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254
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1895.
brief writer (private secretary ?), and Kêralasimha Pallavaraiyan alias Vikraman Kunran of Ulliruppa hill, in the discharge of our official agency, do make over the tax in paddy and money, due from Vaḍaśêri, to this side of Mummuḍi-Chôla-nallûr, as a gift to the god, to be utilized for supplying every day four náli of rice, vegetables, ghee, curds, areca-nuts and betel, and also one perpetual lamp, to the Mahaâdêva of the temple of Rajendra-Chôlêsvara, in Mummuḍi-Chôla-nallûr alias Köttir, and in order that the arrangement might last as long as the sun and the moon endure, we make the gift, solemnly pouring water on the altar, and cause also the grant to be engraved on stone."
This document proves that Sri-Vira-Keralavarman was reigning in Travancore, in the first month of the first year of the fourth century of the Malabar Era, or roughly speaking about the latter half of August 1125.20 It proves also that Travancore, or Venâḍ21 as it was then called, was under him a well-organized principality with loyal feudal chieftains to transact public business in her name, and levied taxes, as she does to this day, both in kind and in cash. The Government dues even in these backward days, with heavy military charges, could not have been anything but moderate and fair, as the whole revenue of the tract of country, as set apart for the purposes of the grant here recorded, was considered adequate to furnish daily but 4 náli of rice and sundries to the Mahadeva of the RajendraCholêsvara temple. This temple, as the name indicates, was founded in honour of the famous Eastern Chalukya-Chola emperor, Rajendra-Chôla, 22 who, according to the latest researches, ruled from 1063-1112 A. D. over almost the whole of the Madras Presidency, from Kalinga in Orissa to Viliñam on the Malabar Coast.23 The circumstances under which Sri-ViraKerala of Venid was prompted to dedicate so piously a portion of his revenue to a temple founded by a foreign monarch are, of course, now difficult to determine; but if I am at liberty to venture a hypothesis, I suspect the grant was meant, in all probability, as a political peace-offering to the representatives of the Chôla power in the land.24 It being but thirteen years after the death of Rajendra, Vêuâd must have been, about this time, just recovering from the terrible shock it had received from the victorious arms of that great conqueror, whose forces, after subduing the five Pandyas,25 overran all Nâñjinâd, and advanced as far to the west as the ancient seaport of Viliñams about 10 miles to the south of Trivandram. Rajendra's was no passing whim of conquest. His vigilance extended over every part of his territories, and he did all he could to consolidate them into one enduring empire. He transformed Kôttir, the chief city of Sough Travancore, into Mammudi-Chôla-nallûr - 27 "the good town of the thrice-crowned Chel," and left there, not merely the temple of Mahadeva noticed in the document before us, but what is more, a powerful "standing army "28 to watch over his interests in this distant corner of his dominions. The Oddars and Chaluppars,30 so common all over the southern districts and in Trivandram, mark to this day the extent of the old Chalukya sway in the land. I am afraid, therefore, that Sri-Vira-Kêrala was making but a virtue of necessity, when he thus yielded up the tax on the tract of land between Kôṭṭar and Vaḍaśêri for the support of the "great god" of
19 The original reads eluttu-chchizu-vari-pan.
20 The equation for the conversion of the Malabar or Kollam era to the Christian is + 8244. I use the Malabar year throughout, as it is the one still current in the country.
21 Vendu is one of the twelve districts of low or vulgar Tamil according to Tamil grammarians. The KeralaUipatti makes it one of the divisions of Kerala. It is derived from tel- love or desire, either directly or through vin. l'énad would mean, therefore, the land of love' or 'the lovely land."
29 [Or, of his grandfather, the Chola king of the same name.]
23 Ante, Vol. XX. p. 276.
24 I say Chola power advisedly, for it seems probable that Rajendra's dominions in the South fell to the lot of the Cholas rather than to the Eastern Chalukyas.
28 Vilta taninil miyavar-aivarum keṭṭa kṭṭinzi-kkṭṭilai plum ni.
Kalingattu Parani.
26 Vélai konju Viliñan-alittadum Silai kon ladum dandu kond-allavi. Kalingattu Parani,
27 Rajaraja is called "Mummuli-Caola" in an inscription dated the 14th year of his reign; -vide Dr. Hultzsch's Report for 1892.
Called nilaippadai in an inscription which I have, dated in the 39th year of his reign.
29 Oldar means the men of Oddiyam or Orissa. Rajendra was himself first anointed king at Vengi in A. D. 1063. ze The word is evidently a corruption of Chalukkar or Chalukyas,
