granted
village and its hamlets accompanied by a female elephant (pidisuzhndhu
padagai nadakirathu or in Sanskrit karinibhramana).In lines 128-145, we are told that the residents of the
district who had also received a royal order to co-operate with the
above said officers in walking round the hamlets accompanied by the
female elephant, in planting boundary stones and milk-bush and in
drawing up the gift deed, met together, went in advance to receive
the royal order (Thirumugham) placed it on their heads and making
due obeisance to it, walked round the hamlets of Palaiyanur.A short eulogy of the king in Tamil is here inserted in lines
131 to 142.The king is
stated to have conquered with his great war-like army
Idaitturai-nadu, Vanavasi of extensive forests, Koillippakkadi and
Mannaikkadakkam, to have captured the crowns of the king and queen
of Ilam (Ceylon), the beautiful crown and other jewels which the
Pandya king had deposited with the king of Ilam (Ceylon), the whole
island of Ilamandalam, the crown and the garland of the Kerala king
and many âancient islandsâ inthe sea.Idaitturai-nadu
which was for a long time identified with the country comprising the
small taluk of Yedatore in Mysore, has now been satisfactorily
proved by Dr. Fleet to be the Raichur doab.[2]Kollippakkai has been identified by Mr. Lewis Rice with
Kulpak in the Nizamâs Dominions.[3]
It is not unlikely also that Mannaikkadakkam grouped with the two
above names, may have to be identified with Manyakheta (Malkhed) in
the Nizamâs Dominiions though hitherto it has been taken to be
Manne in the Mysore State.Rajendra-Cholaâs
seizure of the crowns of the Pandya, Ceylon and Kerala kings must
have earned for hi the title Mudigonda Chola which title he appears
to have commemorated by founding the town called Mudigondacholapuram.[4]
The
circumambulation of the village by the officers and the district
people, accompanied by the female elephant is detailed in the
point-to-point description of the boundary line, which commences
with 1. 145.The
eastern boundary touched the villages, Perumbur,[5]
Kulapadi, Naaipadi, Mangalam and Manaiyil, all of which are stated
to have been hamlets of Singalantaka-chaturvedimangalam.[6]The southern boundary similarly touched the village
Mannalaiyamangalam and Tolugurwhich were also hamlets Singalantaka-chaturvedimangalam and
Kuttukkumundur which was a hamlet of Nittavinoda-chaturvedimangalam.[7]Incidentally in the description of this boundary line,
reference is made to the high road leading from Tirupasur to
Merppadi alias Rajasrayapuram which is of much interest, if
by men and wheeled traffic.The
western boundary touched the villages of Kirainallur, Sakkaranallur,[8]
Karaiappakkam, Midugur[9]
â all hamlets of Singalantaka-chaturvedimangalam.The northern boundary touched the villages of Uppur,
Ganganerippattu, Polipakkam[10]
and Kayarpakkam which were also hamlets of
Singalantaka-chaturvedimangalam.
The
inscription closes with a list of privileges (parihara) which, being
a royal prerogative, were transferred from the king to the temple of
Tiruvalangadu, on the village Palaiyanur being converted into a devadana.The list consisted of several fees, taxes and tolls such as nadatchi,
uratchi, vattinali, pidanali, vannara-parai, kannalakkanam,
kusakkanam, idaipattam, tari-irai, taragu (or taragu-pattam),
tattar-pattam, manru-padu, mavirai, tiyeri, virpidi, valamanjadi,
nallavu, nallerudu, nadukaval, udupokku, ilaikkulam, nirkuli, ulgu
and odakkuli.As
I have stated elsewhere it is doubtful if all these terms have to be
taken as referring to regular sources of revenue to the State or are
to be considered mostly as obligatory services which the king alone
could enforce on the people for his personal enjoyment.The list is not exhaustive.The Kasakudi plates mention under pariharas a larger
number of items.There
also it is stated that the palace resigned them in favour of the
donee.[11]
The Leyden plates repeat almost all these terms under parharas
but mention tarippudavai instead of tari-irai and add
the new term attukkirai.The Velurpalaiyam and the Tandandottam plates published above
add the terms puravu-pon, tirumukkanam, tattukkayam, ilamputchi,
idaipputchi (perhaps same as idaippattam), kulam
(perhaps same as ilaikkulam), paraikkanam[12]
pattinaseri, ulaviyakkuli, urettu, angadikkuli[13]
kadaiyadaikkay and uppu-korchchaigai.A set of vyavasthas (i.e., conditions of grant) were
also imposed on the donee.Here
again the exact import of these conditions has not been properly
understood.Some have
taken it to be only permissive rights just like the privileges
