TAMIL INSCRIPTIONS
PART – I
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE TANJAVUR TEMPLE
INSCRIPTIONS ON THE WALLS OF THE CENTRAL SHRINE
NO.1 ON THE NORTH AND WEST WALLS UPPER TIER
This inscription consists of nine sections engraved on the north wall and four sections on the west wall of the central shrine. It opens with a Sanskrit sloka, according to which it is an edict of Rajaraja, (alias) Rajakesarivarman. The remainder of the inscription, like all the other Tanjavur inscriptions, is written in Tamil.
After the list of conquests, which is found at the beginning of many inscriptions of the Chola king Rajaraja, paragraph 5 contains the date, after which this and all the other Tanjavur inscriptions were incised. On the 20th day of the 26th year of his reign, Ko-Rajakesarivarman, alias Rajarajadeva, issued orders, that the gifts made by himself those made by his elder sister (viz., Kundavaiyar), those made by his wives, land those made by other donors should be engraved on the stone walls of the temple. A second important fact, which we learn from paragraph 2, is, that the Tanjavur temple had been built by Rajarajadeva himself, and that it was called after him Rajarajesvara, i.e., the Isvara (temple) of Rajaraja.
Paragraphs 3 to 107 contain a list of gold images, vessels and ornaments, which the king himself presented to the temple of Rajarajesvara (paragraphs 3 to 98) and to the image of Dakshina-Meru-Vitankar (paragraphs 99 to 107) on the following dates: –
Paragraphs 3 and 4: 25th years, 312th day
Paragraphs 5 to 9:26th year 14th day.
Paragraphs 10to 16: 26th year, 27th day.
Paragraphs 17: 26th years, 34th day.
Paragraphs 18: 25th year, 275th day.
Paragraphs 19 to 32: 26th year, 104th day
Paragraphs 33: 26th year, 318th day
Paragraphs 34 to 50: 26th year, 319th day.
Paragraphs 51 to 107: 23d to 29th year.
The last set of paragraphs (51 to 107) was incised at a later date than the preceding part of the inscription, to which it refers as previously engraved (paragraph 51).
Part of the gifts, which the king made between his 23rd and 29th year, were taken from the treasures, which he seized after having defeated the Chera king and the Pandya in Malainadu[1] (paragraphs 34, 51, 52 and 107). A number of gold trumpets were presented to the temple, after he had assumed the titles of Sivapadasekhara, the devotee of Siva, and of Rajaraja, the king of kings (paragraph 55), and a number of gold flowers, after he had returned from the conquest of Satyasraya (paragraph 92).
Each of the gifts is stated to have been weighed by the stone called (after) Adavallau. This was evidently a standard weight for gold, or a set of such weights, made of stone and preserved at the shrine of the god Adavallan or Adavallar, who was also called Dakshina-Meru-Vitankar.[2]
TRANSLATION
First Part
1- Hail! Prosperity! This (is) the edict (sasana) of Rajaraja (alias) Rajakesarivarman, which is cherished by the multitude of the diadems of (i.e., which is obeyed by) the crowd of all princes.[3]
2- On the twentieth day of the twenty-sixth year (of the reign) of Ko-Rajakesarivarman, alias Sri-Rajarajadeva, who while (his) heart rejoiced, that, like the goddess of fortune, the goddess of the great earth had become his wife, in his life of growing strength, during which, having been pleased to cut the vessal (kalam) (in) the hall (at) Kandalur,[4] he conquered by his army, which was victorious in great battles, Vengai-nadu, Ganga-padi, Tadigai-padi, Nulamba-padi, Kudamalai-nadu, Kollam, Kalingam, Ira-mandalam, (the conquest of which) gave fame (i.e., made (him) famous) (in) the eight directions, and the seven and a half lakshas of Iratta-padi, deprived the Seriyas (i.e., the Pandyas) of their splendor, while (he) was resplendent (to such a degree) that (he) was worthy to be worshipped everywhere; having been pleased to make gifts (in) the royal bathing-hall (tiru-manjana-salai) to the east (of the hall) of Irumadi-Soran within the Tanjavur palace (koyil), the lord (udaiyar) Sri-Rajarajadeva vouchsafed to say:
Let the gifts made by us, those made by (our) elder sister,[5] those made by our wives, and those made by other donors to the lord (udaiyar) of the sacred stone-temple (tirukkarrali), (called) Sri Rajarajesvara, which we caused to be built (at) Tanjavur, (a city) in Tanjavur kurram, (a subdivision) of Pandyakulasani-valanadu, be engraved on stone on the sacred shrine (sri-viman)!
