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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1905.
has not been shown to be incorrect. There was at any rate a king Gajabahu previous to the days of Mahanaman, the author of the earlier part of the Mahdvarhóa.
Thus, then, the tredition of a race of rulers whose eponymous ancestor was born from the sacrificial fire of a Rishi is far older than the period for which Dr. Hoernle has found authority. This does not necessitate the affiliation of the one dynasty to the other. It only shows that the legend is very much older, and might have been laid hold of by ruling families at great distances, and otherwise upconnected, for the embellishment of genealogies, just as in the case of the Greeks of yore.
NOTES ON THE TIRUVELLARAI INSCRIPTIONS.
BY PANDIT S. M. NATESA SASTRI, B.A., M.F.L.S. TIRUVELLARAI is an ancient village 8 miles north of Trichinopoly. It is in a rocky situation and reminds one of the ancient Jaina settlements. It has been the birth-place of many famous Srt-Vaishnava Acharyas and is to this day the most important centre of the Parvasikha Brahmans who have contributed not a few famous leaders to Sri-Vaishnava thought. The Vaishṇava templo in the village has been sung by the two VaishạAVà saints, Periya-Alvår and Tirumangai-Alvar. There is also a temple dedicated to Siva which is neglected. To the south of the Saiva temple there is another ruined shrine. The god of the Vaishnava temple is known as Pundarikáksha or Sendamaraikkannar, and the goddess Pangayachchelvi. This temple is built upon a small rock, below which is & cave temple, with no god, however, placed in it.
The saint Tirumangai-Alvår, when extolling Pundarikáksha, must refer to this cave in his expression “ Kallarai mel Vellarai yay," which means "the white chamber over the rock chamber." The garbhagriha, or sanctum sanctorum, of this temple is an exact counterpart of that of Aruļaļa Perumal at Conjeeveram (Kanchipuram), where the Vaishnava god is sapposed to have his mansion built upon Hastigiri. At Tiruvellarai the Vaishnava mansion is called Svêtâdri.
There are three enclosures (prákdras) in the Tiruvellarai temple, the first two being studded with insoriptions. Most of these appear, however, to have suffered much from wanton hands and are mostly unreadable, while the few that are readable are not very old. In the rock-cut cave underneath the Vaishnava shrine, on the pillars, there are a number of very badly damaged inscriptions of Bajakosarivarman and perhaps of Madiraikonda Parakogarivarman. On the rock above the cave there are two fairly well preserved epigraphs of Kulottunga I. in manipraválam, i. e. & mixture of Sanskrit and Tamil. Besides these there are a few badly preserved inscriptions. On the walls of the Pandarikáksha temple there are a few inscriptions of Tribhuvanachakravartin Bajaraja III, and of the Vijayanagara kings, besides a large number wantonly erased. There are also fragments belonging to the time of Rajaraja I. and Bajendra-Chola I. on a mandapa to the west of the balipitha. On the left side of the entrance in the south wall) there are a few records of the later Pandya kinga.
There are a few pieces of fine sculpture on the base of the central shrine.
The Saiva temple contains a few well preserved inscriptions, which are transcribed below, and the ruined temple to the south of it, already mentioned, also bears some in good preservation, but the whole place is so overgrown with prickly-pear that it is difficult of approach.
The Chola king Madiraikonda Parakesarivarman of the inscriptions at Tiruvellarai is alluded to in several Tamil works as the Kalingattuparani and the Tiruvisaippa. From other inscriptions it is known that he also conquered Ceylon. No. 10 of the subjoined inscriptions is a fine Pallava grant, but unfortunately, as a portion of it has been built over, nothing definite can be said about it. The ndivarma in line 8 may be Nandivarma
