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No. 8.]
NIDUR INSCRIPTION OF KULOTTUNGA-CHOLA,
Yapparungalakkarigai is generally believed to be a much earlier work. In discussing the date of Châļāmani, one of the five smaller kavyas of Tamil, the late Mr. C. W. Damodaram Pillai wrote the following:
“ Several stanzas from the Chalamani have been cited as examples in the Yapparurigalavirutti and in the commentary written in the interval between Saka 200 and 300 by Guņasāgara on the Yapparunigalakkärigai of Amudasāgara which was based on Yapparurigalavirutti. As it is known from the introductory verse of the Chalamani that that work was composed during the reign of Vijayarāja who ruled from the city of Kårvētinagar in Cholamandalam and as that city was earlier than Urandai, the work must be not less than 1,500 years old."
It is not possible to ascertain whence Mr. Damodaram Pillai obtained the date " between Saka 200 and 300" for Gunasāgara's commentary and what his anthority was for the statement that " Kārvēținagar in Solamandalam was earlier than U randai (i.6. Uraiyur)." There are literary evidences to show that Uraiyar in the Trichinopoly district and Kā virippumpattinam in the Shiyali taluk of the Tanjore district were the capitals of the Cholas prior to Tanjore. But there is none so far to the effect that Kārvēținagar was even a famous city. Neither was this situated in Chola-mandalam. Evidences, both literary and epigraphical, would point to Kārvētinagar having been included in Tondai-mandalam. We shall discuss the upper limit of Guņasāgara's age after citing the opinion of Pandit M. Raghava Aiyangar on the date of Yapparurigalakkūrigai. Writing on the age of Mandalapurusha, the anthor of the Tamil Nigandu, he says that "there are ample reasons that confirm that Amritasāgara could not have lived before the 10th century A.D."3 and it is pretty certain that he must have with him materials to prove his point. These are the only two definite pronouncements that we know of regarding the date of Yapparungalakkärigai, besides the statement of Mr. Narasimhacharya which will be referred to later on.
It is interesting to note here the account preserved in the Tamil literature respecting Amudasāgara and his work. From the invocatory stanza of his work it is learnt that the author was a Jain, for it is addressed to the Arbat under the shade of the Asöka treet. Guņasāgara, the Jain commentator on Yāpparungalakkärigai, has the following say on the name of the work and the method adopted in its composition :
"Like the Prākpit grammar Palittiyam and Pirgalam otherwise called Chhandspifitam, this work i.e. Yapparurigalakkärigai) is made of Kärigai verses; and like the Karnataka Chhandas Gunakarikiya, each stanza is addressed to a female and is concise. It cites examples like the Mahësvara-Yappu?; like the Seyyutturaikkovai of Tamij music ; like the Vargakkorace of the Ashtakas in the Vēdas and like the Nitaka-flokas of the Rūpābatāra, it gives the commencing portions of the verses cited as examples. As the Nirutta
1 See his introduction to the work.
* For citations of the Chilamani stanzas in the Yapparungalakkarigai, see the comment on Terse 18 of Urupe piyal, v. 13 of Seyyuliyal and v. 6 of Olibiyal.
& Mythic Society Journal, Vol. XIII, page 490 • Nandamadivil kadi-malar-ppindi-kkann-ar-nilar-kil andam-adigal-inaiy-adiy-êtti eluttafai fir pandam-adi todai påv-inan-kiruvan pallavattin sandamadiyar-adıyan maruffiya tal-kulalē. [Perhaps Chhandôvichiti.Ed.)
• The word Kårigai means beauty, woman, the metre called Kaffalaikkalittupai and the work on prosody known as Yapparungalakkärigai. It is bere used in the sense of the last. According to the Amara, Karika means Vritti. In Sanskrit it means the concine statement in verse of any certain doctrine.
Though this work is not now extant, stray stansas from it are found quoted by Ganasigars himself in his commentary, e.g. see his comment on v. 17.
Korai is a short verse indicating the commencement or end of a passage or sometimes the number and order of words or sentences in the Value and Upanishads. It is both an aid to memory and measure of the contenta.
