Ramanisblog

Tag: Tamil epigraphs

  • 43000 Tamil Nadu Inscriptions In Eight Languages

    43000 Tamil Nadu Inscriptions In Eight Languages

    Epigraphs and Copperplates Inscriptions form one of the sources for Indian history. Kings recorded their.. . https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Indian_epigraphy

    About 43000 inscriptions are found in Tamil Nadu. Apart from a wealth of information, what interested me most was the number of languages used in these records. Eight languages have been used! To my surprise Prakrit occupies the second place to Tamil.And Local language is also used. I am not sure what it is. Might be local dialect. Am providing image showing the percentage of languages used in these records.

    Inscriptions.Languages used.

    • Reign details
    • Wars won,lost,
    • Genealogy,
    • Grants provided to the Temples,if any has been made or a temple built
    • Or if a donation to a group of people are made
    • Or donation by an individual to the temple or the Kings’ Coffers.

    Information such as these are recorded in

    • Temple walls.
    • In Copperplates,which are left in the custody of some people or buried in a safe place.
    • Written on Palm leaf 🍂.

    Indian copper plate inscriptions are historical legal records engraved on copper plates in India.

    Donative inscriptions engraved on copper plates, often joined together by a ring with the seal of the donor, was the legal document registering the act of endowment. It was probably necessary to produce them when required to prove ownership/ the claim to the rights. The retrievability of the copper plates was perhaps crucial in the newly settled lands. Detailed information on land tenures and taxation available from these copper plate grants….

    Indian copper plate inscriptions (tamarashasana), usually record grants of land or lists of royal lineages carrying the royal seal, a profusion of which have been found in South India. Originally inscriptions were recorded on palm leaves, but when the records were legal documents such as title-deeds they were etched on a cave or temple wall, or more commonly, on copper plates which were then secreted in a safe place such as within the walls or foundation of a temple, or hidden in stone caches in fields. Plates could be used more than once, as when a canceled grant was over-struck with a new inscription. These records were probably in use from the first millennium.

    Some of the oldest inscribed copper plates to be found in the Indian subcontinent date to the Mature Harappan era, consisting of up to 34 characters and thought to be used for copper plate printing…Indian Copperplates .

    Epigraphy is the study of Inscriptions on Rocks, Pillars, Temple walls, Copper plates and other Writing-materials like Stones, Metals, Potteries, Woods, Palm leaves, Clothes, Conch shells, Mural paintings and Coins. It is one of the most fascinating and instructive studies. It deals with the art of writing, which distinguishes man from animals and provides us with an instrument for conservation and transmission of historical traditions from generation to generation. ….It has been estimated with a fair degree of accuracy that the inscriptions written in Tamil occupy the first position in volume, amounting nearly 20,000, followed by those in Kannada (10,600), Sanskrit (7,500) and Telugu (4,500). Inscriptions in Tamil language are noticed from the third century BCE onwards. (Source: Journal of the Epigraphical Society of India Volume 19 : 1993)….

    A separate epigraphy wing was started during the year 1966. The primary function of this wing is to copy inscriptions on boulders, stone pillars, stones, temple walls and on copper plates. The inscriptions are deciphered,edited and published. So far, about 24,771 inscriptions are copied and their estampages (ink impression) are preserved in this wing. Some original copper plates and old palm leaf manuscripts are also under the custody of this department.

    Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu
  • How Tamil Kings Are Named Identified Epigraphs Inscriptions

    How Tamil Kings Are Named Identified Epigraphs Inscriptions

    Recently I received an email from one of the readers of my blog asking me how the Ancient Kings of Tamil Nadu were mentioned in Epigraphs and Inscriptions.He wanted to know whether these Kings were mentioned as Dravidas or how they were referred to.

    An interesting question. Though I had written articles based on Epigraphs of Tamil Kings, this thought never struck me. I replied to the reader that though the Purans, at some places refer to Kings of Tamils as Kings of Dravida desa, here Dravida denoting South. Bhagavada Purana describes First Human Being Manu as an Emperor of Dravida Desa.But in other places these texts and Ithihasas mention Dravida kings in some places and Chera, Chola ,Pandya; in other places Kings reigning Dravida desa; or they mention the Kings by their names.

