No. 42 - On a boulder near Tiruvallam & No. 43 - Bilvanathesvara temple

No. 44 to 47 Bilvanathesvara shrine

No. 48 to 51 west, north, south wall of the shrine

No. 52 to 54 wall shrine, & maha mandapa & nakulesvara shrine

No. 55 to 57 Bilvanathesvara shrine, south wall of the maha mandapa

No. 58 to 60 verandah round the Bilvan, maha mandapa, north of the tank

No. 61 to 63 north wall of the maha mandapa & west wall of the kitchen

No. 42.- On a Boulder near Tiruvallam 

This inscription is engraved on the slightly sloping surface of a large boulder in the bed of the Niva river, one mile north-east of Tiruvallam.  The alphabet is Tamil and Grantha of an archaic type.  It resembles the alphabet of the inscriptions of the Western Ganga king Kampavarman (Nos. 5 and 8 above) and lies between the two Kil-Muttugur inscriptions of Vijaya-Narasimhavarman[1] as the upper limit and the two Ambur inscriptions of Vijaya-Nripatunga-Vikramavarman[2]  as the lower one.  As in other archaic Tamil inscriptions,[3] the virama is expressed by a vertical dash over the letter in a number of cases, though not throughout.  In the word Manradi (1. 8) the syllable ra is expressed by two separate symbols.[4]  The letter n has generally its archaic form, but in two cases its central loop is fully developed.  The language of the inscription is Tamil ; but line 1 contains some invocations in Sanskrit prose, and line 15 f. a Sanskrit verse.

The record is dated in the 62^nd year of the reign of Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman (1. 2 f.).  Three other inscriptions of the same king are noticed in Vol. I. (Nos. 108, 124 and 125).  As I have shown before,[5] he is probably identical with Nandivarman, the father of Vijaya-Nripatungavarman and the son-in-law of the Rashtrakuta king Amoghavarsha I.  If this identification is correct, the inscription would have to be placed before the end of the 9^th century A.D.

Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman appears to have been the sovereign of Mahavalivanaraya (1. 11) or Mavalivanaraya (1. 5), who was a descendant of the family of Mahabali (1. 5) and ruled the twelve thousand (villages) of Vadugavali (1. 6), i.e., ‘the Telugu road.’   This province is mentioned in the Mudyanur plates of the Bana king Malladeva as ‘the twelve thousand villages in Andhra-mandala,’[6] and in the Udayendiram plates of the Bana king Vikramaditya II. as ‘the land to the west of the Andhra road.’[7]  The attributes which are prefixed to the name of Mahavalivanaraya in the subjoined inscription (1. 3 ff.) are also found in an undated inscription of Mahavalibanarasa at Gulganpode.[8]  As I have stated before,[9] Mahabalibanaraja seems to have been the hereditary designation of the Bana chiefs.  Hence it is impossible to say which individual chief is meant in the present inscription.

The inscription records that a goldsmith granted some land to a temple at Vanapuram (II. 6 and 14), and that Mahavalivanaraya confirmed this grant (1. 10 f.). vanapuram, ‘the town of the Banas,’ seems to have been the residence of the Bana chief and have been situated closed to Tiruvallam.

(Line 1.) Om.  Obeisance to Siva! Hail! Prosperity!

(L. 2.) In the sixty-second year (of the reign) of king Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman, while the glorious Mavalivanaraya, - born from the family of Mahabali, who had been made door-keeper by the lord of gods and demons, Paramesvara (Siva), who is worshipped in all the three worlds,- was ruling the Vadu[gava]li twelve-thousand, - I, [A]ridhiran, the son of Ma[da]n, a goldsmith (and resident) of a house in the east of [A]linganapa[kka]m in (the district of) Urrukkattu-kottam,[10] caused to be renewed the Vada-[si]gara-koyil[11] at Vanapuram and gave to it the patti[12]  (called) Alinjirka [lam], (which I had) bought from Manradi, the son of Ilangilavar.

(L. 10.) Mahavalivanaraya circumambulated the hamlet (pidagai) towards the right and granted (the land) enjoyed by the god, which (Aridhiran) had given.

(L. 11.) “The feet of him who protects this (charity), (shall be) on my head.[13]  He who destroys this (charity), shall incur the sin of one who kills the great men who are permanent (members)[14] of the assembly.[15] If the destroyer of this (charity) does not fear this sin, we, (the inhabitants) of Vanapuram, shall pay a fine of one thousand kanam to the palace of the king who is then ruling.

(L. 15.) “Land has been granted by many kings, commencing with Sagara.  Whosoever (is) the earth at any time, his (is) then the reward (of gifts of land).”

No. 43.- On the north wall of the Mahamandapa in the Bilvanathesvara temple

This inscription and No. 44 are written continuously, the first two words of No. 44 occupying the end of line 46 of No. 43.  The two first lines of No. 43 state that both inscriptions are copies of earlier stone inscriptions, and that these copies were made when the mandapa of the temple was pulled down and rebuilt.  Consequently the alphabet of Nos. 43 and 44 exhibits more recent forms than No. 42, though the date of No. 43 is anterior to No. 42.

No. 43 belongs to the 17^th year of the reign of the same king as No. 42, -Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman (1. 3 f.).  It records that three villagers were granted to the temple at the request of the Bana king Vikramaditya (1. 12 ff.).  Two chiefs of this name are mentioned in the Udayendiram plates of Vikramaditya II.[16]  The grant recorded in these plates must be prior to the time of Prithivipati II., because the Chola king Parantaka I. transferred to the latter the Bana kingdom, which he had wrested from two Bana chiefs.[17]  The accession of Prithivipati III. has to be placed before the 9^th year of Parantaka I., i.e., before about A.D. 909.[18]  Consequently, as pointed out by Dr. Fleet,[19] Krishnaraja, the friend of the Bana king Vikramaditya II.,[20] seems to have been the Rashtrakuta king Krishna II.  (A.D. 888 and 911-12) ; and the Bana king Vikramaditya, who is mentioned in the subjoined inscription as a contemporary of Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman in the 17^th year of this king, may be identified with Vikramaditya I., the grandfather of that Vikramaditya II. who issued the Udayendiram grant.

One of the three villages granted was Aimbuni (1. 6), apparently the modern Ammundi[21] near Tiruvallam.  The three villages were clubbed together into one village, which received the new name Videlvidugu-Vikkiramaditta-chaturvedimangalam (1. 9 ff. and 1. 20 ff.).  The executor of the grant was Kaduptti – Tamila-Perarayan (1. 15).  The same title was borne by the executor of the Bahur plates of Vijaya-Nripatugavarman.  In the transcript of these plates, which is in my hands,[22] which is evidently a mistake of the copyist for Videlvidugu Kadupati-Tamila-Perarayan.  This title and the surname of the village granted by the present inscription[23] suggest that Videlvidugu, i.e., ‘the crashing thunderbolt,’ may have been a surname of Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman and of his son Vijaya-Nripatungavarman.