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DECEMBER, 1895.]
EARLY SOVEREIGNS OF TRAVANCORE.
333
SOME EARLY SOVEREIGNS OF TRAVANCORE.
BY P. SUNDARAM PILLAI, M. A. (Concluded from p. 311.)
XIII. CEVENTEEN years later, we meet with another monarch of Vênád. That the 22nd of
Idavam 427 was a day in the reign of Sri-Vira-Padmanabha-Martandavarma Tiruvadi is proved by a Vatteluttu inscription at Varkkalai, place of pilgrimage about 24 miles to the north of Trivandram. Perhaps to the pilgrim world in Indin, no place in Travancore is so well known as Varkkalai or Janardanam. The geologically interesting cliffs that form the characteristic features of this promontory, are obviously of much earlier formation than the alluvial soil surrounding it on all sides, and possibly the early Indian geographers used it, along with Cape Comorin and Ramêśvaram on the eastern coast,89 fox marking off the southern contour of their favourite Bharata-Varsha. The mineral spring of this sacred place may be taken, perhaps, as furnishing another and more practical justification for the estimation in which it is held by foreign pilgrims. To the Sthala-Purance of the place, however, the hills and the springs are as if they never existed. It delights only to relate how on one occasion the Devas performed a sacrifice on the spot, how the Brahmanas had then feast, rich and indescribable, and how the local deity, with the object of perpetuating that ferst. practised a clever and successful practical joke upon the authors thereof! On the southern wall of the chief shrine in this spot will be found in four lines the document I now proceed to translate :
13 Vatteluttu No. 48. Old Malayalam.
Varkkalai Inscription of Vira-Padmanabha-Martandavarman. "Hail! Prosperity! In the Kollam year 427, with Jupiter entering into Aries, and the sun 21 days old in Taurus, Wednesday, the 5th lunar day after new moon, and with the sign of Cancer rising in the orient, the loyal chieftains of Sri-Vira-Padmanabha-Martandavarma Tiruvadi, graciously ruling over Vêņad, consecrated the holy temple of Vadasêrikkarni, at Udaiyamartindapuram in Varkkalai, after constructing with granite stones the inner sbrine from the foundations to the wall plates, and paving the courtyard with stones, besides repairing the Sri MukhaMandapa (or the hall in front facing the shrine)."
This is one of the most satisfactory Vatteluttu inscriptions I have, every word in it being clear and unmistakable. It proves that on the morning of the 22nd of Idavam 427 M. E., about 9 a. m., Wednesday, the throne of Vêņad was enjoyed by Sri-Vira-PadmanabhaMartandavarma Tiruvadi, who in all probability immediately succeeded Sri-Vira-RaviKeralavarman of Manalikkarai fame. It is interesting to note that the sacred spot where the temple now stands was then called Udaiyamártândapuram, no doubt in commemoration of an carlier builder or patron of the fane ; but it cannot be the Udaiyamártándavarman of our Tiruvattar inscription, as it is not likely that the temple could have demanded repair and reconstruction in so short a time. That the chiefs of Sri-Padmanabha-Mirtindavarman were not the originators of the temple is clear enougl from their having had only to repair the hall facing the shrine.
* It is possible that the sanctity of Varkkalai is partly due to its having been taken by carly Indian geogra. phers to be in the same latitude as Rámékvaram in the east. Later, perhaps, a closer approximation was attempted by the foundation of a temple near Quilon, under the very name of Riméévaram. That something of the kind must have been meant, is proved by such places as the following almost in the same latitude :-Alwaye and Madura, whore ancient name was Alavily, and Trichur and Trichinopoly, obviously derived from the samo root, despite modern fanciful corruptions.
" It is available only in manuscript. Its style is clearly modern.
