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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
VOL XXVII
been ruling Irigalvădi as a subordinate of Prabhūta varsha Srivallabha, i.e., Govinda II (c. 775 A.D.). The territorial division takes its name after Erigal which has to be looked for somewhere in this region. It may be suggested that Nidugal of the modern maps in the Pavugada taluk of the Tumkur District is the ancient Erigal. The provenance of the Maddagiri inscription close by renders the identification very likely. It may be added that the antiquity of Nidugal is carried back to about 8-9th century A.D. by an inscription of Nolamba Pallava Bidichorarasa of the time of king Mahēndra at the place.
Moreover, except for a few brief periods in the 8th, 9th and part of the 10th century A.D. when it was wrested from the Telugu Cholas by the Nolambas in the reign of Pallavädhiraja Nolamba, the region was long associated with a line of Telugu Chola rulers, known as the Nidugal Cholas. Considering the early date to which the present inscription may be ascribed, the mention of the region Erigal in it leads to the conclusion that the region round about Nidugal on the borders of the Pallava and Kadamba dominions must have formed one of the earliest settlements of the Cholas in the Telugu country. It would appear that it was from this region that the eastward expansion of the Telugu Cholas into the neighbouring tracts of Ramadi-nādu", Rēnādu 7000, Siddhi 1000* and Hiranyarashtra seems to have taken place : and this appears to be conveyed by the epithets Erigal-Mutturaju and Erigal-Dugarāju by which some of the Cholas of Rēnādu describe themselves in their inscriptions found in the Rēnādu country (inss. A to F). Thus Dhanaħjaya, in describing himself as Erikal-Muturāja ruling Rēnāndu in the present inscription, signifies that he held the official position of a Mutturāju, being attached to Erigal, which was probably the ancestral seat. Similarly, Punyakumāra (inss. E and F below) holds the same official position, and in one inscription (F) he describes himself as the ruler of Rönandu with Chirpali as capital. Again in two subjoined inscriptions of Chõla-Maharaja (Cand D) an Erigal-Dugarāju figures as the donor, and he was probably a prince of the family holding the official position of Dugarāju or Yuvarāju at Erigal. - It may be objected that in the compounds 'Erigal-Duyarāju' and Erigal-Mutturāju', the prefix 'Erigal' may not signify a place but stand for the name of a dynasty or clan of chiefs in the same manner as the compounds such as Vallava-Dukarāju (ins, B below). Vaidumba Mutraju,? Chöļika Mutturăju (or Muttarasa), Kāduvețţi Muttarasa, Prithvi-kungani Muttarasa and Perbbana Muttarasar, the prefixes in all of which refer to a dynasty and not to a place. It is however quite possible that the prefix sometimes refers to a place namell and the more yo as a tract known as Erigalvādi is found. Further the forms Erigallu and Eya[ra]kallu (ins. I below, text II. 6-7 and J, text, 11. 14-15) point to the same conclusion.
1 Ep. Carn. XII. Pg. 45. * Ibid., Vol. XI, CI. 34.
Ep. Carn., Vol. X, Gd. 76. Above, Vol. XI, p. 345, Málēpādu stone inscription of Satyaditya. . Above, Vol. XI, p. 341, Mālēpādu plates of Punyakumara. • Vide page 224 below. 7 No. 347 of 1922 of the Mad. Ep. Coll. * No. 542 of 1906 of the Mad. Ep. Coll. "This occurs as the surname of Sripurusha in many records : En. Carn. IV, Ch. 03 ; III, Tn. 53, etc. 10 M. A. R., 1941, pp. 132-133.
11 This practice seems to have been widely prevalent in the Kerala cuuntry where the king was unlly designat. ed by the name of his kingdom (see Padmanabha Menon : History of Kerala, Vol. V, p. 4) in records issued by him and was referred to, for example, as Jayatunganattu-Müttatambiran without mention of his proper name (T.A.S. Vol. VII. p. 96) or Sirnivay-Mütta-Tamı biränar (T.A.S. Vol. VI, pp. 178, 181). Further, inscriptions issued barely in the designatory name of an official both in the North and South are not uncommon and are explainable by the importance of the office. See, for example (1) above, XXIV, p. 206 where an insuription recording a gift by. Mathuraka Kalavala', i.e., the Kalaväla (off.) of Mathura', is noticed : (2) ins, issued in the name of Konkani Muttartsa (Ep. Carn., III, Tn. 63; IX, Ht. 21).
