Epigraphia Indica Vol 15

SR No.: 032569
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sten Konow, F W Thomas
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1919
Total Pages: 478
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 23 MB

Page 110

No. 6.]
INSCRIPTIONS OF SUDI.
8r
and not partionlarly graceful type. The letters are between in. and in. in height. The special character for y (see above, Vol. XII, p. 336) seems to be used in Revadasayyan, 1. 12.
-The language, with the exception of the introductory Sanskrit formula Svasti Jayaf-chabhyudayas-cha, is Old Kanarose. The archaic is preserved in ildu, 1. 13, and wrongly substituted for in aldw, 1. 10; but we have elpattuman, 1. 8.
The purpose of the inscription is to record the rules for the funds of a temple. It states that in the reign of the Chiļukya Traiļokyamalla (Sömēsvara I), while Akka-dēvi (described with the same epithets as in inscription D) was administering the Kisukad seventy, the Torugare sixty, and the Masiyavādi hundred-and-forty (ll. 1-11), the administrative officials, headed by all the Ministers of State (pradhāna), Nāgadēvayya, the Commissioner of the County (nada pergade), Rövadāsayya, 1 the Secretary, and Madhavayya, the Chief Justice, issued at the nele-vidu, or standing camp, of Vikramapura a statutory oonstitution for the temple of the god Akkēsvara in Sandi-evidently a sanctuary of Siva founded or re-established by Akkå-devi-regulating the disposal of the lands of the establishment so as to ensure the due performance of its rituals (II. 11-16). Then follow the names of the various beneficiaries (11. 17-35). Among these we find a Pandit named Visva-siv.charya (1. 18), a vantiga (Aluteplayer, 1. 19), a ravalavalas named Singayya (1. 20), a bariya ravälavala (1. 21) and a manager (pergade, 1.23) whose names are not quite plain, and's number of temple-courtesans (sīļe) whose names and posts are carefully specified. The latter details are very technical, and an adequate translation is beyond my power; they are however interesting, as shewing the organisation of the staff of a temple according to their places and functions, and throwing some light on the technical uses of certain words, such as patra (11. 31, 32), which apparently has the Benge of "dancing woman." Compare No. F. below, p. 17, and the Bankāpër inscription above, Vol. XIII, p. 168.
In this connection I would call attention to the division of the posts of the temple-staff and of their quarters into those of the right and those of the left hand, which appears in this and other inscriptions. It seems to be connected with the well-known separation of the nonbrahmanic castos of the South into those of the right and those of the left hand. In the temple of Kali at Conjeevaram the right-hand castes worshipped in one mandapa, the left-hand Castes in another. If this view is correct, Mr. Srinivasa Aiyangar must be wrong in his theory that the division of the castes arose about 1010 A.D. from the distinction of the two armies of Rajaraja Chola into that of the right and that of the left hand. I helieve the converse to be the truth : the division seems to bave been in existence long before the eleventh century, and was indicated by the separation of the castes in public worship; and Rájnraja made use of the principle (or at least the name) to classify bis armies.?
The details of the dato (11. 14-15) are: Saka 976, corresponding to the cyclic year Jays; the new-moon of Jyështha ; Tuesday ; an eclipse (of the sun). Mr. Sewell informs me that these
The abort a in the second syllable of this game is in accordance with the rule of Papini, VI. iii. 63. . This means "keeper of a ravala." What a rapala is I do not know; but the word must be the same as the Marathi ravala, which means a goldsmith's die. Possibly then it may mean the stamp for the badges or tokens inued by the temple. Bariya ratala (1. 20) will then mean a secondary die.
Ct. patra-jaga-dal. in Epig. Cars., VII. 1 (Shimoge), Sb. 97 and below, inser. I, 1. 17.
• See ou pecially o. Oppert, O. the Original Islabitants of Bharat araraha or India, 1888, p. 85 R., in the Madras Journal of Literature and Science, 1887-8. Some further material is boticed in Progress Report of Lust. Arolaol. Supt. for Epigr., Madras, 1912-13, PP. 99-102, 109, 180, and 1914-15, pp. 16, 106. See M. Sriniva Ayangar, Tamil Studies, lat series, p. 99.
Tamil Studies, p. 92 ff. In this connection Dr. Fleet has called my attention to the curious names Balava-Jakkaiya and EavaJakkaiya in Ep. Carn., Vol. V (Hassan), trabal. p. 287.