3- On the three-hundred-and-twelfth day of the twenty fifth year (of his reign) the lord Sri-Rajarajadeva gave one gold (image) Kolgaidevar,[6] which is to be present (at) the sacred offerings (sri-bali),[7] weighing eight hundred and twenty-nine kuranju[8] and three quarters and three manjadi by the stone called (after) Adavallan.
4- On the same day (he) gave one dish (tala) of gold for the sacred offerings, supported by a lotus (padmasana), weighing nine hundred and ninety-five karanju and a half and four manjadi by the same stone.
5- On the fourteenth day of the twenty-sixth year (of his reign), the lord Sri-Rajarajadeva gave one sacred diadem (tiruppattam) of gold, weighing four hundred and ninety-nine karanju by the stone called (after) Adavallan.
6- On the same day (he) gave one sacred diadem of gold, weighing four hundred and ninety-four karanju and a half and two manjadi by the same stone.
7- On the same day (he) gave one sacred diadem of gold, weighing four hundred and eighty-four karanju and a half and two manjadi by the same stone.
8- On the same day (he) gave one sacred diadem of gold, weighing four hundred and ninety-seven karanju and a half and two manjadi by the same stone.
9- On the same day (he) gave one sacred diadem of gold, weighing four hundred and ninety-one karanju and a half and two manjadi by the same stone.
10- One the twenty-seventh day (of his twenty-sixth year), the lord Sri-Rajarajadeva gave out of (his) minor treasure (sirudanam) one gold plate (taligai), weighing six hundred and fifty-two karanju and eight manjadi by the stone called (after) Adavallan.
11- On the same (he) gave one gold plate, weighing four hundred and ninety-three karanju and a quarter by the same stone.
12- On the same (he) gave one gold bowl, (mandai) weighing three hundred and ninety-seven karanju and six manjadi by the same stone.
13- On the same (he) gave one gold bowl, weighing three hundred and ninety-three karanju and (one) manjadi by the same stone.
14- On the same day (he) gave one gold bowl, weighing three hundred and ninety-eight karanju and (one) kunri by the same stone.
15- On the same day (he) gave one gold bowl, weighing three hundred and ninety-six karanju by the same stone.
16- On the same day (he) gave one gold pitcher (kendi), weighing two hundred and eighty-four karanju and a half by the same stone.
17- On the thirty-fourth day (of his twenty-sixth year), the lord Sri-Rajarajadeva gave out of (his) minor treasure (sirudanam) one gold salver (tattam), weighing forty karanju and a quarter by the stone called (after) Adavallan.
18- On the two-hundred-and-seventy-fifth day of the twenty-fifth year (of his reign), the lord Sri-Rajarajadeva gave one copper water-pot (kuta), to be placed on the copper pinnacle (stupittari)[9] of the sacred shrine (sri-vimana) of the lord of the Sri-Rajarajesvara (temple), weighing three thousand and eighty-three pala.[10] The various gold plates (tagadu), which were laid over it, weighed two thousand nine hundred and twenty-six karanju and a half by the stone called (after) Adavallan.
19- On the one-hundred-and fourth day of the twenty-sixth year (of his reign), the lord Sri-Rajarajadeva gave to the lord of the Sri-Rajarajesvara (temple) one gold kettle (kidaram), weighing eleven thousand seven hundred and forty-two karanju by the stone called (after) Advallan.
20- On the same day (he) gave one gold ottu-vattil,[11] weighing four hundred and eighty-eight karanju by the same stone.
21- On the same day (he) gave one gold pot (kalasa), weighing five hundred and seven karanju by the same stone.
22- On the same day (he) gave one gold pot, weighing four hundred and eighty-three karanju by the same stone.
23- On the same day (he) gave one gold pot, weighing four hundred and ninety-two karanju by the same stone.
24- On the same day (he) gave one gold pot, weighing four hundred and ninety-two karanju and a quarter by the same stone.
25- On the same day (he) gave one gold pot, weighing five hundred and twelve karanju and a half by the same stone.
26- On the same day (he) gave one gold spittoon (padikkam), weighing eight hundred and two karanju and a half by the same s tone, including the three legs and the two rings (valaiyil).
27- On the same day (he) gave one gold salver (tattam) weighing forty-nine karanju and three quarters by the same stone.
28- On the same day (he) gave one gold salver, weighing forty-nine karanju and three quarters by the same stone.
29- On the same day (he) gave one gold salver, weighing fifty karanju by the same stone.
