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258
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1895.
that the measurement of the lands given is in the style47 still followed in the Tanjore district. There was, further, about this time, no standard of measures and weights anywhere in Southern India, each temple using its own under the name of the local deity. There are two revenue terms in this record, the significance of which I have not succeeded in finding out. These are tiruvidaiyáttam 48 tenure and máttál.
IV.
On the western wall of the same temple at Paravari occars another inscription iu eight long lines relating to this identical grant ; but a stone in the middle of the inscribed portion of the wall has been removed and replaced by another in the course of sabsequent repairs, rendering the document thereby incomplete and enigmatic. It will be seen, therefore, that it is not altogether to be deplored that temples with historical associations do not receive frequent repairs ! In the case before us, it is easy to supply the lost parts with the help of the related document which I have just discussed. With the omissions so inade good, the inscription would read thus in English :
4 Old Tamil .44. Sen-Tamil Current.
Puravari Inscription of Vira-Ravivarman, No. 1. “Hail! Prosperity! In the year (opposite the year 336, since the appearance of Kollam], with the sun * days old in Tauros, Saturday, Makayiram star, the officers in charge of Nanjinadu and the villagers of Talakkudi, assembling together, did as follows: In accordance with the royal proclamation issued by the loyal chieftains of (Sri-Vira)-Iravivarma Tiruvadi, (ruling graciously over Vêņâd], to provide tiruchénidai and a sacred perpetual lamp (for the Alvar in Puravari), in Puravari-chaturvedimangalam, we, the people of Talakkudi, [have cansed demarcation stones bearing the emblem of the holy discus) to be put up at the boundaries of the paddy lands, [named Unnandittai, mieasuring + ootaio, and Puduvûr Mûlai], measuring go, making in all 18 + sto, and irrigated by the Chårår channel of Tâlakkuļi-Kidachêri and by the waters of Cheyyanêri tank in Châravayal, and we shave made them over] to the servants of the Alvår, so as to enable them (to levy from this day forwards the rent due from them according to the rate carrent in the village], subject to minor charges and deductions, for the purpose of providing, without failure, and as long as the moon and stars endure, for the daily expenses, as well as for a sacred perpetual lamp, as graciously commanded; in witness whereof, we, the people of Talakkadi, (hereunto affix) our signatures. Arayan Pasitangi, signature, Keralan Araiyan, signature. * * * Vikraman Arangan, signature. Vēlân Kêralan alias Nanjinátta Mûvenda Veļân, signature. I * * * of Panayûr wrote this deed, and wrote it at the bidding of the servants of the Alvar, and the people of Talai ; [countersigned] . . . Kerala Santôsha Palla varaiyan, signature. Govindan Vikraman, signature. Anantan Sakrapani, signature."
The grant declared in the previous inscription would thus appear to have been actually executed on that very day, -a fact reflecting no small credit on the administration of those ancient times. This dæument confirms the inference already drawn with respect to the extent of the Vêņad principality on that day, since the executive officers who complete the transaction are styled 'officers in charge of the affairs of the Náñjinâd,' - Nanjina.o being the collective designation for the two southernmost taluks of Travancore. The Chola power then must have been by this time altogether extinct there ; and it is quite possible that the Vaishnava
41 Vide Inscriptions Nos. 4 and 5 in Vol. II. Part I. of South Indian Inscriptions, for samples of this system of land measurement.
48 The word might be analysed into tiru + vidai + ai + tu + am, and might then mean "the holy rule of the ball," i, o., Siva's emblem, and hence perhapu'tax free or temple tenure.'
* The parts within square brackets are those supplied.
50 It is indifferently spelt now NesjanAd and Nanjinad, the correct form being Najil-nadu meaning 'the land of plougas.'
