Dr.R.Nagaswamy blue [The recent discovery of an inscription on a rock inside a cavern on the hillock of Jambai, a village in the South Arcot district of Tamil Nadu, has solved a long-standing problem in South Indian history. The Mauryan emperor, Asoka, had, in his famous edicts, talked about a dynasty of rulers called the Satyaputras. A long debate has since ensued about their identity. The discovery of the present inscription sheds new light on that dynasty and establishes a link between Asoka and the Tamil country. Editor] The recent discovery by the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology of a Tamil-Brahmi inscription, is of the greatest importance for Indian history. It conclusively settles the identity of a chieftain whom emperor Asoka in the 3rd century B.C.E, calls one of his neighbours. It also shows that the Tamil Sangam poems ascribed to the early centuries of the Common era are based on facts of history. The inscription is found on a rock inside a cavern, on the hillock of Jambai, a village in South Arcot district, Tamil Nadu. The village is 15 km. away from Thirukkoilur town and can be reached by a motorable road. The epigraph is in Tamil (except for the title in Prakrit) and reads: Satiyaputo Atiyan Nedumaan Anjji itta Paali The meaning of the epigraph may be rendered as "The abode (pali) given by (itta) Atiyan Nedumaan Anji (name), the Satyaputra (title)". Though the record is a short one in a single line, it throws valuable light on various aspects of South Indian history. The title, the name of the chief and the spot, all contribute greatly to the early history of the Tamils. The inscription is in the Brahmi script (Tamil-Brahmi) found in early Tamil epigraphs. It is now well established that the earliest known Tamil and Ceylonese scripts are derived from the Brahmi script employed by the Mauryan emperor Asoka and are dated from the 3rd century BCE. to the 3rd century CE. by competent authorities. Since four distinct additional letters are employed to denote sounds peculiar to the Tamil language, the early Tamil script is generally called Tamil-Brahmi by scholars. However, one of the early jaina texts Samavayanga Sutta, ascribed to the first century B.C., calls the script Damili (obviously standing for the script of the Damila country); a later Buddhist text, Lalita Vistara ascribed to the 6th. century calls the script Dravidi. From the earliest times, the four special letters, 'Zha', 'La' 'Ra', 'Na' have been found in Tamil epigraphs. It is interesting to note that in the recently found record, both the northern Brahmi lettter 'sa' and the Tamil Brahmi letter 'Li' have been used. The inscription clears the doubt about the identity of the Satyaputras, a dynasty of rulers, mentioned in Asoka's inscriptions in the 3rd. century. BCE. This great Mauryan emporar mentions a number of contemporary rulers, among whom figures Satiyaputa. In his Girnar rock edict II, Asoka details the arrangements made by him within his empire and also beyond its borders: "Everywhere in the conquered dominions of king Priyadarsin, the beloved of the gods, and the dominions on the borders as those of the Chola, the Pandya, the Satiyaputra, the Keralaputra, Tamraparni, the Yavana King named Antiyoka and the other neighbouring kings of this Antiyoka (Ye Ca anta ata Choda, Pandiya, Satiyaputo, Kelalaputo, Tam- bapanni, Antiyogo naama, Yonalaja) two kinds of medical treatment were established by king Priyadarsin, the beloved of the gods viz. medical treatment for human beings and medical treatment for cattle". The Satiyaputras are placed among the Cheras, the Pandyas and the Keralaputras. While the countries of the Cholas, the Pandyas and the Keralaputras are well-known, the identity of the Satyaputras was the subject of controversy among scholars. Some identified the Satiyaputras with the Satavahanas, while others identified them with the Satputas of Maharashtra. Still other scholars located their country in northern Kerala. But judging from the way Asoka mentions them with the Cholas, the Pandyas and also the Keralaputras, and the fact that they were outside the domain of Asoka's rule, it was suggested by some scholars that they should be identified with one or other of the known rulers of Tamil Nadu. In early Tamil literature, a clan of people named Kosar, known for their honesty and trustworthiness (Satya), are referred to and they were considered the Satyaputras of the Asokan edict. But the Atiyamans were also equated with the Satyaputras by K.G.Sesha Aiyar, Burrow and the great historian, K.A.Nilakanta Sastri. In the Jambai epigraph, the title 'Satiyaputo' is given to the Atiyaman chief, thus setting at rest once and for all the controversy about the identity of the Satyaputra rulers of the Asokan edicts with the Atiyaman chiefs, rulers of a part of Tamil country. The Jambai record is somewhat later than the Asokan period, which indicates that the line of Atiya chiefs held sway over a part of the Kongu country from the 3rd. century BCE to the 1st. century A.D. and were powerful enough to be listed by Asoka on par with the Cholas, the Cheras and the Pandyas of the Tamil land. On grounds of Palaeography and other contemporary records, the Jambai record has to be placed in the first century CE. In the early Tamil classical works called Sangam literature, a number of