Indian Antiquary Vol 22

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 77

MARCH, 1893.7
MADRAS MUSEUM PLATES OF JATILAVARMAN.
65
parama-Vaishṇava, the most devoted follower of Vishņu,' in line 51, and as, in l. 35 f., he is reported to have built a temple to Vishnu, we have to understand that the king, though a worshipper of Vishņu, was not intolerant towards other religions. The fourth verse describes the Pandya luce as descended from the Moon as ancestor. The fifth refers to Maravarman and some of his ancestors, and describes him as the destroyer of the Pallavas' (Pallava-bhanjana). The sixth verse describes his son Jațilavarman. The Tamil portion is dated during the seventeenth year of the reign of Nequñjadaiyan. Evidently, Jaţilavarman and Neduñjadaiyan denote the same individual and are synonymous, Jalila is the Sanskrit equivalent of the Tami! Sadaiyan (one who has matted hair), a name which is also applied to 'Siva.66 The adjective Nedum may qualify the word sadai, and the name would then mean one whose matted hair is long.' But it is more probable that Nedum has to be understood as a sort of title prefixed to the names of some of the Pandya kings. In line 61 of the Madurai-kekanji, a Tamil poem already referred to, one of the Pandya kings is called Nediyop. Nedumaran of the Periyapuranam and Nedunjeliyan of the Puttuppá!tu are names in which the prefix Nedum is used as a title. If translated, these two names might mean the tall Pandya.' The names Nedumâ ran, Neduñjeliyan and Neduõjadaiyan are quite similar, and one is almost tempted to think that they must have denoted the same individual. Beyond this similarity of the mere names we possess no materials for their identification. In the present inscription, the king Neduvjadaiyan is called Tennan, Vanavan and Sembiyan. Tennavan or Tennan, 'the king of the South,' is used as a title of Pandya kings in Tamil inscriptions and literature., Vanavan and Sembiyan are titles applied to the Chöra and Choļs kings, respectively. The fact that this Pandya king assumed the Chêra and Choļa titles, shows that he conquered those kings, or was, at least, believed to have done so. A similar fact in connection with Chola history is revealed by tbe title Mummudi-Choļa, which was assumed by one at least of the Chola kings. Mummuļi. Chola means 'the Chola king who wore three crowns, viz. the Chêra, the Chola and the Pandyu crowns.'67 After giving the above-mentioned titles of the king, the Tamil portion of the inscription enters into an account of his military achievements which occupies nearly two plates. The battles of Vellar, 68 Vinnam and Seliyakkudi against an unknown enemy are first mentioned. The king next attacks a certain Adiyan and puts him to fight in the battles of Ayiravoli, Ayirarlo and Pugaliyar. The Pallavas and Koraļas, who are his allies, are also attacked and defeated. The king of Western Kongu is subsequently attacked, and his ele. phants and banner taken as spoils. The whole of Kongu is then subdued, and "the noisy dram suunds his (i. e. the king's) name throughout Kankabhumi." The king enters Kanjivayeppdrar, and builds a temple "resembling a hill” to Vishņu. The ruler of Von is then conquered and put to death; his town of Viliam," whose fortifications are as strong as those of the fort in Lauka," is destroyed, and "his elephants, horses, family treasure and good country" captured. The Pâņdya king afterwards builds & wall with a stone ditch round the town of Karavandapuram.
56 A facsimile of the seal of the Tiruppuranam copper-plate grant, a transcript and translation of which are pabliebed in the Archaeological Survey of Southern India, Vol. IV. pp. 21-38, is given on page 128 of Sir W. Elliot's Coins of Southern India. It contains a Sanskrit inscription which ends with the same Jatilavarman. In line 13 of the first plate of the inscription occurs the Tamil form of this name, vis. Sadaivarman, and in line 14, the attual name of the king, Kulaikharadeva.
T See note 14, above. In the Tiruppuvana oopper.plato grant the name Vel]ūr-koruchchi oouurs twice (Archæological Survey of Southern India, Vol. IV. p. 28, Plate xi , lines 8 and 5) in the description of the boundaries of the granted village. A. the word kuruchchi is not found in Tamil dictionaries, it is probable that kuruchchi is a mistake, if not miereading, for kurichchi, whicb has almost the same meaning as the word puravu, which precedes the name Voffor in the text of the present inscription. Vellar-kurichohi means' Vellar, (which is) a village belonging to a hilly or forest tract, and purávil Vellor which occurs in the text, would mean' Vellor, (which is situated) in a forest or hilly tract.' Copa qnently, it is not impossible that the two villages are the same. Mr. Sewell in his Lists of Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 248, mentions a village called Vellar in the Malabar district, which is 28 miles north-north-west of Cannanore. Another village of the same name is mentioned in the Archæological Survey of Southern India, Vol. IV. p. 77, text line 60.
50 It is not certain if Ayiraveli and Ayirar have to be taken udenoting two distinct villages. It is not impossible that Ayiror is the name of the village and Ayira-véli means one thousand wilis (of land). Perhaps the village of Ayirur bad only one thousand udlie of cultivated land.