    In the case of Epigraphs and Inscriptions , method is followed by the Kings is to record their names and also identify their Dynasty by their Titles, like Parakesari,Valavan,Sembiyan… in the case of Cholas; மாறவர்மன்(Maravarman), சடய வர்மன்(Satayavarman) got Pandyas; வானவரம்பன்(Vaana varambhan) ,இமய வரம்பன்( Imayavaramban) in the case of Chera.

    Many kings added their unique achievements as their Titles, like Ariyappadai kadantha neduncheralathan,Mudukudumi Palyaga saalai Peruvazhuthi,Yaanaimerth thunjiya Chozhan,Kadaaram Kondaan,Perunchotru udhiyan Neduncheralathan.

    # Link provided in Tamil copperplate inscriptions in this article is good source for Tamil inscriptions. Please check out.

    A record of the Chola king Madhurantakadeva alias Uttama Chola.

    Records that the temple of Tirunallamudaiyar was built of stone by Madevadigalar alias Sembiyan Madeviyar queen of Gandaradittadeva and mother of the king[18]

    Yet another inscription of him from the Masilamanisvara temple in Tirumullaivayil,Dated in the reign of the Chola king Parakesarivarman alias Uttama Chola deva;

    records in his fourteenth year, gift of land by Sembiyan Madeviyar, queen of Gandaraditta Perumal and daughter of Malavarayar. The lands were purchased from the villagers in Ambattur in Ambattur-nadu, a district of Pular kottam Uthama Chola inscription

    The Sanskrit portion of the bigger &nnamanfir plates begins with a fragmentary verse 
    in which the king (perhaps Pdndya) boasts of having subdued the ocean—an attribute which 
    the mythical Pdndya kings generally assumed in consequence, perhaps, of their sea-bordering 
    kingdom, their naval power, and their sea-borne trade, from the earliest historical times. 
    Prom him were descended the kings known as Pdndyas (v. 2) ‘ who engraved their edicts on the 
    Himalaya mountain ’ and whose family-priest wffs the sage Agastya (v. 3). One of the 
    Phndya kings is said to have occupied the throne of Indra (v. 4) and another to have shared 
    it with that god, and still another, to have caused the Ten-Headed (i.e., Havana of Lanka) 
    to sue for peace (v. 5). One was a conqueror of the epic hero Arjuna (v. 7) 2 . VerseS 
    refers to a king who cut off his own head in order to protect that of his master and also to a 
    certain Sundara-P&ndya who had mastered all the sciences. Many kings of this family had 
    performed Vedic sacrifices Rdjasuya and A&samddha, (v. 9). 3 

    ' Bp. Ind., Yol. YIII, p. 317 f. 

    * See Jnd. Ant., Yol. XXII, p. 59 and foot-note 4. • 

    l he Tamil portion gives many more of each attributes to the Psndya ancestors ; see below p. 443. Source.
    Tamil copperplate inscriptions.
  • Chola Tamil Kings Enforced Laws of Manu Thiruvaarur Thyagaraja Temple Epigraph.

    Chola Tamil Kings Enforced Laws of Manu Thiruvaarur Thyagaraja Temple Epigraph.

    Indian history as described in Sanskrit texts and Tamil texts of yore  are in line with  the Dynasties of Kings, especially of the Tamil Kings.

    It is a pity that Tamil is being portrayed as anti Vedic and Sanatana Dharma.

    The Laws of Manu are being quoted as an evidence of Aryan, North Indian domination of Dravidas and Tamils.

    Facts speak otherwise.

    Here we shall see how the Tamil kings enforced and followed the Laws of Manu.

    As an aside,I have written on Manu being a Dravida king and Lord Rama belonged to Chola Dynasty because Manu was a Chola king.

    Manu’s son Ikshvaku founded the Surya vamsa,the Solar dynasty.

    In this sense Lord Rama belonged to Chola Dynasty and not the other way around.

    The Tamil kings followed The Laws of Manu.

    One Chera king,Cheras being one of the three dynasties that ruled the south,Perunchotru Udiyan Cheralaathan,provided food for both the Kaurava and Pandava Armies during the Mahabharata War.

