#6B8E23 Dr. R. Nagaswamy Two Inscriptions Two inscriptions of the Chola period coming from northern part of Tamilnadu throw interesting light on the influence of Sangam poems in the mediaeval period. The first one dated 1012 CE (27th regnal year) in the reign of RājarājaChola I is found in the Vīraṭṭānēśvara temple of Thirukkoyilur and the other assignable to the 12th cent is found in the Riṣabhēśvara temple of Chengam in north Arcot District. Both are important from different angles. This paper draws īthe attention of scholars to the content of these inscriptions and also their relevance to Sangam poetry. The first one was copied by the Governement epigraphist, and published in South Indian inscriptions vol. And the other copied by TN State Department of Archaeology, when an Epigraphical survey was undertaken under my direction in the Chengam area . The operative part of the first record refers in detail to gift of villages to the Vīraṭṭāna temple at Thirukkoyilur and ṭṭprovisions made for various services in the temple to be met from the revenue of the endowment. The emperor Rājarāja himself ordered the gift at the request of one Kamban Vīthiviṭankan, who also had the title Mahimālaya Muvēndavēḷān. It is thus a royal gift. Kamban Vīthiviṭankan served under Rājarāja as a commander and administrator of justice . As the gift was made at his request he gets importance in the record. Āṛṛuppa•ai format The inscription of Rājarāja, recorded in Tamil script and language, on the base of the main Vīraṭṭāna temple of Thirukkoyilur is a long poem in Āciriyappā meter, running to over two hundred and thirty lines (with some damages in the middle) in the Āṛṛuppaḍai format of the Sangam anthology. There are thousands of inscriptions of Rājarāja found all over Tamilnadu which are in prose form, in the usual inscriptional format, as matter of fact records. But this one is unique and is the only one known, prescribing even the boundaries of gifted lands, taxes, services in the temple etc in this poetic format. The record starts with an invocation to Sūrya, as annihilator of clouds of darkness, (andhaka) and the progenitor of the Chola royal family, in which Rājarāja was born. In addition to the praise, this passage also suggests that Sun is identical with Siva who destroyed Andhakāśura, an exploit connected with the Thirukkoyilur Vīraṭṭāna temple. It also alludes to Rājarāja, born in the solar dynasty, as a destroyer of his enemies who appeared as dark clouds. The inscription continues with the greatness of Rājarāja and his prowess, and conquests . Following this, the inscription proceeds, in well laid out parts, to describe Rājarāja’s mother, Vānavan mahādēvī , the glory of the family of Malaiyamāṇ in which she was born, the greatness of Thirukkoyilur, the river Peṇṇai that passes through this town, and the hilly boulder on which Kapilar, the sangam poet left his mortal coils, the sanctity of the temple of Vīraṭṭānēśvara Śiva to which gift of lands were made and the services and payment. Finally it praises the Commander Kamban Vīthiviṭankan who was responsible for the donation. Praising Kamban the inscription ends as ḻhe the Chief of Poṉṉi nādu. With out going into the details of gift etc this study will confine itself to the parts that are relevant to the present essay. Thirukkoyilur pāṭṭu The poem ends in the Āṛṛuppadai tradition, praising the liberal patron Kamban as the chief of Poṉṉi nā•u, (Kaveri region) full of water resources, that bestows prosperity: Tada nīr nalam taru poṉṉi nāḍu kilkavonē. It is well known thatḍ some of the ten idylls of the Sangam anthology (Pattu-pāṭṭu) end in this manner: 1) Malai-pa•u-kadām, which ends as kuṉṛu-cūḻ-irukkai-nādu kilavonē 2) Perum-bāṇ-āṛṛup-pa•ai, that ends as oṉṛilamkaruḷiya malai kilavonē 3) Porunar-āṛṛup-pa•ai that ends as kāviri purakku nādu kilavonē and finally 4) Thiru-muruk-arrup-padai, that ends as Palam-udir-colai-malai kiḻavonē. The ending of this inscriptional poem as Poṉṉi-nādu ki«avonē leaves no doubt that the whole composition is based on the model of Sangam poems. This must be viewed in the light of reference to the famous poet, Kapilan of the Sangam anthology, in the body of the text of this inscription. On analogy with Sangam poems like Kuṛiµci-pāṭṭu, and Mullaip-pāṭṭu, in pattu pāṭṭu collection, it would be appropriate to call the Thirukkoyilur inscription of Rājarāja as Thirukkoyilūr pāṭṭu. Kapilar and Pāri The mention of poet Kapila in the inscription of Rājarāja deserves greater attention. This place is associated with Kapilar, a great friend of Pāri, one of the seven celebrated patron of Sangam age. Pāri died in a battle with the three crowned kings of Tamilnad leaving his two daughters orphans. Kapilar took under his protection the two girls, visited the courts of the three kings and entreated them to marry them, but all of them refused. Finally he reached