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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA,
(VOL. IX
No. 10.-AMBASAMUDRAM INSCRIPTION
OF VARAGUNA-PANDYA.
BY V. VENKATYA, M.A., RAT BAHADUR. Ambasamudram is situated on the northern bank of the Tamraparni river and is the headquarters of the talaka of the same name in the Tinnevelly district. The town has a local reputation for the manufacture of cloths largely in demand on the western coast. On the southern bank of the river is the big and flourishing village of Kallidaikkurichchi, which gives its name to the cloths manufactured at the sister town on the other bank, because the trade in them is carried on mostly by the Brahmanas of the former place, who temporarily reside in Malabar and are frequently met with on the west coast.
The site of Ambasamudram seems to have been altered in comparatively recent times. The greater portion of the town is now situated at some distance from the river, while the most important temple, now called Erichoba-Udaiyar, is quite close to it, and is separated from the town by a pretty large extent of rice fields. The heavy floods in the Tamraparņi at certain Beasons of the year might be one of the causes which led to the removal of the town to & more distant locality. Besides, in ancient times, Ambasamudram seems to have been a big place, including some of the adjacent villages such as Tiruvalløvaram! and Mappárköyil. In an inscription of (Jatavarman Sundara-]Chô!a-Pandya: the temple of Erichcha-Udaiyar is said to be situated in the sonthern hamlet of Rajaraja-chaturvedimangalam. During the period of Pandya supremacy the town was called Ilangókkuļi or Ilangöykkudi, which was altered into Rajaraja-chaturvedimangalam after the Chola conquest. The latter name has probably to be traced to the Chola king Rajaraja I., after whom the Pandya country was itself called Rajarajamandalam.
During the field season of 1904-05 I copied eight inscriptions in the temple of ErichchaUdaiyår, of which two belong to the early Påndyas, two to the Chôļas, one to the CholaPåndyas and two to the later Papdyas,lo while the eighth does not mention any king. 11 One of the early Pandya records seems to belong to the reign of Vira-Pandya, 'who took the head of the Chola.' The Chola king with whom he fought must be Aditya (II.) Karikala, who, according to the large Leiden plates, fought in his youth against Vira- Pandya." The newly discovered Tiravalangada plates of Rajendra-Chôļa I. do not mention the name of the Pandya king against whom Aditya II. fought, but report that the latter " killed the Pandya king in battle and set up his lofty head as a pillar of victory in his city."16 Accordingly, Vira-Pandya reigned in the
The temple at Tiruvallivaram is mid to have been situated in Rajaraja-chaturvedimangalam, which was the name of Ambasamudram in Chola times Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1904-6, p. 48, Nos. 116 and 119 of 1906
The Viabņu temple at this village, called Rajendra-Chola-viņpagar in ancient times, was also situated in Bajarkja-chaturvedimangalam; No. 112 of the Government Epigraphist's collection for 1905.
No. 102 of the same collection. • No. 104 of the same, and line 2, 61. and 10 f. of the rabjoined in cription.
The name occurs already in an inscription of the 11th year of Rajaraja I: No. 119 of the Government Epigraphist's collection for 1906.
• South-Ind. Inuor. VOL. II. p. 149.
Non. 101 and 106 of the Government Epigraphist's collection for 1906. • Nos. 98 and 99 of the mme collection. No. 10% of the same.
10 Nou. 100 and 108 of the mmc. 11 No. 104 of the same.
1 No. 101 of the same. » He was the elder brother of Rajarkja I. (A.D. 985 to at least 1018). * South-Ind. Insor. Vol. I. p. 112. W Annual Roport on Epigraphy for 1905-6, Part I. paragraph 8. * Ibid. Part II. paragraph 16.
