________________
319
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. VIII.
33rd year of the reign of the Chola king Parantaka I.' found in the temple, the hill is called Tiruvapaimalai. It is also referred to in his Déváram by Tirusánasambandar, the great saivs saint, as a stronghold of the Jainas. Tradition has it that Tiroñanasambandar drove out the Jainas from the vicinity of Madura after converting the then reigning Påndys king Nedumaran to the Saiva faith. There are still vestiges of Jaina dominancy on the hill. On a rock with sculptures overhanging a natural cave there are a number of Tamil inscriptions, one of which mentions Ajjanandi. The cave is evidently one of those which the Jainas occupied in old times.
The first inscription is engraved on the left side of the entrance into the central shrine. The letters are cut boldly and deeply, and, being in the interior, the record is in good presery. ation; at the end of lines 5 and 6 are a few damaged letters which can be easily supplied from the context. The alphabet is Grantha. The final m is represented by a smaller m with & vertical stroke on its top ; see e.g. -idam in l. 3. The letter na is of a more arcbaio type than that of the Ganga-Pallava period, and ya is also slightly different from the common form of that time.
The record consists of three verses, of which the first mentions the son of Mars of the Vaidya family, who was the minister (mantrin, v. 2) of the Pandya king Perkataks. He was apparently an expert in the art of composing poetry and hence is called Madhurakavi. His actual name, Marangári, occurs in the second inscription, where he also bears the title Mûvêndamangalappêraraiyan. He was a native of Karavandapura (v. 1) or, according to the second inscription, of Kalakkuļi. The third verse contains the date- & Sunday in the month of Karttika of the year 3871 (expired) of the Kaliyuga era= A.D. 770. On this day an image of the god Vishnu was set up in the cave.
The second inscription, which, though well preserved, is not cut so deeply as the first, is & supplement to the latter and is engraved on the right side of the entrance. The characters of this record are an archaic form of Vatteluttu and Grantha. The latter is employed in some Sanskrit words that occur in the inscription, vie. mantri (1.2), Vaidyan (1.2 f.), svargg-áróhana (1. 6 f.), anujan (1. 8) and mantra-padam (1.9). The Vattelutta of this inscription seems to be the same as that of the Madras Museum plates of Jaţilavarman published by Mr. V. Venkayya ;' compare ?, n, t, u and particularly k (which has not yet assumed the shape peculiar
No. 63 of the Government Epigraphist's collection for 1905. ? Áraindmalaiyaddiy dyavaidangalir-palad allal-18rinargatk eliydowalon-Riruudlardymara-yirkave.-Tirumanambandar's Tirundlandy Padigan. • Sendamil, Vol. III. p. 406. • Nos 67 to 74 of the Government Epigraphist's collection for 1905.
SA Jaina teacher of this name is mentioned in the rock inscriptions at Vallimalai in the North Arcot district ; above, Vol. IV. p. 141 f.
. See e.g. above, Vol. VI. p. 320, and South-Ind. Insors. Vol. III. p. 90.
+ Probably the word vaidya is derived from vida, and the name seems to indicate that the members of the family were proficient in the sacred literature.
• In an inscription at Pirâņmalai (No. 143 of the Government Epigraphist's collection for 1903) Karavandapura is mentioned as another name of Kalakkuļi in the district of Kalakkudi, and in & record at Suchindram (above, Vol. V. p. 43) Karavandapuram is said to have been situated in the district of Kalakkudi. Kalakkudi is perhaps identical with the modern village of Kalakkad in the Nangunêri taluka, which even to this day has a dilapidated fort (Mr. Sewell's Lists of Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 314).
Ind. Ant. Vol. XXII. p. 57. The village granted in this inscription is Vélangudi renamed Srivaramangalam atter the Pandya king Neduñjadaiyag, one of whose birudas was apparently Srivara. In the Tirwaymoli (verses 508 to 518) reference is made to Srivaramangai or Srivaramangalanagar, which is identified with Nanguneri Imow'n to Vai shpivas under the names Váŋamamalai and Todâdri. It is not uplikely that the two Śrivaramangalams are identical.
