Current Version: draft, 2024-04-22Z
Editor: Emmanuel Francis.
DHARMA Identifier: INSPallava00148
Summary: An inscription related to a tank.
Hand Description:
The puḷḷi is used.
Alternative identifier:
Origin:
Classification:
Languages:
Corresponding Artefact:
Layout:
2[...] (m)ān tān naṅkū(r A)ṭai [...]
3[...] (t/n) toṭṭa kuḷam(·) pēr śrī-(A)[va-]
4[ni]-nāraṇam(·)
maṇi-k-kirāmat(·)tār-
5[k](k)um cēṉā-mukattārkkum(·)
6(muḻu)tārkkum Aṭai-k-kalam(·)
1 [...] (ya)varmanku [...] ◇ [...] ravarma¿(t)?⟨ṟ⟩ku [...] H1; [...] ravarman ku(ṇa) [...] H2; [7*] (ya)varmatku (y) [5*] GR; [2*] (ra)varman ku[ṇā] S1; [8*] (ya) varmakku [1*] S2; [...] (ya)ravarmakku K K+S
2 [...] (m)ān tān ◇ (m)ān tān H1; (m)ān tān H2; [3*] (m)ān tān GR; [2*] mān tān S1 S2; [2*] (m)āṉ tāṉ K; [...] māṉ tāṉ K+S — 2–3 naṅkū(r A)ṭai [...] / [...] (t/n) ◇ naṅkar(aiy)ai/t H1; naṅkūr a(ṭ)ai [...] / (t) H2; naṅ(ku) rayai [5*] / [2*] t GR; naṅk(ū)r(u)ṭai(yā)/n S1 S2; naṅk(u)r(u)ṭaiy(a)/(n) K; naṅ(kurutaiya)/(ṉ) K+S • The standardised reading naṅkūr-utaiyāṉ would make good sense, but it does not appear possible to us, as it is not clear
if letters are lost at the beginning of the line 3 and if toṭṭa, in the same line 3, is preceded by t or n.
3 toṭṭa ◇ H1 H2; [2*] (t)toṭṭa GR; n toṭṭa S1 S2; (n) toṭṭa K; (ṉ) toṭṭa K+S — 3 kuḷam(·) pēr ◇ kuḷamp-ēr H1; kuḷam pēr H2 GR S1 S2 K K+S — 3–4 śrī-(A)[va-]/[ni]-nāraṇam(·) ◇ śrī / nāraṇam H1; śrī(Ava)[ni]/nāraṇam H2; śrī /nāraṇam GR; śrī (Avani)/nāraṇam S1; śrī A(vani)/nāraṇam S2 K K+S • The syllable ni that most editors supply as omitted at the end of line 3 might in fact be supplied
as lost at the beginning of line 4. It is in fact not clear whether letters have been
lost on the left, on the right, or on both sides of the slab.
4–5 maṇikkirāmat(·)tār/[k](k)um ◇ maṇikkirāmattār(k)/(k)um H1 K; maṇikkirāmattār[k]/(k)um H2; maṇikkirāmattār/[k]kum GR; maṇikkirāmattār(k)/kum S1 S2; maṇikkirāmattārk/kum K+S • The syllable k that most editors supply as omitted at the end of line 4 might in fact be supplied
as lost at the beginning of line 5. It is in fact not clear whether letters have been
lost on the left, on the right, or on both sides of the slab.
6 (muḻu)tārkkum ◇ (cāpa)⟨t⟩tārkkum H1; (m uḻu)tārkkum H2; (ku)la⟨t⟩tārkkum GR; [1*] patārkkum S1; [...] pātarkkum S2; [...] apatārkkum K K+S • Hultzsch 1914 suggests that uḻutār is used here in the sense of uḻavar or uḻunar, "cultivators".
1-3 [...] of [...] ravarman [...] the hoofs of the team of oxen touching our boundary (?) Prosperity!
4-6 Nāraṇam (is) the refuge of the members of Manikkirāmam and of the members of the detachment and of the bowmen (?).
