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No. 24.]
DATES OF CHOLA KINGS.
I have tested all the years bearing the cyclic name Hemalamba from A.D. 997, which was the twelfth regnal year of Rajaraja-Chola I. down to A.D. 1297, which might possibly have been in the reign of a king hitherto unknown to us by name. In no case, however, are all the elements of the date reconciled except in A.D. 1177, which was a Hemalamba year, but was the fifteenth and not the twelfth regnal year of Rajadhiraja II. From the date alone I am led to believe that the inscription records an event in the fifteenth year of Rajadhiraja II. corresponding to Saturday, January 21st, A.D. 1178, which was the 28th day of Makara. On that day, at mean sunrise, the first tithi of the first fortnight of Magha was current, and the nakshatra was Śravishṭha. The tithi ended 20 h. 28 m.; and the nakshatra, by the equal space system and Garga, ended 12 h. 0 m. and by the Brahma-siddhanta 13 h. 7 m. after mean sunrise.
If I am correct, this inscription brings the reign of Rajadhiraja II. down to within six months of the accession of Kulottunga-Chola III. in July A.D. 1178. It should be noted that all the five inscriptions of this king examined by Kielhorn begin with the words kaḍal sunda.
•
1 Sva[sti] śr[i]: Puyal [väyttu]..
10
kō-Ppara
11 ke[sariparn]mar-aga Tiri[ba]vana [chcha]kkaravartti
sda [rulina
E. KULOTTUNGA-CHOLA III,
168.-In the Airavatesvara temple at Maruttuvakkuḍi.
12
-Kulettunga-[S]o[la]dévarkku [iy]odu patt[vadu] Ka[1]
13 kadagn-niyazza parva-pakaba-ttavkdofiya[m] [Sa]gi-kkilamai(yum) pe 14 rra Mulatta nål.
127
"In the tenth [year] (of the reign) of king Parakesarivarman alias the emperor of the three worlds, the glorious Kulottunga-Chōladeva, who was pleased to [take Madurai] -on the day of Müla, which corresponded to a [Saturday] and to the twelfth tithi of the first fortnight of the month of Karkataka."
1 Svasti
The date corresponds to Saturday, July 18th, A.D. 1187, which was in the tenth year of Kulottanga-Chola III. On that day the twelfth tithi of the bright fortnight of Śravana began 9 m. before mean sunrise. The nakshatra at that moment was Mala by all systems. It expired by the equal space system 20 h. 39 m. later, by Garga 8 h. 31 m. later, and by the Brahma-siddhauta 3 h. 13 m. later. The Saturday in question was the 22nd day of Karkataka.
169. In the Manikanthesvara temple at Kāṇippakkam.
panniranḍavadukku Sagaraiyaṇḍu ayiratt-oru-nürr-iranḍil Uttarayana-sankramatt=agru Tiogal-kilamaiyum Pisamum perra nål.
Śri [*] Kulttungs-Saladavaşka [k]du
"In the twelfth year, (which corresponded) to the Saka year one thousand one hundred and two, (of the reign) of Kulottunga-Chōladeva,-on the day of the Uttarāyaṇa-samkrānti, the day which corresponded to (the nakshatra) Pushya and to a Monday."
The date is inaccurate for Saka 1102, but is perfectly accurate for Saka 1112, in which year the Uttarayana-samkranti fell in the twelfth year of the reign of Kulottunga-Chola III.
1 [The second digit of the date is quite distinct in the original and cannot be read as 5.-Ed.]
No. 393 of the Madras Epigraphical collection for 1907. The original is damaged here; restore gal Madurai kop
• No. 60 of the Madras Epigraphical collection for 1907.
