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DECEMBER, 1898.)
EARLY SOVEREIGNS OF TRAVANCORE.
335
lines on the southern wall of a temple at Keralapuram, about three miles from Padmanabhapuram. It would read thus, if translated :
14 Vatteluttu 69. Old Malayalam.
lam. Kóralapuram Inscription of Vira-Udaiyamartandavarman II.
on “In the Kollam year 491, and in the 4th year, the son being 21 days old in Aquarius, is made the following grant. The loyal chieftains of Sri-Vira-Udaiyamartandavarma Tiruvadiyar, Vira-Pandyadevar, graciously ruling over Vêņâd, do hereby provide in writing for a sacred perpetual lamp and for the daily expenses of the Mahadeva of Sri-Vira-Kêraļ&svaram, at Mnttalaik. kuruchchi, in Palkôdud8šam, in division No. 1 of the district of Cheukalunirnâdu, in Tennada, belonging to (or under the administration of the said chieftains. Accordingly, the said chieftains make over (for the said purpose) all the dues taken as kaliyalekam, from this désam (or circle), includingolfira tax, avvi, bamboo grain, alagerudu, duty on looms and palmyras. karai pparru, fines and kô-muraippadu. In this manner then, the said chieftains grant in writing, all the dues taken as kaliyakkan from this désam (or circle), including op!ira tax, uevi, bamboo grain, alagerudu, duty on looms and palmyras, karaipparri, fines and kó-muraippádu, excepting such of them as have been already granted to meet the charges of the Mahadeva of Tiruvitaŭkodu 09 and the Deva and Bhagavati of Pakkodu, to be made use of as long as the moon and the stars endure, for the purpose of supplying the daily needs of the Mahadeva of Kêralesvaram, and a sacred perpetual lamp to the same deity, which fact we the following do know and can attest: - Châttan Maniyan of Talkkil Pulavaraman; Narayanan Kudiśan of Penankidu; Kandan Iravivarman (signature); * * Tiruvikraman of Punaluri (signature). This deed in cadjan is written with the knowledge of the above persons by Iraman Keralan of Kaitavây (signature)."
Thus then on the 22nd Kumbha 491 M. E., or roughly speaking about the end of February 1310, the sovereign of Vêņad was Sri-Vira-Udaiyamartandavarman, who, it will be observed, styled himself further Vira-Pandyadeva. Nothing could be of greater historical interest than to know the circumstances that led to the assumption of this new and foreign title; but I have succeeded as yet in finding no clue whatever towards its solution. May it be that when the Påndya power shrunk back to its original condition, after having been blown out into dangerous and meddlesome greatness by the breath of a Kôchchadaiyan or a Komaran, the Vêņid kings not only regained their lost ground, but also retaliated by invading and conquering a portion of the dominions of their recent conquerors, and assumed, too, their style and manners to legitimize their hold upon the territories so added to their own ? Agreeably to this foreign title, we find also the no less foreign method of dating the inscription in the year of the sovereign's reign. But thanks to the wisdom of the Vêņâd chiefs, this new method was not allowed to supersede, but was only combined with, the old and sensible way of reckoning in the fixed Kollam era. In the case before us, therefore, the mention of the year of the king's reign, instead of giving rise to endless collations and calculations, as is so usual in Indian epigraphy, only gives us the additional welcome information that Udaiyamártândavarman ascended the throne three years previously, i. e., in 488 M. E. It is quite possible that the reference is made not to the year of the accession, but to the date of his assuming the foreign title of Vira-Pandyadêva. In either case, we are sure that the reigning sovereign of Vêņâd on the 22nd of Kumbha 491 (March 1316) was Sri-Vîra-Udaiyamârtândavarma Tiruvadi. Having already met a king of this name, we may call him Sri-Vîra-Udaiyamârtâpdavarman II. or as, styled in the document before us, Vira-Pandyadêva.
As for the particulars of the grant, I am at a loss to understand the nature of all the taxes Bet apart by this document for the use of the Mahadeva. Most of the terms used are unknown
9 The word Travancore is a corruption of Tiruvitánkoju. But I am not at all sure Tiruvitfókódu is analysable into Sri v&lum kódu, as is now so generally assumed. The derivation owes its plausibility to the corrupt forn of TiruvAbkódu.