1-6 The tank, (by) name Śrī-[Avani]-Nāraṇam, which was dug near Naṅkūr by [...] ravarman Gu[ṇa ... m]āṉ himself, (is placed under) the protection of the members of Manikkirāmam and of the men of the vanguard and of the cultivators↓1.
1-6 (The year) [...] of (the reign of the king) [...] yavarman [...]; [...] man [...] dug a tank in our [...]. Its name is Śrī-Nāraṇam. This is placed under the protection of the Maṇikkirāmattār, the Cēṉamukattār and (his own) descendents↓2.
3-6 The tank called Avani-nāraṇam dug by the lord of Naṅkūr (is placed under) the protection of the members of Manigrāmam, the residents of the military camp and [...].
1 [Umpteenth year] of [...]varman.↓3
2-4 The name [of] the tank that [...]↓4 has dug (toṭṭa↓5) [at?] Naṇkūr ... [is] the glorious Avanināṟaṇam↓6.
4-6 It is a help (aṭaikkalam↓7) for the members of the Maṇikkirāmam (maṇikkirāmattār↓8), for the members of the Cēṉamukam (cēnāmukattār↓9), and for the cultivators (uḻūtār↓10).
Edited and translated by Hultzsch 1913, with an estampage; revised edition and translation by Hultzsch 1914; re-edited by Gopinatha Rao 1925–1926, Nilakanta Sastri 1932, Nilakanta Sastri 1949 (without diacritic marks!); text in Cœdès 1929, after Hultzsch; text and summary in Mahalingam 1988 (IP n° 148); re-edited and translated here for DHARMA (ERC n° 809994) by Emmanuel Francis (2022), based on previous editions, published visual documentation and a photograph (2012), kindly supplied by Nicolas Revire.
↑1. uḻutār
↑2. kulattār
↑3. Hultzsch 1913 suggests that, if his “purely tentative” reading of lines 1-3 is correct, then several
lines ("a lenghty passage" ) would be missing at the beginning of the inscription. We follow here Gopinatha Rao 1925–1926, who suggests that we have here the usual beginning of a Tamil inscription, with
the name and regnal year of the king, whence his reading of the last letter in line
1 as y, as the last remnant of the word yāṇṭu. According to Hultzsch 1913 and Hultzsch 1914 the name of the king is perhaps Bhāskaravarman. Contra, see Gopinatha Rao 1925–1926, Nilakanta Sastri 1932. Nilakanta Sastri 1932: page 305 suggests to read mataku, “sluice”, which would make sense in relation to a tank, but must confess his uncertainty.
↑4. If the standardised reading naṅkūr-utaiyāṉ is accepted, this “lord of Naṅkūr” would be the commissioner of the tank. See Nilakanta Sastri 1932: page 308, who is tempted to identify him as a native of Nāṅkūr in the Tanjore district.
↑5. Past peyareccam of toṭu-tal.
↑6. The tank might have named after the biruda Avanināṟaṇaṉ (Sanskrit Avaninārāyaṇa) of the Pallava king Nandivarman III. See Nilakanta Sastri 1932: page 306. The inscription has thus been dated to the reign of this king.
↑7. We follow here Hultzsch 1913 against others: the tank is made for the use of these persons, not put under their
protection.
↑8. Maṇikkirāmam is the name of a Tamil merchant guild, from Sanskrit maṇigrāma.
↑9. Cēṉamukam is usually considered as the name of another Tamil merchant guild, from
Sanskrit Senāmukha. See e.g. Subbarayalu 2012: page 44. The etymology suggests however a soldiers’ group, possibly attached to the protection
of the merchants. Mahalingam 1988: page 432 translates as “the residents of the military camp”. See translations in Hultzsch 1913, and in Hultzsch 1914. See also
Gopinatha Rao 1925–1926: page 72 on sanskrit senāmukha.
↑10. We follow here Hultzsch. Contra, see Nilakanta Sastri 1932: page 306