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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XIII.
No. 10.-SENDALAI PILLAR INSCRIPTIONS.
BY K. V. SUBRAHMANYA AIYER, B.A., M.R.A.S., OOTACAMUND.
The subjoined inscriptions are engraved on four pillars of black granite which stand in a mandapa in front of the central shrinel of the Sundaresvara temple at Sendalai in the Tanjore district. As the tops of these pillars are chopped off, some portions of the inscriptions are irretrievably lost. In 1897, when the records were copied for the first time, the lower portions of the pillars were found to be built in. Excavation was accordingly made by the late Rai Bahadur V. Venkayya, but the results were not very satisfactory. He remarked: "All the four pillars are much damaged and worn at the bottom, so that very little can be made of the writing there. If the pillars had been neither mutilated nor damaged, they would have contained 27 Tamil verses in all composed by four poets."
Other inscriptions copied in the Sundaresvara temple at Sondalai belong to several dynasties and refer to the temple as that of the Mahadeva at Perundurai in Chandralekhaichaturvedimangalam, which was a village in Arkkaṭṭu-kñrram, a subdivision of Pandyakulasani-valanādu. Narikkuḍichchori is stated in the Tanjore inscriptions to be the eastern hamlet of this village and Tugaiyur was another hamlet belonging to it. One of the records of Rajakesarivarman, which provides for the recitation of the Bharata in a mandapas of the same temple, mentious the 53rd ward and the great assembly of Chandralekhai-chatarvedimangalam. This might be taken to show that Sendalai was a town of considerable size and importance in ancient times. Ärkkäṭṭa-kurram, the division to which Sendalai belonged, owes its name to Arkkaḍu, a small village not far from Sendalai. Two records dated in the 10th and 16th years of the reign of Marañjadaiyan and one of Nandippottaraiyar, who gained a victory at Tellagu,' which are also found on these pillars, make provision for the Pidari temple at Niyamamagalam, said to have been built by Perumbidugn-Muttaraiyan. As none of the inscriptions of Sendalai refer to the Pidari temple, it may be presumed that these pillars did not originally belong to the mandapa where they are now found, but were brought thither from the village of Niyamam which is about 4 miles distant from Sendalai."
The following paleographical peculiarities of the subjoined inscriptions deserve notice. The bottom strokes of the syllables du and no extend on the left side beyond the letters,10
1 Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1897, paragraph 9.
2 The same for 1899, paragraph 19.
The Pallava king Nandippottaraiyar, who defeated his enemies at Telläru, is represented by a single record (No. 11 of 1899), the Pandya king Marañjadaiyan by two (Nos, 9 and 10 of 1899), the Hoysala Vira-Ramanatha by one (No. 57 of 1897) and the Vijayanagara king Sayana-Udaiyar by one (No. 8 of 1899). Of the 12 Chōl records secured from the place six belong to the time of Rajakesarivarman (Nos. 58, 61, 62 and 63 of the Madras epigraphical collection for 1897 and Nos. 6A and 13 of the same for 1899), two to Parakesarivarman (No. 59 of 1897 and 7 of 1899), one each of Parantaka I (No. 14 of 1899), Parakesari varman who took the head of the Pandya (No. 6 of 1899), Rajendra Chl I (No. 64 of 1897) and Kulottunga (No. 60 of 1897).
South-Ind. Insers., Vol. II, Part IV, Nos. 94 and 95.
5 A similar endowment is registerel in the Karam grant. See Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1897, paragraph 9, and South-Ind. Insers., Vol. I, No. 151.
Nos. 9 and 10 of the Madras Epigraphical collection for 1899.
No. 11 of the same collection.
Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1897, paragraph 9.
Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1899, paragraph 22. Other temples at Niyamam, mentioned in the Tanjore inscriptions, are Nripakésari-Isvara, Sandiramalli-Isvara and Arikulakesari-Isvara (South-End. Insers., Vol. II, Part III, pp. 287, 291, 294 and 295). It may be noted that the great-grandfather of the Kodumbülür chief Vikramakosari, the opponent of Vira-Pandya, was a certain Nripakesari.
10 The same feature is noticeable in the Kuram grant of Paran esvaravarman and in the Kasakudi plates of Nandivar man.
