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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(SEPTEMBER, 1995.
and hamlets, which are fondly believed to be connected with the incidents of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. As observed by Dr. Barnell, most of them are "merely attempts at explanation of the unknown through current ideas, which, in Southern India, amount to the merest elements of Hindû mythology, as gathered from third-rate sources."10 In Travancore, even the legitimate names of places, of idols, of castes, of religious dignitaries, and of social ceremonies, which, when carefully understood, bear clear historical allusions, are strangely twisted and corrupted to suit fanciful derivations under the influence of the same myth-making tendencies.
Literature is another of the resources usually open to the student of history, and even in India, too, much valuable and reliable information may be gleaned from the ancient literary writings, so long as their authors had the good sense to be true to nature and man, and to dispense with the crutches of "divine machinery," 80 uniformly found at every turn in their later limping career, But, anhappily for us in Southern India, we know how soon the Tamil literature degenerated and lost its healthy realism. Copper-plate documents, temple and palace records, and what are called granthavari, or connected accounts, in respectable households of long standing, are less pretentious, thongh often more fruitful, sources of information ; but even these are certainly inferior in point of reliability to contemporary stone inscriptions in open and public places. Copper-plate grants, being mostly the private property of individuals or corporations, always present the chance of turning out to be forgeries in favour of vested interests. As for the other records, it is always impossible to rebut the charge of corruption or interpolation, since they have frequently to be transcribed - mostly by unqualified hands - in consequence of the ephemeral writing materials to which they are generally committed. Unless, therefore, we have clear internal evidence, or other collateral information, it is seldom safe to lean on crumbling cadjans, however venerable. On the other hand, a contemporary inscription in a place of public resort, if once deciphered, and its age determined, will afford for ever a footing to the historian as sure and firm as the rock on which it is engraved. It would seem, then, to be the very first duty of those who crave for more light on the past of Travancore to ascertain whether such incontrovertible epigraphical evidence is available in this ancient principality, before proceeding to utilize less trustworthy sources of information. Fortunately for us, inscriptions are not altogether rare in Travancore. I have with me something over one hundred of these ancient stone documents, taken from different quarters, mostly from places south of Trivandram, and, though confining my attention, for the present, to the light they shed on the history of the royal house, I shall have an opportunity of illustrating their general historical value.
One word more I feel bound to add in the way of preface. Since most of the documents I have now the pleasure to place before the reader are in the Chora-Pandya or Vatteluttu Alphabet, the translation I give of them ought to be considered tentative only. The characters of this alphabet, which according to some authorities is the only one original to India, are not yet fully made ont. Out of 180 letters, which onght to make it up, Dr. Burnell's conjectural Plate (No. XVII. in his South Indian Palæography) is able to supply only 96. Until, therefore, photo-lithographed copies of the facsimiles with me are placed before the scientific public, and my readings and renderings subjected to searching criticism, I have no right to claim entire confidence, I may, however, in the meantime, say that each of the inscriptions I have to depend opon has received my best and most anxious attention, and that sufficient time has been allowed to elapse since the collection was completed for patient study and reflexion. I shall further indicate, as we go on, whatever doubts or difficulties still strike me as material to my interpretation. The whole being thus but provisional, I have not made the translations altogether and strictly literal, which would be but rendering them nearly unintelligible in the absence of the originals for reference. They are nevertheless as faithful as I can make them in the circumstances.
10 Vide Burnell, South Indian Palmography, Introduction, page 1.
