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No. 17.1
TWO INSCRIPTIONS OF TAMMUSIDDHI.
121
The verses 10 and 11 are devoted to a king who is said to have been born in the lineage of Kalikala, and to have had two names, -Madhurântaka, i.e. the death to Madhura,' and PottapiChola. The former name he acquired by conquering Madhura, the capital of the Påndyas, whose women he made widows; the latter was given to him for having founded, in the country of the Andhras, the town of Pottapi. Madhurântaka Pottapi-Chôļa is a name frequently met with as that of a local chief in the inscriptions at Conjeeveram, the ancient Kanchipura; in the list compiled by Mr. Sewell' it occurs more than thirty times. Provided, however, that all these inscriptions are to be referred to the same person, it is impossible that that chief of Kanchipura should be identical with the ancestor of Tammusiddhi; for one of his inscriptions is dated in the 18th, and another in the 21st year of Tribhuvanachakravariin Râjarajadêva, which correspond to A.D. 1233-34 and 1236-37, respectively. He must have been a much younger member of the family, and Mr. Venkayya, for other reasons, is inclined to identify him with Chola-Tikka, who probably was the successor of Tammusiddhi. The identification of Pottapi, which Madharantaka Pottapi-Chôļa is said to have founded, must be left to future researches.
In Madhuråntaka Pottapi-Chola's race was born Tilungavidys (v. 12). The only feat recorded of him is the erection of a pillar of victory with a figure of Garuda at the top of it at Ujyapuri. Ujyapuri may be the modern Ojipuram or Ujjapuram, 18 miles east-south-east of Kollégal in the Coimbatore district. Mr. Sewell states that there is an old ruined fort at that place, and there is no difficulty in assuming that one of these Telugu Cholas should have extended his conquests beyond the Kávéri, if another boasts even to have taken Madhura.
With verse 13 begins a coherent genealogy of the direct anoestors of Tammusiddhi. In Tilungavidya's family was born king Siddhi (v. 13). His younger brother was Betta (I.), who had several sons (v. 14), the eldest of whom was Dayabhima (v. 15). Dayabhima's younger brother was Érasiddhi (v. 16). He again had three sons, Manmasiddhi or Manmasiddha, Betta (II.), and Tammusiddhi, whose mother bore the name of Sridevi (vv. 17-20). Of these only Siddhi, Dayabhima and Manmasiddhi are described in terms implying that they actually reigned, while of Betta II. it is expressly stated that, being given to the practice of austerities, he conferred, after the death of Manmasiddhi, the government on his younger brother Tammusiddhi.
In verse 21 we are informed that in the Saka year 1129 (=A.D. 1207-8) Tammusiddhi allotted to the lord of Vațâțavi all the revenues due to the king in the villages belonging to the temple. The inviolability of this order is enjoined in the two concluding verses (22, 23). As regards the name of the god, it is apparently derived from that of the village where the temple is situated, Vaţaţavi or its modern synonym Vațâra ya being Sanskrit renderings of the Tamil Tiruvalangadu, 'the holy banyan forest.'
The Tiruppasur inscription closely resembles the Tiruvâlangaļu inscription in outwari appearance as well as in its contents. It is written in Grantha characters, about 1} high. The form of the subscript jha in mirjjhard in l. 19 slightly differs from that of the Tiruvalangadu inscription, the loop to the left having disappeared here altogether. The initial é also has a
Lists of Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 178 1. * No. 37 of the Government Epigraphist's collection for 1893.
Lists of Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 187 (No. 277). Mr. Sewell mentions also an inscription (No. 74) dated in saka-Samvat 1282, in the 24th year of his reign."
• Loc. cit. p. 19. In the genealogical table, ibid. p. 18, Mr. Venkayys mentions a certain Madhurântaku Pottapi-Chodasiddhi who belonged to another branch of the Telugu Chļas. But he also cannot possibly be the person of that name in the present inscription, as he is represented as a descendant of Telungabijjana, whereas the Madhurantaks Pottapi-Chols of our inscription was an ancestor of that king.
[See South-Ind. Insor. Vol. III. p. 38, note 1. The Postal Directory of the Madras Circle mentions village " Potapi” near " Tongootoor " in the Pullampêt tåluks of the Cuddapah district.-E. H.]
Or, possibly, Ojyapari. The quantity of the initial vowel cannot be made out from the text, as it is united here with the final vowel of the preceding word (yon-Ojyaperyydm).
1 Lista of Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 216.
