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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXVI.
The contemporaneity of Tivaradeva and Suryavarman makes this matrimonial alliance of the two royal families quite likely. The capital of the Maukharis was not, of course, situated in Magadha, but the country was probably included in the Maukhari Empire during the reign of Isanavarman, the father of Süryavarman, as he is said to have carried his arms as far as Gauda. Until another king of the name Suryavarman becomes known, it seems better to accept this identification.
The Sōmavaméi kings thus flourished in Chhattisgarh in the sixth and seventh centuries A. D.
No. 29. TWO RECORDS OF PARANTAKA I FROM TAKKOLAM.
BY THE LATE MR. A. S. RAMANATHA AYYAR, B.A., MADRAS.
Takkolam is a village in the Arkonam taluk of the North Arcot District. It has an old temple of the Chōla type, which contains epigraphs dating from the time of the early king Aditya I, one of which has already been published1. The god of this temple was in ancient times called Tiruvural-Mahadeva, because of the existence of a natural spring in the temple precincts and this name has been Sanskritised into the present appellation of Jalanatheśvara.
The two short inscriptions published below as A and B are engraved on a narrow belt on the base of the central shrine of this temple. The characters in which they are engraved are attributable to the 10th century A. D. and the language of the record is fairly correct Tamil. A few omissions of letters are noticeable here and there, due perhaps to the carelessness of the engraver. In point of orthography, there is nothing very particular to notice, except that the letter ra is written both in the ordinary manner and with the secondary length added as a separate symbol. Sanskrit letters are used for some words such as Parantakadeva, Dhanmasana, etc., in record A, while they are in Tamil characters in the other epigraph. The verbal suffix ārōm is spelt as a separate word in some instances, and also in combination with the preceding verb in other cases. The Dakshiņāmurti shrine on the southern side hides from view some portions in both the records but as their wording is nearly identical, the missing words can be surmised and the full texts of the records restored fairly completely.
The records are dated in the 31st year of Madiraikonda Parakēsarivarman, i.e., Parantaka I, and they register two gifts of 30 kalañju each made by the daugher of Sōlaperumanadigal (i.e., the Chōla king) Parantaka (A. D. 907-953) who is also further described as the Mahādiviyar (queen) of Govinda-Vallavaraiyar. Her personal name is mentioned in the record B as Viramādēviyār. These gifts are stated to have been left separately in the charge of the ur (assembly) of the two villages Chammalalai in Damar-kōṭṭam and Urāḍagam in Manayilköṭṭam, for the supply of oil for burning a perpetual lamp each in the temple of TiruvuralMahādēva at Takkolam. The records are important in that they mention a Govinda-Vallavaraiyar as the son-in-law of Parantaka I; and though the dynasty to which he belonged is not specified, it is possible to identify him with the Rashtrakuta king Govinda IV for whom records are found from about A. D. 918 to at least A. D. 933-34.
The name Govinda-Vallavaraiyar is composed of two parts-Govinda' the personal name and Vallavaraiyar' the dynastic title. From Rashtrakuta copper-plate grants it is learnt that
1 Ante, Vol. XIX, p. 81. The historical and other facts connected with this village have been mentioned at some length in that article.
* Nos. 245 and 246 of the Madras Epigraphical collection for 1921.
