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TÅK
203
TÁM
UpAli, see Dipavamsa in JASB., 1838, p 928. The date of this convention (78 A.D.) at Tamasavana is said to have given rise to the Saka era, though Kanishka belonged to the Kushan tribe of the Yuetis or Yuechis (see sakadyipa). But according to some authorities, the Saka era was founded by Vonones (see Panchanada). Asvaghosha wrote his Buddha. charita-kavya in the court of Kanishka. Nagarjuna and his disciples Arya Deva, Parsva, Charaka and Chandrakirti were the contemporaries of Kanishka (see General Introduction
to the Records of the Buddhist Religion by Takakusu, p. lix). Tamolipta-Same as Tamralipti. Tamra-The Tamor (see Maha-kausika). Tamrachuda-krora-It is perhaps the full name of Korura, the capital of Chera or Kerala
(Dandi's Mallika-mdruta, Act I): see Korura. Tâmralipta-Same as Tamralipti. Tamralipti-Tamluk, which was formerly on the mouth of the Ganges, is now situated on the
western bank of the Rupnår&yana, formed by the united stream of the Silai (Silavati) and Dalkigor (DvArikesvari) in the district of Midnapur in Bengal. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Sumha (see Sumba) in the sixth century of the Christian era, and it formed a part of the Magadha kingdom under the Mauryas (Smith's Asoka, p. 69). A greater portion of the ancient town has now been diluviated by the river. The town is mentioned in the Mahabharata, (Bhishma, ch. 9; Sabha, ch. 29), the Puranas, and the Buddhist works. It was celebrated as a maritime port (Kathasaritsagara, Lambaka XII, ch. 14), and an emporium of commerce from the fourth to the twelfth century of the Christian era, the sea having now receded south to a distance of sixty miles. It was from this port that Vijaya is said to have sailed to Ceylon. The only building of any archeological interest that now exists in the town is the temple of Barga-Bhima mentioned in the Brahma P. (Tamolupta Mahat, and the K. ch., p. 33), which was evidently an ancient Vihara, perhaps one of those referred to by Hiuen Tsiang, transformed not earlier than the fourteenth century into a dome-topped Hindu temple of the Orissa atyle by an outward coating of bricks and plaster, after the expulsion of Buddhism. The image of the goddess appears to be old and is formed of a single block of stone, with the hands and feet in mezzo-relievo. Dandi, the author of the Dasa kumaracharita, who flourished in the sixth century A.D mentions that a temple of Birdubásini was situated at Tamralipta (ch, 96). In the seventh century, I-tsing resided at Tâmralipta in a celebrated monastery called Baraha monastery. The present temple of Hari or Vishnu-Narayana is said to have been built some 500 years after the destruction of the ancient temple by the action of a river. The ancient temple was situated on the east of that of Barga-Bhima. The new-built shrine contains two images of Arjuna and Krishna. Traditionally, Tamluk was the capi. tal of Mayuradhvaja and his son Tâmradh vaja, who fought with Arjuna and Krishna, and hence Tamluk has been identified with Ratnapura of the Jaimini-Bhdrata; but the situation of Mayuradhwaja's capital on or near the Nerbuda, as mentioned in that work, makes that identification impossible. Comparison of several manuscripts of the Brahma Purana shows that the "Tamolupta-mahatmya " inserted in some of them is an interpolation. TAmraparni-1. Ceylon of the Buddhists. It is mentioned in the Girnar inscription of Asoka
(JASB., VII, p. 169). 2. The river Tambraparni, locally called Tambaravari or the united stream of the Tambaravari and the Chittar in Tinnevelly, which rise in the Agasti-kata Mountain (Bhagavata P., x, ch. 79; Raghuransa, IV, v. 60 ; Sewell's Arch. Surv. of 8. India, I, p. 303. Thornton's Gazetteer s.v. Tinnevelly). It is celebrated for its pearl fishery. Rishi Agastya is said to have resided on this mountain (see Malaya-girl). The port of Kolkai which was at the mouth of this river, now 5 miles inland, is mentioned by Ptolomy (see Pandya and Kara) : it gave its name to the Kolkhic Gulf or Gulf of Manar,
