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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
'OCTOBER, 1924
time of Pårkara Iravi we find both usa and o!la several times. In the Mampalli plato which was written at Quilon in the year 973 A.D. we find the form olla thrice, ulla never. (Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IX, p. 236.) In the Kantiyar inscription of 946 A.D. we find the word ollatu twice. In the Tâņu Iravi copper plates which were written in the ninth century at Quilon, the word olla is used four times, ulla is never used.
In the Tiruvallam inscription of 1143 A.D., the Kanamkara inscription of 1196. the Tiruvattaru inscription of 1222, the Keralapuram inscription of 1316, the Chittaral inscription of 1373, we find the form olla invariably. (Some Early Sovereigns of Travancore by P. Sundaram Pillai, pp. 66, 70, 74; Trav. Arch. Series, Vol. I, pp. 296, 298). In Tamil the term is ulla not alla. Oļļa is properly the Malayalam form. In modern Malayalam both forms are need, due to a tendency to bring back the words to their original form. We should bear in mind that Tiruvallam, Kunamkarai, Tiruvattáru, Keralapuram and Chittaral are south of Trivandrum and are places where even now Malayalam mixed with Tamil is spoken. In such places also we find the form olla not ulla during the twelfth, thirteenth end fourteenth centuries. The distinct Malayalam form, converting u into o, came into use in 80 far south a place as Quilon oven during the ninth century, and must have come into use in Cranganore and the adjacent places much before. But in the Vira Raghava copper plate we find only the Tamil form Ulla.
(4) Another point to be noted is the use of the word kufuttom. The document under consideration uses the form kututtom nine times but never koțuttóm. Rajasekhara uses kufukka three times, kotukka never. The ninth century document of Tiruvalla Middle Travancore 1808 kutukka twice. The Quilon inscription (Taņu Iravi copper plates) of the ninth century uses kutukka ten times and kotukka once. Mampalli plate of Quilon dated Ko. 149, i.e., 973 A.D., uses kotukka and kufukka (Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IX, p. 236). We find the form kotukka thrice and kufukka never in the Kaviyûr (Middle Travancore) inscription of 951 A.D. The Kûnamkara inscription of A.D. 1196 and the Keralapuram inscription of 1316 use the form kotukka (Some Early Sovereigns of Travancore, pp. 70, 74). Kunamkara and Keralapuram are south of Trivandrum. From the eleventh century forward we find the form kotukka invariably. The form kotukka came into use even in such a southern part as Quilon during the ninth century and must have taken the place of kutukka in such a northern part as Cranganore much before the ninth century. We find the forms Kututtan and kotuttan in the Tiruvalla temple plates of the time of Parkara Iravi. Kuçukka is not at all a Malayalam form, and in modern Tamil it is the colloquial form. Mahamahopadhyâya Swaminatha Iyer of Madras, who is a recognised authority on ancient Tamil literature, assured me that the form kutukka is invariably found in the ancient Tamil manuscripts, but some other Tamil scholars whom I consulted called this in question. I therefore made a research on this point; and avoided manuscripts as not of great use, for copyists are apt to make corrections according to their ideas of spelling. I, therefore, read a great number of stone and lithio inscriptions in Tamil, many of which do not contain the forms kutulka or kotukka. I found the form leufukka in eighty-one Tamil inscriptions invariably, some of them use the word several times. (Vide Some Early Sovereigns of Travancore, p. 65. Travancore Archæological Series, Vol. I, No. 1, pp. 5.9, No. 2, p. 2, No. 3, p. 5, No. 6, pp. 101, 104, 151, 152, No. 8, p. 169, No. 12, p. 189, No. 14, pp. 239, 245, 248, 249, No. 15, pp. 252, 255, 256, 257, 259, 260, 261, 263, 264, 267, 269, 272, 276, 279. South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. II, Part I, pp. 2, 15, 21, 43, 53, 89, 78, 85; 91, 105, 113, Ibid., Part III, pp. 249, 251, 254, 261, 306, 386, Ibid., Vol. III; Part I, pp. 12, 13, 18, 19, 23, 25, 30, 33, 40, 42, 44, 45, 47, 50, 55, 61, 66, 72, 76, 78, 80, 83, 87, 88, 91, 94, 97, 98, 99, 101, 103, 105, 108, 109, 112, 116.
