Two further inscriptions of Tammusiddhi

Heinrich Lüders
2018
A.-TIRUVORRIYUR INSCRIPTION OF BAXA•BAMVAT 1129. The subjoined inscription is engraved on the es.st wall of the second prakura , of the Adhipuritivs.ra temple at Tiruvor,iyii.r in the Said&~~ tA!uk& of the Chingleput district.l The excellent inked estampages from which it is edited here were supplied to me by Dr. Hultzsch. The inscription consists of 26 lines in Grantha characters which vary in size from f" to lf'. The language is Sans)q'it, and the whole text is in verse. With regard to
more » ... aphy it may be noted that the engrover bas followed the common practioe of the time in this part of the oountry, in writing a surd consonant instead of a sonant before a sonant, in patma (11. 1, 2, 3), drikbhyam (!. 3), utbhavati (1. 8), ,.,hatb"dha (I. 13), and bhavatbhir (I. 25). Instead of " shadbudha lexicographers teach usharbudha, and this form is actually found in the Uttara• ramacharita (6, 4°). Nevertheless I do not venture to alter ushatb"dha into uaharbudha, as the word occurs again in exactly the same shape in line 15 of the .Aru!Ma-PerumA! inscription of Tammusiddhi (B. below), and under these circumstances a mere clerical error seems to be out of the question.• The inscription is one of king Tammusiddhi or Tammusiddha, and in every respect closely resembles the two insoriptions of that ohief which I have edited above, p. 119 ff. I have pointed out already on that occasion that the present inscdption is of some importance as settling the question of the relationship of D&yabbima and Nallasiddhi, which was left undetermined by the other two rooorda. 3 Besides, the genealogical portion of the inscription contains seven new verses, three of which, however, are of no interest for the historian as they are merely in praise of some well-known heroes of the solar line from which Tammusiddhi claimed descent, ." • . Raghu (v. 8), Da~ratba (v. 9), and R&ma (v. 10)'. Verse 12 also, which alludes to the feats of the ancient Cb6la king KalikAla, adds nothing to our knowledge as it is an almost literal equivalent of the corresponding verse in the other two inscriptions. The verses 26 and 27 are eulogies of Tammusiddhi after the usual fashion. The only new verse of historical value ia verse 15, which introduces a king Betta as a descendant of MadhurAntaka Pottappi-CM)a and an ancestor of 'filuogavidya or, as he ia called here (v. 16), Tiluiigabijja. Literally translated, the verse runs thus: "In thia family was born (a king) called Batta, who was the crusher of the thunderbolt whose flight was impelled by Sakra; if he with his Jiery splendour had risen before, the cutting of the wings of the mountains also would not have taken place." Betta is here compared to .Agni, the Jire or the fire-god, who has the reputation of being able to split diamonds and thunderbolts.• .As Betta, 1 No. 104 of the Oo\'erument Epigraphi.st'1 collection for the year 1892. 1 The writing 11..Aadlr11.dka ia perhaps due to the iofl.uence of Tami) phonology. A, in Tami) a SantJrrit dental generally &Uumea the eound of r. before a labial (compare ,.g. Tamij vrpatti -Sanskrit tdpatti and Tamil orp•dam-San1krit adbAwtam), I think it not unlikely that the r of 111AorbNdA.a also wu looked at &I a aecondary aound and therefore erroncou1Iy converted into cl or t. • n will be noticed th•t the term tad-oaminja~ in vene 11 of the TiruppUllr in1cription ia replaced hero c,·. 20) by the word> o,y•d .. Ja~. ' See etpecially a pa,aage in the Uftarardt1100Aarit• (6, 4t 1 ), pointed out to me by Prof. Kielhorn 1 t1ch.ela,:14'a-ooJro-khat14·t:ha,p}u1~a-pof•~ • • . 1'1.lorbudho~, •the fire . • • which i1 able to 1plit int.o pi ece• the exceedingly hard eojra,.' In this caae, it is true, ~aJro would naturally 1ugge1t the meaning of diamond; bui u 110/,.0 baa alao the meaning of thunderbolt, and a, the thunderbolt ii thought to be of the 11,me iublt&nce with the diamond , it iJ easy to underat&nd bow later writen et.me to credit the Are alao with the faculty of deotroying thunda-bolto. Originalveröffentlichung in: Epigraphia Indica 7 (1902/03), S. 148-155.
doi:10.11588/xarep.00004097 fatcat:uph4lnxcqvatpetpj7rtbmiii4