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DECEMBER, 1881.]
ARCHÆOLOGICAL NOTES.
365
Romans knocked long nails into the walls of cottages to avert the plague; and in China silk- cotton trees are haunted by dangerous female demons called Hantu Puntianak, which are exorcised by driving long iron nails into the treo; if a nail be driven into the head of one of these demons, she immediately becomes human.
IV. Many years ago when on circuit at Palani in the Madara district, South India, I was struck by the unusual name of a witness-" Irunlól." This is the polite form of the second person plural imperative of the verb signifying to stay or remain, and the equivalent in English might be "Stop, sir!" or "Pray, remain !" I found that this appellation had gone down from gene- ration to generation in a family, and originated in this wise. On the death of Mutthu Virappa Nayakar, one of the last kings of the Southern Pandiya-dea, in 1695, his son Chôkanatha Nayakar succeeded, but being a child only three months old, his grandmother, Mangamalâ, as regent, conducted the affairs of the kingdom for eighteen years. This Hindu lady was renowned for hor good works, and her name still lives in the mouths of the people. During her regency she built many temples, and constructed waterreservoirs and choultris or rest-houses throughout the country and on the principal lines of pilgrimage. One day when eating betel-leaf and areca-nut she heedlessly took it up with her left hand. This was a great sin, and on consulting the Brahmaņs how to expiate it, they recommended her to make roads shaded by avenues of trees along the principal travelling-routes of the kingdom. This was done, and her avenues, more or less complete, still remain; one, of huge-limbed Banyan trees interlacing so as to form a sun-proof canopy overhead on the N.E. side of the town of Madura, is still called by her name. Other avenues run out for miles towards Ramešvaram, Tinnevelly, and Trichinapalli, that towards the latter place is still in generally good condition for more than 50 miles. This beneficent princess being once at Palani, where there is a famous temple, on visiting it in state and ascending the temple-steps, observed a young man retreating in confusion, and said to him kindly Irunkól, = Pray remain ! That man's son was named Irun kôl, and the name
Some scandalous surmises are current, for Mangamald was not likely to escape calamny, but being popular
has descended from father to son even to this day, for I heard of it existing in that neighbour. hood quite recently. The remembrance of the gracious word, once spoken so long ago by one of the old royal dynasty, is likely to be cherished for generations to come, and in the hot dusty season, when travelling is easiest, as the long files of loaded carts and trains of pilgrims pass under the shade of the avenues she planted, the name of Mangamalå may still long be gratefully spoken, though the palaces built by her ancestors know her and her line no more, and all things have become new there. A dim undefined tradition exists in the city of Madurâ that Mangamala was imprisoned and starved to death with peculiar cruelty, food being placed close without the bars of her prison, just out of reach. No cause or further particulars are given, and we may hope it is but a tradition, and that so useful a life had no such horrible ending. But the sands of her ancient dynasty and the old order of things were fast running out. Her grandson on coming of age assumed the government and ruled for 19 years, or till A.D. 1732. He died childless; disputes arose as to the succession, and his widow most unwisely applied to the Muhammadan power at Trichinkpalli for assistance. The famous Chanda Sahib, who makes so prominent a figure in the pages of Orme, intervened. Intrigues followed, and the end was the subjugation of Madura and the extinction of the old Påņdiyan dominion. It is amidst these intrigues and revolutions that the histories of Orme and Colonel Wilkes commence.
Mention has been made of the temple at Palani. It is a celebrated place of pilgrimage in Southern India, and is built upon a low rocky hill overlooking a fine tank. The edifice is spacious, stone-built, on the plan usual in the Tamil country, with lofty entrance and Gôpuram above, the walls and roof of the gate-way profusely painted with mythological subjects in very bright colours of red and green; a fino flight of steps leads to it up the hill. The cause of its foundation is characteristically Hindn. Siva, it is said, one day presented a fruit (palam) to his younger son, Gaņeśa, whereat bis elder son, Subrahmanya, was much offended. To soothe him Siva said "Palam ni,”—Thou art & fruit. And to commemorate this honour, the whispers only, we pass them by : the stories of her and however vary much.