rulers of Tamil land are mentioned and several historical episodes are recorded. Whether the persons and the episodes mentioned in the Sangam classics were really historical or mythical were questions raised by critics; also the date of the composition of the works became a matter of controversy. It was given to Iravatham Mahadevan to demonstrate clearly by his striking and penetrating study of the early Tamil Brahmi inscriptions that the Sangam classics speak of real historic personages who lived in the first three centuries of the Common era. He was able to read clearly the names of three generations of Chera rulers mentioned in the Sangam works in the inscritions found in Pugalur. The excavations at Arikamedu,conducted by Mortimer Wheeler have revealed active Roman contact with Tamil land in the first two centuries of the Christian era. Along with the Roman finds were found potshreds with Tamil Brahmi inscriptions, with the help of which a reliable chronology could be built up. Among the rulers of the Sangam age, Atiyaman Neduman Anji is celebrated in the Sangam classics by eminent poets like Paranar and Avvaiyar. Avvaiyar, the greatest Tamil poetess, was a very close friend of Atiyaman Neduman Anji, and has left several poems on him. He had his capital at Tagadur, the modern Dharmapuri, in northern Tamilnadu. Anji was the leader of the Malavars against whom no enemy could prevail. His ardour for battle and heroism in war form the themes of many poems. Avvaiyar describes Atiyan's arms and power at some length; - swords, spears, elephants and infantry - and advises his foes to submit and pay tribute if they hope to escape disaster. Once Avvaiyar went on an embassy to Tondaiman on behalf of Atiyan; when Tondaiman showed her around his arsenal the poetess confessed with subtle sarcasm, that the arsenal of her chief was full of rusty broken and blood stained weapons. She implied that while Atiyaman made victorious use of his weapons on the battle fields, the Tondaiman merely exhibited them for show. Atiyan belonged to a family whose ancestors were great performers of Vedic sacrifices and devout worshippers of gods. An ancestor of Atiyan is said to have introduced sugar-cane cultivation from the celestial regions to earth. Atiyan himself was a noted l patron of poets whose palace gates were usually open for wandering ministerals. Once he got a rare myrobalan fruit, which made the individual who ate it an immortal. Instead of eating it himself, he presented the fruit to the poetess and the grateful bard celebrates this noble gesture of Atiyan in a poem, expressing the wish that her patron, Atiyaman Anji, should live forever, like Lord Siva who swallowed the deadly poison himselfand gave the deathless ambrosia to this world. This great act of Atiyaman is praised in several Tamil verses of both the early and mediaeval periods, so much so that the very name Atiyan came to mean liberality. Among his conquests, two victories come in for special praise. Atiyan single handedly met the confederacy of seven rulers and won a signal victory. Avvai states that there was no poet who could give a verbal picture of this battle and the valour of Atiyan. The second victory relates to the capture of Thiruk-koilur by Atiyan, a conquest praised by no less a poet than Paranar of the Sangam age. The poetess herself mentions that this conquest was sung by Paranar. In the end, Atiyan himself was besieged in his own fort at Tagadur by the Chera king, Perum Cheral Irumporai, who ultimately captrued it. This Perum Cheral Irumporai,the Victor of tagdur, is probably identical with AdanCheral Irumporai, the first king mentioned in the Pugalur record. A long Tamil poem, surviving only in parts, celebrates the conquest of Tagadur by Perum Cheral Irumporai. The Jambai record is contemporaneous with the Pugalur inscription. Atiyan fell in a battle pierced by a spear of his opponent. Avvai gives an eyewitness account of the fall of Atiyan. His body was consigned to flames and Avvai, visibly moved byt the scene, has a poem on the funeral. Later a memorial stone (dolmenoid cist erected in honour of warriors who met with heroic death) was erected to this great ruler. Ever since, the name Atiyan was always associated with the poetess. Avvaiyar is much venerated in Tamil Nadu. The discovery of the inscription Atiyaman Nedumaran Anjii recording his won gift has been received with jubiliation by the Tamils. The inscription has proved his historicity and its location near Thirukkoilur, attests to his conquest of that town about 80 km. distant from his capital, Tagadur. The gift was made by Atiyan obviously when this territory was under his control. The early Sangam poetry describes Atiyan as a great Saivite but the fact that he has gifted an abode to a Jaina ascetic shows the religous tolerence of the age. That Atiyan Neduman Anji was a contemporary of the great Kushana rulers like Kanishka of the North and also the Satavahana rulers of the Deccan would indicate the importance of the find. For the Tamil it recalls the age of outstanding Chera, Chola and Pandya rulers like Senguttuvan, Karikalan, Pandya Neduncheliyan, and others, who were either contemporaries or near contemporaries, celebrated in Sangam poems. The Jambai record of Satyaputra Atiyaman Nedumaan Anji, is thus a landmark in the early history of Tamil Nadu.