Thirukkoyilur and persuaded Maliyamān to marry. This is alluded to in the Sangam poems and also later tradition. Thus Kapilar was closely connected with Thirukkoyilur. The poems sung by the daughters of Pāri are included in the Puranānūṛu collections . They are seen lamenting the death of their father and their pitiable state. Kapilar was moved by the death of his friend Pāri and taking pity on the girls sings the situation in moving poems. There are several poems in Puṛam collections mentioning this poignant situation that would not fail to move any reader. This inscription of Thirukkoyilur mentions the poet Kapilar, and the marriage of Pāri’s daughter to Malaiyamāṉ and adds more information not known from any other source about poet Kapilar. It says having ensured the safety of Pāri’s daughter decided to ascend heaven and attain liberation and immolated himself on a rocky boulder on the river Peṇṇai near the Vīraṭṭāna temple. Kapilak kal The relevant portion of the records reads as follows. ḻMoy vaitiyalum muttamil nāṉmai Teyvak kavitai ceµcoṛ kapilan Mūṛi vaṇ taṭakkai Pāri tan adaikkalap Peṇṇai malaiyarkku utavip peṇṇai Alai puṉal a«uvattu antarikṣam cella Minal pukum vicumpu pēr eṇṇi Kanal pukum kapialk-kal atuḻ i.e Kapilar, the composer of classical divine poems, abounding in three Tamils (iyal, isai, and nāṭakam- poetry, music and dance), presented the great Pāri’s daughter, now under his protection, to Malaiyamāṉ. Having accomplished it he decided to ascend heaven through the sky sparkled by lightning and attain salvation. Kapilar leaped into a glowing fire and immolated himself, on the boulder called Kapilak-kal (Kapilar rock) on the banks of the Peṇṇai waters. ḻ The inscription calls Kapilar’s poems, deyvak kavitai, divine poems, abounding in poetry, music, and dance. Obviously the verses of Kapilar in Sangam collection were extolled as divine poems in mediaeval period. Kapilar’s poetic talent and also his mastery of music and dance, are referred to in his own poems of the Sangam age, like the KuṛIµci pāṭṭu while mentioning an accomplished musician playing tunes like naivaḷam (lines 146-152) and to a dexterous dancing girl who dances to sweet music Iṉṉisai karanga āṭum makal.(line 193). The inscription corroborates what is found in the Sangam poems. Aṛṛai tingaḷ avveḷ nilaviṉ Entaiyum utaiyēm emkuṉṛum piṛar koḷḷār Iṛṛait tingaḷ ivveḷ nilaviṉ Veṉṛu eṛi muraciṉ vēntar em Kuṉṛum koṇdār yām entaiyum ilamē These Puṛam lines of Pāri’s daughters ḻthat our father was alive on the other full moon day and there was none who dared to take over our hill, but this full moon day our hill has been captured and we have lost our father shows the pitiable condition of the girls. Similarly the following lines of Puṛam poem by Kapilar tells that he was a great friend of Pāri and that his daughters were under his protection. ivar yār enkuvai āyin ivarē ūrudaṉ iravalarkku aruḷi tēr udaṉ mullaikku iṭṭa sellā nal isai pa•u maṇi yāṉai parampin komāṉ ne•u mā Pāri makaḷir yāṉē tantai tolaṉ ivar eṉ makaḷir antaṇaṉ pulavaṉ koṇdu vantaṉaṉē i.e ḻIf you ask me who these girls are I shall tell you they are the daughters of the great and far famed Pāri, the chieftain of Paṛambu country, who gifted his villages to minstrels and his chariot to the jasmine (mullai) creeper. I am the friend of the father of these girls. They are indeed my daughters. I, a Brahmin poet, brought them hereḻ. says Kapilar in his own words in the Puṛam verse. This is corroborated in the lines of the inscription when it says Pāri taṉ adaikkalap peṉṉai Malaiyarkku utavi. Marriage of Pari’s daughter That one of Pāri’s daughters was given in marriage to Malaiyamāṉ is mentioned also in a few stray Tamil verses, found in Tamiḻ Nāvalar Caritai. One verse is an invitation to the Chēra ruler to come with presents to Thirukkoyilur to attend the marriage of Pāri’s daughter, as the king has consented to marry her. The name of Pāri’s daughter is given as Angavai. (A variant reading of the verse also mentions the name of the other daughter Sangavai). Another poem attributed Poetess Avvaiyār is an invitation to the Pāṇdya king to attend the marriage scheduled on the 18th day with presents . It is known that all the three kings of the Tamil Country Chera, Chola and Pandya attended the marriage of Pāri’s daughter . Another poem of significance addresses god Varuṇa that he should benevolently pour rains of gold, at the great marriage at Kovalur, excluding only the waters poured over the burial urn of Pāri . All these poems clearly confirm that Kapilar got the marriage of Pāri’s daughter to Malaiyamāṉ performed at Thirukkovalur, that attained celebrity. All these get pointed reference in the inscription. Evidently these seem also to confer historicity to the events connected with Kapilar. The other historic episode connected with Kapilar, but not known so far from any other source, is that