South Indian Inscriptions

Miscellaneous Inscriptions From the Tamil Country

Preface

This volume of South-Indian Inscriptions consists of four parts of which the first, containing the texts, translations and short introductions of 63 inscriptions secured from Ukkal, Melpadi, Karuvur, Manimangalam and Tiruvallam, was issued by Dr. Hultzsch in 1899.  The second part published by the same scholar in 1903 dealt with 25 mediaeval Chola inscriptions and contained a full account of the political history of the period covered by the reigns of the four Chola kings Virarajendra I, Kulottunga I, Vikrama-Chola and Kulottunga III.  In 1920, Rao Bahadur H. Krishna Sastri brought out the third part of the volume with texts and translations of 117 important Chola inscriptions belonging to the reigns of almost all the members of the Vijayalaya line from Aditya I to Rajendra-Chola I excepting Rajaraja I, having in view the object of writing a complete account of the Cholas in the concluding part.  The special feature of this part is that it includes in it a critical edition of the Tiruvalangadu plates discovered in 1906 and briefly reviewed by Mr. Venkayya in his Annaul Report of Epigraphy for that year.  The plates furnish not only a complete genealogy of the Cholas but also give more detailed information about individual kings than are narrated in the Leyden plates, the only authority till then for Chola history.  As an account of the time of Rajaraja I had been given by Mr. Venkayya in his introduction to Volume II and as the part played by the mediaeval Cholas had been sketched by Dr. Hultzsch in Part II of this volume, it remained only to notice the history of the early members of the Vijayalaya line including the reign of Rajendra-Chola I.  This account is now given as an introduction to the volume and is appended to Part IV which contains two Pandya grants from Sinnamanur and some minor Chola copper-plates.  It is a matter for regret that Rao Bahadur Krishna Sastri, who undertook the edit the part was not spared to see the final issue of it.  The Chola history narrated in the introduction and the edition of the two Pandya grants from Sinnamanur will be remembered as his last epigraphical contribution.  He left to me the verification of the index of the first three parts, the incorporation in it of the references to Part IV and introduction, the drawing up of the addenda and corrigenda, the editing of the minor Chola copper-plates and the revision of the proofs.

To be consistent with the earlier parts in the system of transliteration, the old diacritical marks have been employed in Part IV and introduction.

Ootacamund,                                                                                       K.V. Subrahmanya Ayyar.

19^th March 1928.

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