________________
No. 10.] AMBASAMUDRAM INSCRIPTION OF VARAGUNA-PANDYA.
89
Accordingly, the event may be supposed to have taken place at the end of the 9th century A.D.
The great Saiva saint Manikkavasagar mentions the Pandya king Varaguņa twice in his Tiruchchirrambalakkovaiyar. The time of Sundaram ürti-Nayaņår, who probably flourished in the 8th century A.D., is the upper limit of the date of Måộik kavasagar, who is conspicuous by his omission from the Tiruttondattogai, i.e. the list of Saiva saints composed by the former. The lower limit may be taken as the reign of the Chola king Parakesarivarman Rajendradêva (A.D. 1052 to 1063), because in an inscription of the 5th year of his reign (=A.D. 1056-57) reference is made to the poem [Tiru]vembávai composed by Måņikkavasagar. It may, therefore, be concluded that this Saiva saint was a contemporary of the Pandya king Varaguņa. And if there was only one king of that name, the Saiva saint must bave flourished in the second half of the 9th century A.D.
It is worthy of note that the calculation of the annual requirements of the temple provided for in the subjoined inscription implies that the measure of paddy known as kalam consisted of 90 nali, instead of 12 kuruni or 96 nali, which we find, for instance, in the Tanjore inscriptions, and which is the prevailing equivalent in the Tamil country. A kalam was equal to 15 kuruni, and a lcuruni equal to 6 nali. The rate of interest, according to the subjoined inscription, is 2 kalam of paddy for each kasu, while in the Tanjore inscriptions it is 3 kuruni for one kašu. Thus the rate in the Pandya country at the time of Varaguņs would be nearly eight times higher than that prevailing in Tanjore during the reign of the Chola king Rajaraja I. (A.D. 985 to at least 1013), in case there was no difference in the value of the káfu. The variations at the same two places and periods in the price of some of the important articles of daily consumption are recorded in the foot-notes. It is interesting to note that common salt and firewood, which are included among the daily requirements in the Tanjore inscriptions, are conspicuous by their omission in the subjoined document. This is a significant fact, though we may not be warranted in concluding from it that these two articles had not to be paid for in the Påndya country daring the reign of Varaguņa.
TEXT
First Side of the Stone. 1 Svasti [ll*] Sri-Bhatárar=anugra[ha]tti[g)2 Mulli-nått-Ilangôykkudi T[i]
1 The conquest of the Pallavas is attributed by tradition to Adoņdai, an illegitimate son of Kulôttunga of Tanjore. The first battle, said to have been fought at Puralar, ended in favour of the Pallaves. Adoņdai was then forced to retreat to Sholinghur. "Encouraged there by a dream, he renewed the contest and defeated the enemy with great slaughter. The Pallava king was taken prisoner, and the brazen gates of the Puralur fort were carried to the temple (1) of Tanjore;" see the Manual of the North Arcot District, Vol. I. p. 89. If there be any truth in this tradition, Kulottunga must have been & surname of Vijayalaya, and Adondai of his son Aditya I. But there is not even the slightest hint in epigraphical records that Aditya was the illegitimate son of Vijayalaya. Another tradition has it that the mythical Chôļa king Kökkiļļi had an illegitimate son named Adoņdai by a Naga woman, and that the province conferred on the latter by his father was called Toņdai-nada or Toņdai-mandalam. It looks mit this Adondai is mixed up with the conqueror of the Pallaves in the former story.
Verse 806 in illustration of Maruvudaluraittal, and verse 327 in illustration of Vipaimutrininaittal. . Above, Vol. VII. p. 7.
* No. 12 of the Government Epigrapbist's collection for 1905 from the Virattåndsvara temple at Kisar near Tirukoilur.
In ancient times the rate of interest seems to have been more or less arbitrary. It looks as if the ordinary laws of Political Economy were not allowed fall play, and it is therefore unsafe to draw any conclusions from the rate of interest. At Conjoeveram the rate of interest during the reign of & Chôļa king named Parakesarivarman was 16 per cent. About a century earlier the rate was 5 per cent. in the same place. Again the interest on 250 kalanju of gold was 500 kadi of paddy, and 150 kádi on 50 kalanju; G. O. No. 452, Public, dated 10th June 1831, p. 5.
Read ®ndl; the ha of anugraha is slightly different from ha in 11. 5, 12 and 81.
