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No. 23.)
TIRUVENDIPURAM INSCRIPTION OF RAJARAJA III.
161
Cuddalore (Kadalur), the head-quarters of the South Arcot district. It consists of 9 lines in the Tami) alphabet and language and forms a single big sentence, which can, however, be dissolved into several distinct periods with the help of the gerunds kéttu,'having heard, in line 2, and enru,'having said,' in lines 3 and 4. The pronoun namakkum, to us,' in line 9 shows that the subject of the passage beginning in line 4 is the plural of the pronoun of the first person.
The language exhibits a few peculiarities. The letters d and d are doubled after a nasal in yanddu (1.1), Sinddao (1.2) and elunddrı (1.9). Instead of the gerund kondu (twice in 1. 6, and 1. 8), the poetical form kodu occurs four times (11. 2, 3, 4 and 9). Aruļivittu (11.4 and 9), arulivikka (1.9) and veffivittu (1.7) are vulgar forms of arufuvittu, etc.
This inscription is distinguished from most other South Indian inscriptions, as it does not record a donation or similar transaction, but is of a purely historical character. It is dated in the 18th year of Tribhuvanachakrarartin Rajarajadêva (1.1) and must have been engraved at the instance of two military officers (dannákka®), named Appaņs and Samudra-Goppaya: (1.5), in the service of the Hoysaņa (or Hoysala) king Vira-Narasimhadeva (1.1). This king bad heard that Kopperuñjinga had captured the Chola emperor at sendamangalam. Anxious to vindicate his title the establisher of the Chola country,' he started from Dôrasamudra and conquered the Maha[ra] kingdom. When at Pâchchûr, he ordered the two above-mentioned officers to continue the campaign. They advanced through the enemy's country until they reached Sêndamangalam, forced Kopperuñjinga to release the Chola emperor, and accompanied the latter into his dominions.
The title 'establisher of the Chola country,' which the inscription applies to Vira-Narasimhadeva (1. 3), and the statement that he conquered the Mahara kingdom, show that this king is identical with the Hoysala Narasimha II., who in several inscriptions is styled 'the establisher of the Chola kingdom' and the uprooter of the Makara or Magara kingdom." As the inscriptions of Narasimha II. are dated between A.D. 1222 and 1234, it follows that the king Rajaraja, to whose 16th year the subjoined inscription belongs (1.1), is the Chôļa king Rajaraja III., who ascended the throne in A.D. 1216,6 and whose 16th year accordingly corresponded to A.D. 1231-32. He is no doubt identical with the Chôļa emperor' who was captured and released at Sendamangalam. The dates of other inscriptions of Rajaraja III. show that he continued to reign after his re-installation. His latest known date is A.D. 1243-44 in an inscription at Poygai.
The subjoined inscription mentions a considerable number of geographical names. Dôrasamudra, the capital of Narasimha II., is the modern Ha?&bid in the Belur taluka of the Hassan district in the Mysore State. Pâchchûr, where he halted on his expedition against Köpperuñjinga (1.4), is perhaps identical with a village of that name in the Trichinopoly tAluka, opposite to the island of Srirangam, 2 miles north of the Coleroon river, and 9 miles west by south of Kannaşûr, the southern capital of Narasimha's sacoessor Somógvara.? If this identification of Pachchûr is correct, it would follow that Narasimha II. left his dominions by way of the Gajalhatti pass, and that the Mahara (Makara or Magara) kingdom (1.3) has to be looked for in the Coimbatore or Salem district. In the course of the expedition which Appaņa and Samudra-Goppaya undertook against Köpperuñjinga, they first destroyed the villages of Elleri, Kalliyûrmûlai and Toļudagaiyur (1. 5). Then they worshipped the god at Popgambalam
See Mr. Sewell's Lista of Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 212, where the name is spelt Tiruvandipuram.' The same erroneous form is found on the Madras Surrey Map of the Cuddalore taluka. The Postal Directory of the Madras Circle, p. 1350, has correctly Tiruvendipuram.'
Dannákka aud dandyala are tadbhavas of the Sanskrit dandandyaka; see Ind. ant. Vol. XX. p. 304 and note 7.
• The first part of this name is apparently derived from Darasamudrs. • Dr. Fleet's Dyn. Kau. Distr. p. 507; Mr. Rice's Bp. Carn. Vol. IV., Ng. 98, and Vol. VI., kd. 120. See page 9 above.
Sonih-Ind. Inser. Vol. I. No. 64. Above, Vol. III. p. 81.