having completed his life’s mission, he gave up his life by falling into a burning fire on top of the boulder, near the Vīraṭṭāna temple. Death of Rājarāja’s mother Almost one thousand years later Rājarāja’s mother Vānavan mahādēvī immolated herself on the funeral pyre of her husband Sundara Chola, leaving an infant child. This episode is mentioned in this record alone. Rājarāja’s mother was born in the family of Malaiyamāns of Thirukkoyilur who had an unbroken lineage from the Sangam age . There is also a clear suggestion that she hailed from the lineage of Pāri on her mother’s side . Rājarāja obviously had in his vein the lineage of two of the greatest chiefs of the Sangam age, Malaiyamāṉ and Pāri, both liberal patrons of Sangam poets. There is no doubt this unique parentage inspired Rājarāja to compose his inscription in Sangam tradition. Incidentally this also shows that Sangam tradition continued in the 11th century under the Cholas. Malai-kadām-pāṭṭu I have mentioned that there exists a poem inscribed in the Riṣabhēśvara temple of Chengam and the record refers to Malai kadam pāttu. The record is in Chola characters of 12th cent Tamil script in Tamil language. It does not refer to the ruler but there are inscriptions of the later Cholas in the same temple and that the inscription is in 12th cent characters brings it under the mediaeval period. It is in praise of a chief Gāngēya and his prowess in Veṇpā meter. The record reads:- Mūvēntar tār maṉṉarai malaip pa•ait teṉ maṉṉarai Veṇkaṇda tiṛal gangar komāṉ kaṇ civappa paṇdē malai kadām pāṭṭuṇda mālnavarai cencoṛi alai kadām pāṭṭuṇdatē When the eyes of the Ganga chief, The conqueror of the crowned kings three And more so the victorious ruler Pandya of mountain ranges like army, Turned red with merciless anger The great Navirai hill, that received Praises in days of yore, in The song Malai kadām pāṭṭu, Was reddened with waves of blood (Of the vanquished). I have published a note on this inscription in Kalvettu Quarterly no 5, p.13. The reference to Malai ka•ām pāṭṭu of the Sangam age pattu pāṭṭu anthology is of equal interest like the Thirukkoyilur record. In the manuscripts of the Pattu pāṭṭu collection, edited by U.V.Swaminatha Iyer, the title of the poem is given as Malai pa•u kadām, but the inscription calls it Malai kadām pāṭṭu. In all probability the original title of the poem was Malai kadām pāṭṭu attested by the inscription. The village Chengam, not far away from Thirukkoyilur, situated near the hill Naviarai malai is well known. So is the town Cengam then known as Chenganmā. Both are mentioned in the Sangam classics. Both these inscriptions point clearly to the influence of Sangam poetic tradition very much alive in this region in the Cholaage. These two decidedly provide firm historicity to Sangam personalities. Interest in Sangam poems The above may be read against the background of other poems of the age. Nambi andar Nambi , a poet of great merit who is said to have helped Rājarāja Chola to discover Tevaram Hymns at the Chidambaram temple, has compsoed a long poem in sangam tradition on Jµānasambandar-that goes by the name Āḷudaiya-Piḷḷai-thiruttokai. Two other poems assignable to the same age are Thiru-kaṇṇappa-dēvar Thirumaṛam, and Kopa-prasādam ascribed to Nakkīra devar follow the same tradition. The commentaries on the Puṛa-nāṉūṛu by anonymous author, and the commentator per excellence, Nacciṉārkkinyar on sangam works would show that Sangam Poems were greatly studied in the mediaeval period. To this list may be added the commentary of Arumpadavurai āciriyar on Silappadhikāram, followed by Adiyārkku nallār who verbatim quotes the former. 20th cent. revival Clearly there has been a continuing interest in the Sangam classics evidenced by these two inscriptions and other works cited. Almost thousand years later in the twentieth cent witnessed a new diamension to this tradition with the Western translations of G.U.Pope, of some Sangam poems like the ḻTamil heroic poemsḻ and also the translation of Dr. Francoise Gros, the Paripādal . This has been further enlarged by critical studies by a galaxy of eminent Western Scholars like John Marr , Kamil Zvelebil and a host of others. Another important trend that deserves attention is the role of epigraphy. The works of such eminent scholars like R.Raghava Aiyangar and Sri K.V.Subramanya Iyer in the first half of the 20th cent and in recent years by Mahadevan , Myself and Mr R.Krishnamurti ( Dinamalar) have brought to light important epigraphical and numismatic discoveries bearing on some of the important kings of Sangam like the Sangam Chēras, Atiyamāṉ Nedumāṉ Aµci, inscribed coins with the names of Sangam kings like Kollippoṛai, Peruvaluti, Mākkotai, Kuṭṭuvaṉ kotai and others have further kindled interest in the Sangam poems. These are certainly land marks in 2000 year old literary traditions that deserve attention.