Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s14.t6: 1.13.6 Other excavated sites with pottery inscriptions
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s14.t6
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1.13.6 Other excavated sites with pottery inscriptions
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Apart from the four major sites discussed above, ten other excavated sites have yielded relatively fewer pottery inscriptions (Table 1.4, Map II). Among these sites, Kanchipuram,¹ Karur,² Korkai³ and Poompuhar (Kāviri-p-pūm-paṭṭiṇam)⁴ have the potential to yield much greater number of pottery inscriptions than discovered so far. Kanchipuram and Karur have had the same problems as Uraiyur, namely continuous occupation and heavily built-up areas with little room left for large-scale excavations. Still it is rather surprising that Kanchipuram and even Poompuhar (with relatively more open spaces) have not yielded pottery inscriptions in Tamil. The only inscribed sherd found at Kanchipuram⁵ is in Prakrit, and the one from Poompuhar⁶ is in Sinhala-Prakrit. The pottery inscriptions in Tamil in the Tamil-Brāhmī script found in the excavations at Alagarai,⁷ Kovalanpottal,⁸ Poluvampatti⁹ and Vallam¹⁰ have been published (without illustrations except in the last case). Inscriptions from the recently excavated sites at Maligaimedu and Teriruveli are yet to be published.¹¹
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¹ *IAR 1953-54*, 1962-63, 1969-70, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1972-73, 1974-75 and 1975-76. K.V. Raman 1987: pp. 61-72.
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² R. Nagaswamy 1981d: pp. 337-339; 1995: chapters 2 & 3 (pp. 63-69). K. Sridharan and K. Arjunan 1992. See also No. 6, Table 1.5 and Fig. 1.20C in this vol.
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³ R. Nagaswamy 1970: pp. 50-54.
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⁴ *IAR 1962-63*, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1965-66, 1966-67, 1970-71, 1972-73, 1973-74 and 1974-75. K. V. Raman 1968: pp. 238-240.
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⁵ Inscribed sherd published without illustration in *IAR 1969-70*: pp. 34-35. I. Mahadevan 1997a: pp. 238-240 (with illustrations and corrected reading). The Pkt. legend reads *pusa-lakhita* ... (< *pushya-rakshita/-lakshita*).
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⁶ Natana Kasinathan 1998: pp. 152-154 (Fig. at p. 153). S. Rajavelu 1999: p. 154 (with corrected reading). This interesting Sinh. Pkt. inscription reads: *abi maga-ttō* 'from Princess Maga (< Skt. *māghā*). Influence of Tamil orthography is seen in the doubled *-tt-*.
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⁷ T.V. Mahalingam 1970. The inscribed sherd is not mentioned in this excavation report, but in T.V. Mahalingam 1968: pp. 42-43(not illustrated).
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⁸ *IAR 1979-80*.
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⁹ Ibid.
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¹⁰ Y. Subbarayalu 1984: pp. 1-98, Fig. 26, Pl. XII.
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¹¹ In the collections of TNSA, Chennai. One of the inscriptions from Teriruveli refers to *neṭuṅki[!li*], probably a Cōḻa prince. See section 4.4.2 for discussion.