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No. 9.] A NOTE ON MANIGRAMATTAR OCCURRING IN TAMIL INSCRIPTIONS. 71
CLASSIC
From the above extracts the chief points to be noted are :
1. That the Payyamir patrola does not name the four communities mentioned in it as professing Christianity or any other religion; it simply implies that there resided four communities closely allied to each other by similarity of interests, namely, trade, eto.
2. That the Manigrāmam community is not peculiar to the Malabar Coast alone and that it was found in the interior also, as evidenced by the Tiruvellarai inscription.
3. That Hinda institutions were placed under their protection, which would not be possible if they belonged to the Christian community; and
4. That it is simply the name of a certain corporation or community, perhaps engaged in trading, like the Valanjiyars, as Mr. Venkayya suggested.
The Rev. Mr. Peet opined, as already referred to, that the Manigrāmakkars were originally Christians and that a sorcerer, Måņikkavachakar, converted them to Hinduism. His hard to believe that the conservative Hindus, who in these days of free thought refuse to take back even converted Hindus into Hinduism, wonld in those ancient times have consented to take wholesale communities of entirely alien religionista into their fold. Again, it is well known, that Máņikkavāchakar never visited the Malabar Coast; the religious disonssion in which he took part was with the Bauddhas of Ceylon, and that wae at Chidambaram, according to the Vaulart purānam.
If Manigrāmattār in the Tiruvollarai inscription, were to be taken as the name of a Christian trading community of the Malabar Coast, how was it possible for Nariyanap Achchan, who, from his name, may certainly be taken to be a Hindu and not at all a Christian, to belong to the Christian community of traders of the Malabar Coast, but living then in Uraiyûr ? Again, how could the tank muntioned in the Siam inacription bearing the distinctly Vaishnava name of Set-Nirupam, meant evidently for the use of the Hindus, be placed under the protection of the Chris traders of Malabar then residing in Siam ?
In dealing incidentally with the Siam inscription I beg to differ from the interpretation of Dr. Hultzsch, and offer the following fresh reading of it as I am able to make out from the impression reproduced by Dr. Hultzsch in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.
1. ....... (yalvarmatku cyl..... 2. .. [m]an tân nan[gu] rayai . .. 3. . . [t]totta kulam [ll*] për Sri4. Naranam [1] Mapikkir mattår. 5. [ko]kum Śapamugattårkkum 6. [kn]last"]tarkkum adaik kalam [1]
Dr. Hultasch's remark, that the remnant of the Sanskrit name ravarman in the first line of the record might perhaps be that of Bhaskaravarman, is evidently due to his conviction that the Manigri mattar were members of a trading community belonging to the Malabar. Coast of the time of the Malabar king Bhaskara Ravivarman. That this notion of his was the cause of the Tristake is corroborated by the following extract from his paper : "Mapigrämam occurs in Tamil inscriptions of the Malabar Coast; as shown by Rai Bahadur Venkayya, it is the designation of a trading corporation." Later on he adds: " We may thus conclude that in the eighth Of ninth century there existed in distant Siam & colony of traders from the Western Coast of Southern India, who had built themselves a temple of Vishnu." Again, he remarks: " If the words wbich I have given are correct, they would imply that at the beginning of the inscription A lengthy passage is lost, which, it it had been preserved, might have completod and explained
"[The fact that some personer. budyn ets were meded to protect . cortal pit or obarity made to as institution of particular nationality cannot by iteoll are that the ment betonged to that nationality. It wrong premise is allowed to stand, Mapigrimatter en well be said to be Christians boonan they were required to protect the gift made to the Christina charsh of Thrupippeli in the 8thiņu Bart plates.Ed.).
