Epigraphia Indica Vol 03

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 19

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. III.
flanked by two flshes, one on the left and one on the right. The carp (kayal or fél) was the device on the banner of the Pandya king, who was, therefore, called Mişavan, 'the bearer of the fish-banner.' It appears on many Pandya coins as the crest of the king.
The inscription belongs to the time of king Sundara-Pandya (verses 1, 12, 21, 23, 25, 26), who resided at Madhuri (verse 2), belonged to the race of the Moon (verse 8), and was styled “the Sun among kings" (verse 3 and passim) and "the Chief of the world "' (verses 7, 8, 15). The only historical incidents to which the inscription refers, are that Sundara-Påndya took Sriranga from a king who is designated" the Moon of Karnata," and whom he appears to have killed (verse 1), and that he plundered the capital of the Kathaka king (verses 4 and 8). As these same two enemies are mentioned in the Jambukêsvara and Tirukkalukkupram inscriptions, in which Sundara-Pandya is called "the dispeller of the Karnața king" and "the fever to the elephant (which was) the Kathaka (king)," we need not hesitate to identify the Sundara-Pândya of the subjoined inscription with Jatavarman, alias Sundara-Påndyadêva, who ascended the throne in A.D. 1250 or 1251,8 The Kathaka king whom he defeated, was probably one of the Gajapati kings of Orissa, whose capital was Kataka (Cuttack). The "Moon of Karnata," who was conquered by Sundara-Pandya, has probably to be identified with the Poysaļa (or Hoysala) king Sômêsvara, the first part of whose name means the Moon.' A copper-plate grant of this king, which is preserved in the Bangalore Museum, was issued on the new-moon tithi of Phålguna of Saka-Samvat 1175 current, the Paridhavi samvatsara (1st March, A.D. 1253), the day of an eclipse of the sun," while he was residing in the great capital, named Vikramapura, which had been built, in order to amuse his mind, in the Chola country, which he had conquered by the power of his arm.". The site of this Vikramapura can be fixed with the help of an inscription of the same Poysala king Vira-Somèsvaradeva in the Jambukēgvara temple, in which the king mentions" (the image of the lord Poysalêsvara, which we have set up in Kaņņaşûr, alias Vikramapuram, in the district of) Rajarajavalanâqu."6 Kannaŋur is the name of a village at a distance of 5 miles north of Srirangam. On a visit to this Kannanûr, I was shown the traces of the moat of an extensive fort. On the branch road to Mannachchanellar, part of the surrounding rampart was still visible over the ground. "The Nawab " is supposed to have carted away most of the stones of the enclosure when building (or repairing) the Trichinopoly fort. Besides the present village of Kannaîūr, the fort included a temple which
1 Compare verse 27 of the present inscription.
The Tamil equivalent of this surname occurs on certain Påndys coins wbich I attribute to Sundara-Pandya; Ind. Ant. Vol. XXI. p. 324 f.
Ind. Ant. Vol. XXI. pp. 122 and 343. According to Mr. Diksbit's calculations, the date of the Jambukeśvara inscription is the 28th April, A.D. 1260, and that of the Tirukkalukkupram inscription the 29th April, A.D. 1259; ibid. Vol. XXII. p. 221.
. ibid. Vol. XX. p. 390.
Mr. Rice's Mysore Inscriptions, p. 322. The original (Plate iv. a) reads :- e r ufaure auraसविनिर्निवचीलमंडले स्वमनीविनीदाय विनिर्मितां विक्रमपुरनामधेयां महाराजधानीमधिवसन् परिधावीसंवत्सरस्थ फाल्गुनमासस्थ[]मावास्थायां सूर्योपराग विधीय[मामानेकदानप्रवृत्तिप्रसंगाति कलकधिनाविषयांतर्ग[व] मदनिपलीसहितं मतिकहनामधेयं पुरं खस्य पहिष्याः सीमलदेव्याः श्रेयीय सीमलापुरापरनामकं कृत्वा चत्वारिंशदधिकशतनिककरकल्पनया सप्ततिं तत्ती: परिकल्पा नानागीचेभ्यो ब्राह्मणेभ्यस्तत्पुरे स्वप्रतिष्ठितदेवस्य निखिलभी[ग] धारापूर्वकं प्रादात् ॥ On Plata iv. d, the date is repeated in Kadarese - eTATICE * Pro44 ufcurfueue Wu<HTATË TY. Dr. Fleet kindly informs me that, according to yon Oppolzer's Canon der Finsternisse, pp. 236, 237, and Plate 118, a total eclipse of the sun actually took place on that day, and that the central line of the eclipse ran right across nearly the middle of India.
Line 5 f.:- Rajarajaralanáttu=Kkannasur-ana Vikki[ra] mapurattu sám elund-arulivitta Ndaiyar Paliánaram-u[daiyar). The same inscription refers to four images which Somèsvara had set up in the Jambuk86vara temple,- Vallalibvart, Padumaliśvara, Vira-NAralingiśvara, and Bomallivars. These were evidently called after (a) bis grandfather BallAla II. ; (6) bis grandmot ber Padmall; (c) his father Narasimha II.; and (d) his queen Sómala.