Epigraphia Indica Vol 28

Author(s): Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 77

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXVIII,
Ll. 55-57. And again at the request of Gommalaya Nayaka, the heggade of the town, Kumāra Sōmē vara made a gift of ten coins per month out of the money income accruing from the cess in the town of Alande for a perpetual lamp to the god (Sōmēśvara).
Ll. 57-58. Sillapayya, the brother-in-law of Gommalayya, made a gift of four mango trees in the garden of Baladeva lying to the west of the road leading to Harnna[gi] for the benefit of the ascetics, their disciples and the lay-students.
Ll. 58-59. The merchant guild of Alande made a gift of fifty (betel) leaves on the sale of every load to the god.
Ll. 59-60. The merchant guild, the Mahajanas of the town and the establishment of the five mathas will maintain all these charities as long as the sun and the moon endure.
Ll. 60-64. (Imprecation against the transgressors of charity.)
38
No. 6-JAVANTINATHAPURAM INSCRIPTION OF VARAGUNA-MAHARAJA (1 Plate)
M. VENKATARAMAYYA, OOTACAMUND
The subjoined inscription1 is engraved on a slab now built into the front wall, right of entrance, of the Lakshminārāyaṇa temple at Javantinathapuram, Lalguḍi taluk, Tiruchirapalli District. The engraved stone must have originally stood elsewhere in the vicinity since the wall in which it is now built appears to have been recently constructed. It is fragmentary, the lower part containing the concluding portion of the inscription being broken and lost. Nevertheless in the extant portion is retained the main purport of the record, which belongs to the reign of the early Pandya king, Marañjadaiyan alias Varaguna-Mahārāja.
The inscription is engraved in Tamil characters of about the 9th century A.D. found in the locality. A few Sanskrit words and letters are in the Grantha characters. The script does not call for any special remarks. The language of the record is Tamil.
The inscription is dated in the 4+9th year of the reign of the Pandya king, Marañjaḍaiyan alias Pandya-adhipati Varaguna-Mahārāja. It registers the gift, made by the king, of gold for the expenses of burning, day and night, two perpetual lamps before the god, Perumaṇadigal of Tiru-Mayilrangam, (a suburb) of Iḍaiyarrumangalam. The gift was placed, for management, in the hands of a Vēlān of Andanadu, whose name is lost in the missing part of the inscription.
The record is important for the details of date contained in it as they help in calculating the corresponding date in A.D., thereby solving a few problems pertaining to the chronology of the reign of this Pandya king. The record bears the date 4+9th year of reign, Dhanus, Monday, Aviṭṭam. The form in which the year of reign is quoted, in years 'opposite to the 4th year', is to be noted in particular in view of the existence of a large number of records dated similarly, in years added on to 4, issued in the reign of Marañjaḍaiyan. There are again some others men
1 Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy for 1946-47, No. 104.
As in the Tundar inscription of Dantivarman, S.I.I., Vol. XII, plate V; Tillasthanam and Nerkunam inscriptions of Rajakesarivarman (Aditya I), S.I.I., Vol. III, plate VII.
No. 480 of 1917 of the Mad. Ep. Coll. (4thyear +360 day) at Kuttalam (Tinnevelly Dt.); 90 of 1908 (4+ 593 day) at Tiruppattur (Ramnad Dt.); 364 of 1907 (4+1+1st year) at Aduturai (Tanjore Dt.); 358 of 1907 (4+1+1+1+1st year) at Aduturai (Tanjore Dt.); 13 of 1908 (4+4th year) at Kumbakonam (Tanjore Dt.); 136 of 1908 (4+6th year) at Tiruppattur (Ramnad Dt.); 414 of 1904 (4th year + 2501st day) at Tiruchirapalli ; 413 of 1904 (4+9th year) at Tiruchirapalli; 84 of 1910 (4+9) at Tiruvellarai (Tiruchirapalli Dt.); 105 of 1905 (Ep. Ind. IX, 84) of 4+12th year at Ambasamudram (Tinnevelly Dt.); 185 of 1926 (4+12th year) at Tiruchchirrambalam (Tanjore Dt.); No. 137 of 1908 (4th year + 4635th day) at Tiruppattur (Ramnad Dt.); No. 51 of 1895 (4th year) at Tillasthanam (Tanjore Dt.) mentioning Varaguna Mahārāja and K3n-Parantaka (i.e., Viranarayana Sadaiyan ?).