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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1895.
the then ruling Hovorciun, and if so, what was the particular relation in which she stood to that ruler ? The full
i m ce of the question will be perceived, only when the following facts are borne in mind. In the first place, this is the earliest record I have yet found of any female member of a royal family, in a country where succession is believed to have been always in the female line. In the second place, it is also the first occasion, excepting the Arringal frag. ments, where we have the family designation of Kilpperir. And lastly, it must also be noticed that the temple at Kadinaikulam, the institution of which this inscription records, is exactly equidistant between Trivandram and Airingal, — and, therefore, a convenient stage in a journey from ou to the other. Both tradition and local inquiry would prove that the village of Kalinakulam isull'uno into prominence, if not also into existence, only in consequence of its having been it suiteblo luulting place, and that it continued to retain its importance, so long as it was used as such, i. e., before the Shanankarai Canal connected the present capital with the back watter system of the north. Is it fanciful or farfetched then to sa ppose that the temple, of which our inscription records the foundation, was the direct fruit of extended political relations in the Worth, say, such as would arise from the annexation of Arriugal to Venad and the malgamation of their respective royal houses, assuming, as we have already done, the original independence of Arriigal or Kúpadesa ? If the hypothesis is allowable, we might take both the l'rincess Umaiyammai and the present family name of Kilprêrúr as, coming from Aringal, and neeruing to the Venad sovereign by right of adoption, marriage, or other alliance. It is a pity, therefore, that the word after Umaiyammai, which might have helped to solve some of these difficulties, happens to be so unyielding. As far as I can make ont, it looks only like Villavar, which carries no meaning to my mind.62 Until, therefore, further researches throw more light on the question, we should be content to accept the indistinct word to be a special title of Princess Umaiyammai in the Vênîd royal house itself.
But whoever Princess Umaiyammai may have been, the document proves beyond all doubt that on the morning of Thursday, about 8 p. m., the 18th Minem 389 M. E., i.e., 1214 A. D., the throne of Veruid wils occupied by Sri-Vira-Iraman Keralavarma Tiruvadi. We know he was on the throne in 384. But when he ascended it, and when exactly it passed to his successor, are points yet to be determinei. We meet with another sovereign of Vêņad only in 410 M. E., and we may, therefore, provisionally take his reigu to have extended to the close of the 4th Malabar century.
XII. With the opening of the fifth century of the Kollam Era we meet with another king of Venad, by name Sri-Vira-Ravi-Kəraļavarman. That the 28th Mêdam 410 M. E. fell within his reign, is proved by a Vatteluttu inscription at Manalikkarai, a pretty village near Padmanabhapuram in South Travancore. The document is foand inscribed on all the four sides of a tablet specially put up in front of the Alvar temple in this village. The face of the tablet contains 23 lines, its obverse 32, and the two sides 37 and 17, respectively. Why the document was entered on a special tablet, and not on the walls of the temple as was the custom, t is impossible now to ascertain. Possibly its singular import ance demanded this singular Treatment. For, if my reading of it is correct, it is nothing short of one of the great charters of Travancore. Its substance, as far as I can make out, would run thus in English:
12 Vatteluttu 91. Old Malayalam.
lam. Manalikkarai Inscription of Vira-Ravi-Koraļavarman. “Hail! Prosperity! In the year opposite the Kollam year 410, with Jupiter in Scorpio, and the Sun 27 days old in Aries (1. e., the 28th Médam), is issued the following proclamation,
82 It is possible that willavar is a mistake for ilaiyarar, meaning the younger.' There are one or two other dated Vatteluttu inscriptions in the place, but unfortunately, as the stones bearing them have been repeatedly white-wasbed, plastored over and painted, only portions of the lines are now open to view. I went to the spot a second time on the 16th June 1994 to try whether the broken lines could not help us over the difficulty, but returned no wiser than I went.