    He also allotted lands, villages to Brahmins and Sangam literature records this and the fact that he would see if the Smoke of Yagnya fire rises in the morning from these villages allotted to Brahmins.

    Another King,Malayadhdwaja ,a Pandyan King,the third dynasty of the south,took part in the Mahabharata War on the side of the Pandavas and gave a stiff fight to Aswathama.

    Tamil and Sanskrit literature record many more instances.

    The earliest temple inscription indicating that the Laws of Manu were followed is found in the Thiruvaarur Thyagaraja temple.

    It is found in the North wall of the second Prakaara.

    The epigraph is about Vikrama Chola.

    It may be noted that the Chola Kings used the epithet,’one who followed the Laws of Manu’.

    This title is called Meykkeerthi,meaning the Adjective to be used while using the King’s Name,a Honorary title.

    Information on the Tamil kings having followed the Laws of Manu are confirmed by the epigraphs of Sundara Pandya and the epigraphs at Puthur and Mappedu in Chengalpet District,Tamil Nadu.

    This information is also found in many chola temples.

    ‘திருவாரூர் தியாகராயர் கோவிலின் இரண்டாம் பிரகாரத்தில் வடக்குச் சுவரில் உள்ள விக்கிரமச் சோழன் கல்வெட்டில் (தெ.இ.க. 5; 456) மனுநீதிச் சோழன் பற்றிய குறிப்புக்கள் இடம் பெற்றுள்ளன. இக் கல்வெட்டில் மனுநீதிச் சோழனின் அமைச்சனது பெயர், இங்கணாட்டு பாலையூருடையான் உபயகுலாமவன் என்று குறிப்பிடப்பட்டுள்ளது. இதன் வாயிலாக மனுநீதிச் சோழனின்அமைச்சனுக்கு ஒரு தெளிவான அடையாளம் வழங்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. சேக்கிழார் காலத்துக்குப் பிந்தைய கல்வெட்டு இது.
    சோழர் ஆட்சிக்காலத்தி;ல் அரசநீதியாக மனுநீதி விளங்கியது. இதை சோழர்கால மெய்கீர்த்திகள் வாயிலாக அறியலாம். ‘மனுவாறு விளங்க’, ‘மனுநெறி’, ‘மனுவொழுக்கம்’ என்ற சொல்லாட்சி சோழர்கால மெய்கீர்த்திகளில் பரவலாக இடம்பெற்றுள்ளது.
    மூன்றாம் குலோத்துங்கச் சோழனின் பதினொன்றாம் ஆட்சியாண்டுக் கல்வெட்டில் (தெ.இ.க III பகுதி 1, 2; 86, 87) மெய்கீர்த்தியாக மனு நீதி முறை வளர மனு நீதி தழைத்தோங்க என்ற தொடர்கள் இடம்பெற்றுள்ளன.
    செஙகல்பட்டு மாவட்டம் மப்பேடு கிராமத்து சிவன் கோவிலிலும், தஞ்சை மாவட்ட கடம்பவனேசுவரர் கோவிலிலும் மனுநீதிச் சோழன் தொடர்பான சிற்பங்கள் உள்ளன (தகவல்: முனைவர் வெ. வேதாச்சலம், கல்வெட்டாய்வாளர்).
    பெரிய புராணத்தை அதன் மூலத்திலிருந்து விலகாது உரைநடையில் எழுதிய தி. பட்டுசாமி ஓதுவார் (2005; XIII) மனுநீதிச் சோழன் என்ற தலைப்பில் “இவன், ஏழரான் (ஏழ் 10 ஆரன்ளூ ஏழு மாலைகளை அணிந்தவன் அல்லது ஏழு அரசரை வென்று சூடிய ஏழு மாலைகளையுடையவன்) என்னும் பெயர் உடையவன் கி.மு. 2 ஆம் நூற்றாண்டின் இடைப்பகுதியில் இலங்கை மீது படையெடுத்து அசேலன் என்பவனை வெற்றி பெற்றவன்.” என்ற குறிப்பை எழுதியுள்ளார். ‘

    Source.

    https://mukkulamannargal.weebly.com/16-297030153006299629923021-299729922994300629933009–299030092993302129653006299429903021-2951297530162965302129653006299429903021-298630072993302.html