Epigraphia Indica Vol 07

SR No.: 032561
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: E Hultzsch
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1998
Total Pages: 522
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 23 MB

Page 153

120
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. VII.
Both of thein are intended to commemorate the donations of a king Tammusiddhi or Tammusiddha, who belongs to a family of Telugu chiefs of whom numerous records have boen discovered since 1892 in the Chingleput, North Arcot, Nellore and Kistna districts. On these materials Mr. Venkayyn has based his valuable account of the Chôdas of the Teluga country in the Annual Report for 1899-1900. However, as none of the inscriptions made use of by Mr. Venkayya have been published until now, I shall confine my remarks to the facts furnished by the following two inscriptions alone.
The Tiruvalangadu inscription is damaged in a few places, but the illegible passages can uasily be rostored, partly from the context alone, and partly with the help of the Tirappasûr inscription. It is written in Grantha characters. The size of the letters varies from t" to 2". Line 8 contains the raro subscript sign for jha in nirjjhard. The language is Sanskrit, and, with tho exception of the concluding words svasty=astu, the whole text is in verse. As regards orthography, it may be pointed out here that in the middle of a word t is written instead of d before a sonant consonant in the word patma in ll. 1, 2, 3, and in bhavatbhir in l. 21.
After two introductory verses in praise of the donor, who, as stated above, is called both Tammusiddhi (II. 2, 17, 18) and Tammusiddha (ll. 1, 20, 21), the inscription gives his genealogy, which shows the characteristical features of the Chôļa genealogies.
It begins with somo mythical ancestors. From the lotus of Vishụu's navel sprang Brahmau (vv. 3, 4), from him Marichi, from him Kasyapa (v. 5), from him the Sun (v. 6), and from him Mana (v.7), in whose family there were born many kings (v. 8). This is the genealogy of the solar racu as taught in the Puránas. It is found also in the Udayêndiram plates of Pritbivirati II. and thoso of Vira-Chola, as well as in the Kalingattu-Paranii and the Vikkirama-Solar-Ula;' but in the last three passages the third name appears as Kasyapa or Kachchipan instead of Kasyapa. The Vikkirama-Solar-Ula differs besides in placing Kafyapa before Marichi, and tho Udayêndiram platus of Prithivipati II. omit Manu.
The inscription uext mentions three kings who form the connecting link between these sages of old and the direct ancestors of Tammusiddhi. The first of them, born in the lineage of Manu, is Kalikala (v. 9). Kalikala is identical, of course, with the ancient half-mythical Chola king whose name is generally given as Karikala. The various traditions about him have been vollected by Dr. Hultzsch. In the present inscription we are told that he constructed the banks of the Kávéri, and that, when he had lifted Mount Môru with his play-staff, the quarters were greatly disturbed or confounded. The story about the construction of the banks of the Pongi or Kâvêrî is alluded to also in the Kalisgattu-Parani,7 the Vikkirama-Solar-Ulá, and the large Leyden grant. The second legend, implied by the words of the inscription, is not known to me, but it is probably connected in some way with another legend recorded by the two Tamil poems. According to the Kalingattu-Parani Karikala inscribed on the side of Mount Meru the whole history of the Tamil race as foretold by the Rishi Nårada, and in the Vikkirama-Solar-Ula he is spoken of as "the king who set his tiger-banner on the mountain whose summit gleams with crystal waterfalls," where the mountain meant by the poet would seem to be again Mount Meru.
See, e.g., Agnipurana, 5, 2:--
Vishnundbhyabjajo Brahmd Marlenir-Brahmarah surah
Marich dḥ Katyaparataimat Süryo Vaivasrató Manu Compare also 272,1 f.; kamayana, 1, 70,19 f ; 2, 110, 5 f. * South-Ind. Inacr. Vol. II. p. 382.
Above, Vol. III. p. 80 f. • Canto 8, vv. 9, 10; Ind. Ant. Vol. XIX. pp. 330, 340.
Ind. Ant. Vol. XXII. pp. 144, 1471. Manu is not menti med bero by name, but alluded to as "the stern ire who drove his chariot over his son to suotbe a cow in dire distress."
• South-Ind. Inaer. Vol. II. p. 377 f. Canto 8, v. 20, loc. cit. pp. 331, 341.
Loc. cit. pp. 141, 148. Archeological Survey of Southern India, Vol. IV. p. 206.