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JAINA EPIGRAPHS IN TAMIL
149
On the front face of the rock which overhangs a natural cave containing a pool of water. Dynasty : Pallava
King : Nandipõttarasar
(Nandivarman) Date: Regnal year 50 Language and Alphabet : (c. 767 A.D.)
Tamil Purport: Records that Nāraṇan, the son of Maruttuvar of Pugalālaimangalam, caused to be engraved an image of Ponniyakkiyār attended by the preceptor (guravar) Nāganandi.
TEXT
1. Nandippōttarašarkku aymbadāvadu Nāganandi
guravar 2. irukka Ponniyakkiyār padimam koțțuvittān 3. Pugalālaimangalattu Maruttuvar magan Nāraņa4. #[ *]
Notes : “Ponniyakkiyār is the honorific plural of Ponniyakki
(Sanskrit : Svarņa-yakşi), which consists of the Tamil word pon, 'gold' and iyakki, the Tamil form of Sanskrit yakşi. There is hardly any doubt that, of the group of five figures which are engraved in the cave below the inscription, the sitting female figure represents Ponniyakki".
P. B. Desai (Jainism in South India, p. 40) identifies Ponniyakki with Siddhāyikā, the characteristic attendant deity of Mahāvīra.
[Published in Ep. Ind., Vol. IV, pp. 136-37]
No. 10.
Pallimadam, Aruppukkottai Taluk, Ramanathapuram District. On the wing-stone at the entrance to the Kālanāthasyāmin temple.
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