30- On the same day (he) gave one gold salver, weighing forty-nine karanju by the same stone.
31- On the same day (he) gave one small receptacle for sacred ashes (kuru-madal) of gold, weighing ninety-seven karanju by the same stone.
32- On the same day (he) gave one gold measuring-cup (mana-vattil), weighing twenty karanju by the same stone.
33- On the three-hundred-and-eighteenth day of the twenty-sixth year (of his reign), (he) gave a gold (image of) Kshetrapaladeva, (which measured) by the cubit-measure (muram), (preserved) in the temple (koyil) of the lord, three fingers (viral) and three torai[12] in height from the feet to the hair, which had a sacred foot-stool (sripadapitha) of silver, (measuring) six torai in height and four fingers and six torai in circumference, and which weighed seventy-two karanju and a half, including the spear (sula), the skull (kapala), the noose (pasa) and the drum (damaruka), which (the image) held in its four divine hands, and the sacred foot-stool, of silver.
34- Out of the treasures (bhandara), which he seized after having defeated the Chera king (Seraman) and the Pandyas in Malainadu, the lord Sri-Rajarajadeva gave on the three-hundred-and-nineteenth day of the twenty-sixth year (of his reign) to the supreme lord (paramasvamin) of the Sri-Rajaraja-Isvara (temple) the following gold emblems (chihna), which were weighed by the stone called (after) Adavallan and engraved on stone: –
35- One betel-pot (kal,anji), (consisting of) five hundred and eighty-six karanju of gold.
36- One betel-pot, (consisting of) six hundred and twenty-two karanju and a half of gold.
37- One water-pot (kuta), (consisting of) three hundred and eighty-two karanju and a half of gold.
38- One water-pot, (consisting of) three hundred and sixty-seven karanju of gold.
39- One water-pot, (consisting of) three hundred and fifty-two karanju of gold.
40-One water-pot, (consisting of) two hundred and ninety-four karanju of gold.
41- One Chunnam box (arandigaichcheppu), (consisting of) one hundred and twenty-one karanju and a half of gold, including the stand (adi) and the lid.[13]
42- One betel-leaf box (ilaichcheppu), (consisting of) one hundred and eighty-five karanju and three quarters of gold, including four lion’s feet (yalikkal) and the lid.
43- One betel-leaf box, (consisting of) one hundred and forty-seven karanju of gold, including four lion’s feet and the lid.
44- One plate (taligai), (consisting of) one thousand one hundred and thirty-five karanju and a half of gold, including the stand.
45- One censer (kalasappanai), (consisting of) four hundred and seventy karanju of gold, including the spout (mukku) and the sand.
46- One censer, (consisting of) four hundred and thirty-eight karanju of gold, including the spout and the stand.
47- Eight gold chains (kodi), consisting of seventy-eight karanju and three quarters of gold, including sixteen flowers, (two of) which were attached to the hanging part (tukkam) (and) to the top part (talai) (respectively, of each chain).
48- One taruittal-vattil, (consisting of) four hundred and forty-eight karanju of gold, including two bass-relief’s (karukku) and two lion’s feet (simhapada).
49- One sacred crown (tiru-mudi), (consisting of) two hundred and seventy-three karanju of gold.
50- One handle (kai) for a flywhisk (chchoppi) (consisting of) two hundred and four karanju of gold.
Second Part
51- From the twenty-third year to the twenty-ninth year (of his reign), the lord Sri-Rajarajadeva gave to the supreme lord of the Sri-Rajarajesvara (temple) out of his own treasures and out of the treasures, which he seized after having defeated the Chera king and the Pandyas in Malainadu, the following emblems (chihna) of gold, sacred ornaments (abharna) of gold, etc., which were weighed by the stone called (after) Adavallan and engraved on stone, excluding those (gifts of) the twenty-fifth year and the twenty-sixth year, which had been engraved on the adjacent s tones before this (part of the inscription) on the east of this upper tier (jagatippadai): [14]
52-Out of the treasures, which he seized after having defeated the Chera king and the Pandyas in Malainadu, (he) gave: –
53- One handle for a flywhisk, (consisting of) thirty-four karanju of gold.
54- One handle for a flywhisk, (consisting of) thirty-three karanju of gold.
55- Having obtained the illustrious names of Sivapadasekhara[15] and Sri-Rajaraja,[16] (he gave the following) gold trumpets (kalam), which had one kangil (?), two pipes (kural) and five rings (modiram):-
56- One trumpet, (consisting of) two hundred and ninety-four karanju and a half of gold.
