________________
No. 41-AIVARMALAI INSCRIPTION OF VARAGUNA II, SAKA 792
(1 Plate ) 8. SANKARANARAYANAN, OOTACAMUND
The subjoined inscription is engraved on the neatly dressed portion of the rock above a natural cave on the hill called Aivarmalai in the village of Aiyampāļaiyam in the Palrni Taluk of the Madurai District. I edit it with the kind permission of the Government Epigraphist for India.
This epigraph in seven lines is in the Tamil language and Vatteluttu characters. Unlike in the Ambālamudram inscription of Varaguņa II, the letter k assumes the slanting form and the double kk is never written as a group. As in the Suchindram inscription of Mārañjadaiyan, two forms of t are used, the one with ends of the two arnis joined (cf. Kāļattu in line 3) and the other with separated arms (cf. nurru=tto in line 1; amaitta in line 6). Though the syllable po in pon (lines 6-7) resembles that in the Ambasainudram record, the syllable po in põndana (line 2; cf. mo in line 6) is distinguished by the signs for é and ā added to p. A loop at the end added to the sign of medial i makes medial i. The syllable tva in Pāriéra (line 4) is written in Grantha characters.
This inscription is of great importance as it is dated in the eighth regnal year of Varagupa equated with Saka year 792 expired, and thus provides one of the two most important dates in early Pāņdya chronology. It records & gift of 502 kāņam of gold to the Jaina monk Sāntivira-kkuravar of Kālam, who was a disciple of another Jaina monk named Guņavira-kkuravadigal. The former is said to have renovated the figures of Pārsvanātha and the Yakshis (I yakkie-avvaiga?), probably attending on Pārsvanātha, at Tiruvayirai, i.e., Aivarmalai.' The gift is said to have been made for food offerings (avi) to the deities and for feeding (föru) one Jaina ascetic (probably daily).
Though there is much disagreement on the identification of Varaguna mentioned in records like the inscriptions from Tiruvellarai and Lälgudi, there can be no difference of opinion in ascribing the present inscription to Varaguna II. For the Saka date of this record is too
1A.R. Ep., 1906, No. 706 . Above, Vol. IX, pp. 89 ff. . TAS, Vol. IV, pp. 118 ff.
This seems to go against the view that the distinction between po and põ is an innovation later than the Ambasamudram inscription (above, Vol. IX, p. 85).
• The other is the Anaimalai inscription of Māra jadaiyan alias Parantaka Varaguna I (cf. above, Vol. VIII, Pp. 317 ff.).
. Cf. the popular village deity called Isakki in South India.
1 A. R. Ep., 1905, No. 702, also, like early Tamil works (cf. Padirruppattu, verses 21, 70 and 79), refers to the Aivarmalai, from which it comes, by the same name. Thus the present record and other fragmentary inscriptions
A. R. Ep., 1905 Nos. 691-703) from the place show that the hill Aivarmalai had been's Jaina hermitage in the 9th century A. D. But at present there is only a Gaņēša temple, and popular belief connects it with the Pancha Pandavas (Aivar).
For conflicting views, he abovo, Vol. XI, p. 263; Vol. XXVIII, p. 39 on the one hand, and Vol. XX, pp. 48 ff., p. 50, noto 5. on the other,
(337)
