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288
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[AUGUST, 1891.
A comparison of the commencement of the deed No. I. with that of the Tirunelli deed shews that the name of the king in whose reign each of them was issued, is the same in both inscriptions. The close agreement of the alphabet employed in both makes it very probable that they have to be referred to one and the same reign, and not to two different kings of the same name. Taking this point for granted, we must turn our attention to the curiously worded dates. That of the Tirunelli deed is the forty-sixth andu opposite to the current yándu' of the king, and that of No. I. the thirty-sixth ándu, opposite to the second andu.' Various attempts have already been made to explain the meaning of the two different andus and of the term 'opposite' (edir) in No. I. The word andu or yandu signifies 1, a place'; 2, 'time'; and 3, a year.' Through a play which is undoubtedly intentional, it has the first meaning in the compound pala-núrdyirattandum in Nos, I., II. and III., and the second meaning in No. I. (ala-ninra yandu) and No. III. (áļá-ninra yandu!). The words irandam-andaikk=edir muppatt-drámrandu in No. I were translated by Mr. Whish "the thirty-sixth year of the second cycle (of Parasurama)=139 B. C., and by Sir Walter Elliot the thirty-sixth year opposed to or in contradistinction to the second which would be the third cycle (of Parasurama)=861 A. D.18 Dr. Burnell suggested that the first andu might refer to the year of the reign, and the second to that of the king's age, 18 while Dr. Caldwell took the second andu for the year of the reign and the first for the year of the sixty-year cycle of Brihaspati,20 To all these theories the dates of certain Pandya inscriptions prove fatal, and they might have been done away with before if anybody had taken the trouble to closely examine the Tiruppavanam grant of Kulabekhara deva, a facsimile of the first five plates of which appeared in this Journal21 in 1877. This grant contains no less than five dates :
A. Plate i. , lines 18 to 18. Srt-kð-Chchadaivarmmarena Tribhuvanachchakravarttigal sri-Kulasekaradevarku vându 13 vadu nal nalayirattu-munnarr-arabadiñal.
The four-thonsand-three-hundred-and-sixtieth day of the 13th year of the illustrious king (ko) Jatavarman, alias the emperor of the three worlds, the illustrious Kulabbkharadêva."
B. Plate'i. a, lines 3 to 5. Svasti Sri-Sundarésid=avagata-samaya-svábhidhân-asrayasya
grâmasy=[bhôga]k-Aptim prati sapadi nije vatsaré pañchavińsê [1] chandâmáâv=Âtta-Châpé Kanakapati-tithau kļishņa-paksh-Arki-vira
Svâtf-y8g8 karêņum gamayitum=evadad=Râjagambhîradevah 11 " Hail ! In his twenty-fifth year, while the Sun was in Chåpa, on the lunar day of Kanakapati, 23 in the dark fortnight, on Saturday, at the Svati-yôga, - RAjagambhiradêva instantly ordered an elephant to be let loose, in order to fix the extent of the village, which received his pame in accordance with an injunction emanating from the god Sundaréśa."
C. Plate v. b, line 2 f. Padin-munråvadiņ=edir pengiraņdâm=ându Dhanu-Dâyartu nâlân=tiyadiyum2 aparapakshattu ê kAdabiyum Sanikkilamaiyum perra 'Sodi-na!.
The day of the nakshatra) Svått which corresponded to Saturday, the eleventh lunar day of the second fortnight, and the fourth solar day of the month of Dhanus in the twelfth year opposite to the thirteenth."
D. Plate i. b, line 8 f. Padin-mánråvadiņ=edir padin-onrûm-andu “The eleventh year opposite to the thirteenth."
15 Madras Journal, Vol. XIII. Part I. p. 144..
Comparatire Grammar, 2nd edition, p. 20 of the Introduction, note. 12 i. e. Vishna, the lord of Lakshmi, to whom the eleventh tithi is held sacred.
15 ante, Vol. I. p. 229. 11 ante, Vol. VI. p. 142.
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