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No. 17.)
THE NALANDA COPPER-PLATE OF DEVAPALADEVA.
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connection with the Chēdi family! It is also noteworthy that sometimes their names end in tarmwan? From the records noticed above we find that the names of the Sailendras of JavaSumatra or Srivijaya ended in varmman. The name of th, Sailendra ruler given in the Nālauda plate on the other hand ends in dēva. This looks rather strange. The name Bālaputza itself, signifying 'young son 'is curions. This ending of dēva, however, occurs only in the prose and formal portion but not in the other or metrical portion, wbich describes and eulogises these Sailendras. This would go to suggest that the suffix was left out because the metre did not require it, or possibly b. caure, it did not form an integral part of the name and would have been replaced by varmman, a general suffix or surname of the ruling caste or the Kshatriyas. The name, however, is pure Sansk it as is the name of Tara the mother of Bālaputradeva, or Dharmasētu, her father, and would point to emigration from India. Had the names of the two ancestors of Balaputradēva, that is to say, his father and grandfather, been given, we c uld be detinite in the natter, for, if tbeee names were un-Indian, as in the ca-e of Kunilinga, his son Aśvavarman and grandson Mülavarman of Borneo, we could conclude that the Sanskrit names must have been taken after conversion to Binduism, cr ratber Buddbism. But in none of the names of the Sailendras do we find any foreign sound at all, suggesting that they were the na ives of the islands originally and came into the fold of Buddhista afterwards.
The names of the Pāja kings and other personages mentioned in the introductory portion of this grant have been dealt with by Kielhorn or other scholars in connection with the cuutents of the Mungir copper-plate inscription. So I need not notice them here. But, besides them and the Sailendras, our record speaks of two more persons and they require special mention. One of them is Dhermasētu whom the inscription describes as a scion of the Lunar race and the father of Balaputradeva's mother, namely, Tālā. To our regret it does not supply any other particular regarding him and it is hardly possible to identify him or to say
Mr. K. V. Sabrahmanya Ayyar, to whom I am indebted for this information, has kiudly given me the foilowing note on the Malaiyamārs :
· Ancient Tamil works mention tho names of a number of Malaiyamán chiefs, who might be attributed to the 7th and Sth centuries A. D. Some of these are :-(1) Malaiyomán Tirumudikkäri, (2) Malaiyamás Siliya-nadi Tirokannay. (3) Maladar-koman Meypporn! Sayapar and Nurafinga Munniyarriyar of Tirumunaippidi. Their capital was Trakoilur, the bend-quarters of a taluk in the South Arcot district and a railway station in the Kätpädi-Vilappuram section of the South Indian Railway. It is said to have been situated within the Chedi country.
The Malniyaman cliefs appear to have been reudering belp to one or the other of the principal powers of the Bouth, ie, the Chëra, Chola, Pandya and the Pallave. Narasingamunaiyaraiyar was contemporary of the Saiva saint Sundara-Mürti-Nayanar. of the 8th centnry A. D.: he is counted as one of the canonised 63 Saiva devotees of the Tamil country. In the account given of No. 3, in the Tamil hagiology. Periyapurana figures a Tatton, whose name may be regarded as a variant of Datta. Besides, one of the poems of the Tamil authology, Pattuppaffu was composed in honour of a certain "Arya King Piragadattan (Bhriga-Datta)". It may be noted that the Malaiyamin chiefs belorged to the Bbrigu roce as is evidenced by their inscriptione Epigra, hical reference to Narasimhainnaiyaraiyar is found in the Tanjore inscriptions of the Chola King Rajaraja I (A. D. 985-1013). In an early stone record of Rajakerivaridan found at Tiravågośvsram near Kumbakonam, of about the 9th century A. D. mention is made of Miladudulyar-palli.
It is interesting to note that the Inter members of the Malaiyanin family, who figure in numerous stone inscriptions, call themselves invariably Chediyariyas (C) e lira jas) and they are mostly sabordinates of the Chole of the 10 h to the 13th centuries A. D. The appellation Chidiyarayan, nuwed by almost all the chiefs, if it is not a mere accident, as it could not be, must indicate that they were the rulers of the Chēdi country. This fact taken with the names like Datta would make one infor a colonisation at some remote past of a branch of the line of Chedi Kingy, in the South Arcot district, where we find them."
• E. Hultzach, Ep. Ind., Vol. VII, pp. 185 and 145.
Dr. Vogel in the aforesaid publication (page 194) remarks :-"Considering that among the dynasties of Indis proper there is a great varioty of sucb royal surnames, as aditya, gupe, chandr, dipapala, ráfa, wardhana
ha, and sing, the almost universal omployment of name in raroman in the Per Enelu certainly very romarkshle." The instance of our Bälnputradeva will furnish an exceptiou.