mentionedabove, granted to the donee ; but it would look
apparently to be different when we see that permission to build
houses of bricks, to dig wells, to plant coconut trees in rows, or
to plant sweet-scented verbina, may not generally have required a
license.Still such are
the conditions (vyavastha) mentioned viz., that
mansions and large edifices shall be built of burnt bricks ; wells
and reservoirs shall be dug ; coconut trees shall be planted in
groves ; maruvu, damanagam, iruveli, senbagam,
red-lilies, mango, jack, coconut, areca and such other trees shall
be put in and planted ; large oil-presses shall be set up and that
toddy-drawers shall not climb the coconut and palmyra trees within
the boundaries of the granted village.One or two other vyavastha regarding the irrigation of
lands also deserve to be noted.Usually the distribution of water for irrigation in each
village appears to have been fixed by some common understanding.This allotted quantity of water, the grant states, shall be
utilized by digging canals.Cultivators
to whom the canal is not intended shall not cut open branch channels
from it, nor bund up the water, nor raise it by small piccotas, nor
bale it out by baskets; and those who have the right shall make the
most economical use of the water without wasting it.[14]
Canals flowing across other villages to irrigate the lands of this
village and vice versa shall be permitted to flow over the
boundary line and to cast up silt.[15]Besides, the embankments of tanks shall be allowed to be
raised within their limits, so that they may hold the maximum
quantity of water.
The
grant thus set forth was given effect to by the district people (nattom)
of Palaiyanur, an officer of the department of taxes and two others,
one of whom according to 1. 120 was an executive officer of the
king.The same was also
done by the assembly of Singalantaka-chaturvedimangalam, represented
by Karanattan of that village ; by the villagers (urom)
of Palaiyanur and the assembly of Nittavinoda-chaturvedimangalam.
The
grant was entered in the accounts in the 7th year and the
155th day of the kingâs reign, there being present on
the occasion the officers already mentioned, together with some
others.Four Sanskrit
verses with which the inscription ends supply the names of the four
sculptors of Kanchipura who belonged to the Hovya or Ovi family, viz.,
Aravamurta (i.e., Tamil Aravamudu) his two brothers Ranga
and Damodara and his son Purushottama.
There
are three dates given in the Tamil portion of the inscription.The first which occurs in line 6 was the eight-eighth day of
the sixth year when perhaps the king orally ordered the release of
Palaiyanur from being a brahmadeya of
Singalantaka-chaturvedimangalam, its inclusion as a vellan-vagai
and a devadana, and its permanent settlement.The second ate, viz., the ninetieth day of the sixth
year which occurs in line 62, was actually the day on which the
written order was issued under the signature of the several officers
of the king and was perhaps also entered in the books of the issuing
office. The third date which occurs in line 517 and is one year and
65 days later than the second date was evidently the date on which
the grant was executed and the necessary entries made in the account
books of the villages concerned.The long delay in the execution of the kingâs order must
have been due either to the complicated system of administration or
to the details of procedure adopted in separating Palaiyanur from
Singalantaka-chaturvedimangalam.
[1]Perhaps before it had become a brahmadeya of the
assembly of Singalantaka-chaturvedimangalam.
[12]This has been translated as tax on quarries.Possibly this term has to be connected with vannara-parai
which occurs elsewhere.In
this case it might mean only the fee levied on washer menâs
stones.
[14]The phrase chennir pothvinnai seiyathathakavum
anniradaithu paicha peruvathakavum has to be explained in the
sense in which the same phrase occurs in a different form at p.
46 of South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol.
III.Here vetti
corresponds to pothuvinnai of our inscription and ponnirvittu
paichi kolvathakavum to annir adaithupaichaperuvathakavum.
[15]Melnadainirpaya is a phrase which generally occurs in the
description of the boundary line of a village when this cuts
across a channel, the waste weir of a tank or a stream.Evidently it means that the boundary line which passes
through the water is no prohibition for the water from flowing
over the line to irrigate other lands.The same is to be understood in the case of the casting
up of silt.