57- One trumpet, (consisting of) two hundred and ninety-five karanju and a quarter of gold.
58- One trumpet, (consisting of) two hundred and ninety-six karanju and three quarters and two manjadi of gold.
59- Two trumpets, consisting of five hundred and ninety-three karanju of gold, each (consisting of) two hundred and ninety-six karanju and a half of gold.
60- One trumpet, (consisting of) two hundred and ninety-four karanju, nine manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.
61- One trumpet, (consisting of) two hundred and ninety karanju and three quarters of gold.
62- One trumpet, (consisting of) two hundred and eighty-six karanju, three manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.
63- One trumpet, (consisting of) two hundred and ninety-eight karanju and a half and two manjadi of gold.
64- One trumpet, (consisting of) two hundred and eighty-seven karanju and three quarters, four manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.
65- Out of (his own) treasures (he) gave: –
66- One trumpet, (consisting of) one hundred and sixty-eight karanju and a quarter of gold.
67- One trumpet, (consisting of) one hundred and sixty-eight karanju of gold.
68- A single (trumpet), (consisting of) one hundred and forty-nine karanju and a half and three manjadi of gold, including one kangil and one pipe (kural).
69- (The following) tops (makuta) for temple-parasols (tiruppallittongal), including a knob (mottu) and a plate (paralai) soldered together: –
70- Three tops for temple-parasols, consisting of one hundred and forty-eight karanju and three quarters, two manjadi and (one) kunri of gold, each (consisting of) forty-nine karanju and a half, two manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.
71- Five tops for temple-parasols, consisting of two hundred and forty-eight karanju and three quarters of gold, each (consisting of) forty-nine karanju and three quarters of gold.
72- Two tops for temple-parasols, consisting of one hundred karanju of gold, each (consisting of) fifty karanju of gold.
73- Two tops for temple-parasols, consisting of ninety-eight karanju of gold, each (consisting of) forty-nine karanju of gold.
73- Two tops for temple-parasols, consisting of ninety-eight karanju of gold, each (consisting of) forty-nine karanju of gold.
74- One top for a temple-parasol, (consisting of) fifty-one karanju of gold.
75- Two tops for temple-parasols, consisting of ninety-eight karanju and three quarters of gold, each (consisting of) fifty karanju, two manadi and (one) kunri of gold.
76- One top for a temple-parasol, (consisting of) fifty karanju, two manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.
77- One top for a temple-parasol, (consisting of) forty-eight karanju and three quarters of gold.
78- One top for a temple-parasol, (consisting of) fifty karanju and three quarters, two manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.
79- Two tops for temple-parasols, consisting of one hundred and one karanju and a half of gold, each (consisting of) fifty karanju and three quarters of gold.
80- One top for a temple-parasol, (consisting of) forty-nine karanju and a half of gold.
81- One top for a temple-parasol, (consisting of) forty-nine karanju and six manjadi of gold.
82- One top for a temple-parasol, (consisting of) forty-nine karanju and a quarter of gold.
83- One top for a temple-parasol, (consisting of) forty-eight karanju and a half of gold.
84- One top for a temple-parasol, (consisting of) forty-nine karanju, two manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.
85- One top for a temple-parasol, (consisting of) forty-eight karanju and three quarters, two manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.
86- One top for a temple-parasol, (consisting of) fifty karanju and (one) manjadi of gold.
87- Three top for a temple-parasol, consisting of one hundred and forty-nine karanju and a half, two manjadi and (one) kunri of gold, each (consisting of) forty-nine karanju and three quarters, two manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.
88- Five tops for white parasols (dhavalachchhattra), consisting of fifty karanju of gold, including a plate (paralai) soldered together with the knob (mottu).
89- One top for a colored sacred parasol of victory (vannigai-tiru-korra-kudai), (consisting of) fifteen karanju and a half two manjadi and (one) kunri of gold, including a plate soldered together with a knob.
90- One betel-leaf salver (ilaittattu), (consisting of) nine hundred and ninety-five karanju of gold.
91- One betel-leaf salver, (consisting of) nine hundred and eighty-eight karanju of gold.
92- Having returned from the conquest of Satyasraya, (he) poured out as flowers at the sacred feet (sripadapushpa) and worshipped the feet of the god (with the following gold flowers): –
93- Two sacred gold flowers (tirupporpu) consisting of twenty karanju of gold, each (consisting of) ten karanju of gold.
94- Twelve sacred gold flowers, consisting of one hundred and nineteen karanju and a half and four manjadi of gold, each (consisting of) nine karanju and three quarters, four manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.
