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No. 12 ]
VELUR INSCRIPTION OF VIJAYA-NARASIMHAVARMAN
As the figures of the elephant and the swan are found sculptured beneath the record of Narasimhavarman at Kil-Muṭṭugur, Hultzsch was inclined to assign this chief to the Ganga family.1 There are two interesting epigraphs of the Western Ganga king Sripurusha in Vaṭṭeluttu characters at Odḍapatti' in the Uttangarai Taluk of the Salem District bordering on the North Arcot District, Inscriptions of other Ganga chiefs are also found in the North Arcot District. From Nammiyondal in the Polur Taluk comes an epigraph recording an order of Gangaraiyan Alappirandan, who claims to have been born in the Ganga family and bore the titles lord of Kuvalala', Kāvērivallabhan and Nandagirinathan, to the Uravar of Ammai-endal assigning their village with its taxes as maḍappuram to the matha of Aghorasiva-Mudaliyar at Tiruvannamalai to be enjoyed permanently by him and his disciples in succession. A hero stone from Venmani bearing an epigraph assignable to the 9th century A.D. records the death of one Ganavayan who is described as the disciple of the preceptor (āśān) Tennavan, when Venmani was destroyed in the time of Valluvikkangaraiyar. During the second half of the ninth century, a branch of the Western Ganga family is known to have flourished in parts of the North Arcot District. All these show that North Arcot was under the sway and influence of the Gangas during the ninth century. The emblem of the elephant in the Kil-Muṭṭugur record suggests the association of Narasimhavarman with the Gangas. It is, however, not possible to say precisely the nature of this association. He may have been an early member of the branch of the Western Ganga family which held sway over the North Arcot District. It may be said that he was an independent ruler and was the overlord of the Bāna chief Vanakōn Adiyaraisar, mentioned in the inscription. Vaṇakōn Adiyaraisar appears to be the same as Skandha Bāṇādhiraja who figures in the Bangavadi inscription of Narasimhavarman.
The use of the Vaṭṭeluttu script in this inscription requires explanation. The scribe who engraved the record may have hailed from the west coast where Vatteluttu was popularly used, or the warrior Paraiyamaliyar who was killed in action might have been a native of that region and the inscription recording his death might have been engraved in the script used in his native place. Instances of inscriptions engraved in characters unusual to a particular area are not wanting."
Mikonrai-nādu as the name of a territorial division in the North Arcot District is also known from other inscriptions." Mel-vēlür may be identified with Velur, the findspot of the record under review.
TEXT
1 Kō-visaiya-Narasingaparumarku [yāṇḍu*] iru (ra)ṇḍā
2 vadu Vāṇakōn Adi[ya*]raisar sevakar Mikon
3 rai-nāṭṭu Mēl-Vēļūr āļum Paraiyama
4 liyar ivvür-ttoru-kkonda-ñanru paṭṭa[r] [*]
Above, Vol. IV, p. 177. The views of Hultzsch were questioned by Jouveau Dubreiul (The Pallavas, pp. 52 ff.) and T.A. Gopinatha Rao (Madras Christian College Magazine, April 1907, pp. 1 ff.) on rather insufficient grounds. Narasimhavarman of the KI-Muttugur record cannot be identified with either of the two Pallava kings of that name, riz. Narasimhavarman I (Vatapikonda) or Narasimhavarman II (Rajasimha).
A.R. Ep., Nos. 211 and 212 of 1910.
Ibid., No. 114 of 1941-42.
Ibid., No. 116.
Ibid., 1930-31, part ii, p. 40, para. H.
of. JPASB, Vol. XX, p. 41 ft. ; A.R. Ep., No. 369 of 1955-34; etc.
A. R. Ep., Nos. 66 to 68 of 1933-34; No. 106 of 1940-41.
From inked impressions in the office of the Government Epigraphist for India.
