Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c9.s2.9

c9.s2.9

4. Inscriptions recording the dedication of sacred images, ponds, etc. Inscriptions recording the dedication of Jain images are to be met with in Mysore, S. Canara, and in the S. Tamil country. Some are old, but dates are rare in them. The most common form is: "So and so of such a country caused this sacred image to be made (or dedicated)"⁵. In a few instances one finds brief inscriptions recording the deposit of a broken or defiled idol in a tank or some such safe place, and the consecration of a fresh idol; but these are also modern, and since the Muhammadan invasions. Inscriptions recording the construction and dedication of tanks and dams are rare, except in the country ruled by the later Vijayanagara kings; examples occur near Vijayanagara, at Cumbum and at Nellore. The great irrigation works in the Kāverī delta were chiefly constructed by Cōḷa princes in the 11th and 12th centuries, but I have only heard of one inscription on a work of this kind[^1); it is near Mūsiri (in the Trichinopoly district) and is of about the beginning of the 13th century.