95- Ten sacred gold flowers, consisting of ninety-nine karanju and a half of gold, each sacred gold flower (consisting of) nine karanju and three quarters and four manjadi of gold.
96- One sacred gold flower, (consisting of) nine karanju and three quarters, three manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.
97- One sacred gold flower, (consisting of) (one) karanju and three quarters and (one) manjadi of gold.
98- One sacred gold flower, shaped like a lotus (tamarai), (consisting of) thirteen karanju and six manjadi of gold.
99- To Dakshina-Meru-Vitankar (her) gave (the following ornaments), to be worn (by this god): –
100- One string of rounds beads (tiral-mani-vadam), (consisting of) five (strings) soldered together, (and containing) forty-nine karanju, seven manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.
101- One polished[17] ring for the arm of the god (tirukkaikkarai), (consisting of) fifty-one karanju and a half of gold.
102- One polished ring for the arm of the god, (consisting of) forty-five karanju and a half and two manjadi of gold.
103- One polished ring for the arm of the god, (consisting of) forty-nine karanju and three quarters, two manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.
104- One polished ring for the arm of the god, (consisting of) forty-five karanju and three quarters of gold.
105- One pair of polished rings for the feet of the god (tiruvadikkarai), (consisting of) ninety-six karanju and a half of gold.
106- One sacred girdle (tiruppattigai), (consisting of) one hundred and forty-nine karanju and a quarter of gold.
107- (Finally, he) gave one sacred diadem (tiruppattam), (consisting of) nine hundred and eighty-one karanju and a quarter of gold, which was made of gold taken from the treasures, which he seized after having defeated the Chera king and the Pandyas in Malainadu.
NOTES
[1] This name means the hill-country and is now-a-days confined to Malayalam or Malabar. In the times of Hiuen-Tsiang and of Alberuni, the synonymous terms Malakotta and Malaya seem to have included, besides Malabar, the whole southern part of the Madras Presidency beyond the Kaveri (see General Cunningham’s Ancient Geography of India, Vol. I, p. 549; Indian Antiquary, Vol. XVIII, p. 241). In the present case, Malainadu evidently comprises the territories of the Pandyas, besides those of the Chera king.
[2] See No. 2, paragraphs 12 and 13.
[3] This Anushtub verse is quoted with three misreading, in Dr. Burnell’s South-Indian Palaography, second edition, p. 40, note 2. Similar verses are found on the seals of the two Leyden grants; see Dr. Burgess’s Archaeological Survey of Southern India, Vol. IV, pp. 204 and 224.
[4] This expression, which was mistranslated in Vol. I, seems to refer to some incident in the king’s early life, perhaps to some feat, by which he showed the great strength of his arm. In an inscription of the 12th year of his reign, which was published in Vol. I (No. 146), Kanthalur-salai kalamarutha is the only epithet, which precedes the name of the king as a kind of biruda.
[5] Akkan seems to be used for just as for Akkai, just as Amman for Ammai. The elder sister referred to is Kundavaiyar, the queen of Vallavaraiyar Vandyadevar; see the introduction No. 6. The gifts which were made by herself, the king’s wives and others, are recorded in various other inscriptions of the Tanjavur temple.
[6] I.e., the god (who is) to receive (the offerings).
[7] According to Winslow, the secondary idol of a temple (eluntharulum vighraham or utsava-vigraha) is carried about in processions, while the chief idol (mula-vigraha) remains stationary.
[8] 1 karanju consists of 20 manjadi, 1 manjadi of 2 kunri and 1 kunri weighs about 2 grains.
[9] According to Winslow, dupi or suthpi is a synonym of sikhara, the upper pinnacle of a temple.
[10] a weight, thirteen of which make a trifle over a pound; Winslow
[11] This word signifies perhaps a cup (resembling) a shell (odu).
[12] 1 muzham cubit consists of 2 saan or spans, 1 saan of 12 viral or finger’s breadths, and 1 viral of 8 rice corns, which are here called torai.
[13] Muzhal is probably the same as mudal or mudi
[14] This clause refers to the first part of the present inscription, which precedes the second part on the upper tier of the north wall and is consequently, with respect to it, situated in the east. On jagatippadai see page 35, note 2.
[15] I.e.,he whose diadem are Siva’s feet,the devotee of Siva.
[16] I.e.,the illustrious king of kings.
[17] Opan seems to be another form of oppam polish; compare aran, kalan, nilan, pathan, belan for uram, kalam, nilam, patham, balam.
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