Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s16.t4: Catalogue of Rings with Tamil-Brāhmī Legends
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s16.t4
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Catalogue of Rings with Tamil-Brāhmī Legends
c20.s16.t4.1
| No. | Metal | Date ca. | Provenance & Description | Legend | References & Remarks (Fig. Nos. from this vol. in bold) |
| 1. | Gold | 1st cent. B.C. | Karur. The figure of a young prince (prob. Bharata) battling a rearing lion in the field. Legend at l. along the rim. Directly incised. | *ti ya ṇa* (*tiyaṉ*) A personal name. | Edited from a photograph, courtesy Sankaran Raman. See sections 4.18.1(v) and 4.19.4 (i). I. Mahadevan and S. Raman 2002. (**Fig 1.23 C**) |
| 2. | Gold | 1st cent. B.C. | Karur. Legend directly incised. | *ti yā ṇa ō tā lā ṇa* (*tiyaṉ ōtālāṉ*) A personal name. | TNSA collections. Natana Kasinathan 1994: No. 27. K. Sridharan & K. Arjunan 1992: p. 22 (with a different reading). For discussion on Tiyaṉ, see sections 4.81.1(v)and 4.19.4 (i). (**Fig 1.23 D**) |
| 3. | Gold | 1st cent. B.C. | Karur. Legend directly incised. | *mi ti rā ṇa* (*mittiraṉ*) A personal name. | M. Rajasekhara Thangamani 1999: pp. 90-92 (not illustrated). Edited from a photograph, courtesy M.R. Thangamani. See section 4.19.3 (i). (**Fig 1.23 E**) |
| 4. | Gold | 1st cent. B.C. | Karur. Legend flanked by two symbols and reversed as on a seal. | *ū pā ā ṇa* (*upa[c*?*]aṉ*) A title. | A. Seetharaman 1994: No. 2. The expression means 'a spiritual teacher'. See section 4.9.3 (iii). (**Fig 1.24 A**) |
| 5. | Gold | 1st cent. B.C. | Karur. Legend directly incised. *nandipāda* symbol at r. end. | *a ri a mā ṇa* (*ariyamaṉ*) A personal name. | R. Krishnamurthy 1997b: pp. 41-43 (with a different reading). See section 4.19.3 (iii). |
c20.s16.t4.2
| No. | Metal | Date *ca.* | Provenance & Description | Legend | References & Remarks (Fig. Nos. from this vol. in bold) |
| 6. | Silver | 1st cent. B.C. | Karur. Legend directly incised. | *a na ti kā ṇa* (*antikaṇ*) A personal name. | S. Raju 2001: p. 158 (**Fig. at p. 161**). |
| 7. | Silver | 1st cent. B.C. | Karur. Legend directly incised in two lines. | *veḷ-i* *cāmpāṉ* (*veḷḷi cāmpāṉ*) A personal name. | A. Seetharaman 1994: No. 3. Cf. *veḷ-i* (*veḷḷi*) with *kol-i* (*kolli*) in Nos. 7 & 8, Table 1.6. (**Fig 1.24 B**) |
| 8. | Silver | 1st cent. B.C. | Karur. Legend directly incised. | *pēr-avatāṇa* (*pēravatāṇa*[*m\**]) A title. | The expression means 'one skilled in great feats of memory'; cf. Ta. *avatāṉam*, *avatāṇi* (*TL*). TNSA collections. Natana Kasinathan 1994: No. 28. K. Sridharan & K. Arjunan 1992 p. 22. (**Fig 1.24 C**) |
| 9. | Gold | 1st cent. B.C. | Karur. A bi-lingual legend in two lines; reversed as on a seal. Fish symbol at bottom. | *sātaṇ* (in Ta.) *sāti vēgi-sa* (in Pkt.) Personal name(s). | *sātaṇ*: cf. Ta. *cāttaṉ*. *sāti* may be fem. of *sātaṇ*, or the name of a person based on the asterism *svāti*. *vēgisa*: 'of Vēṅgi', a territory. K.V. Raman 1996 (with a different interpretation). |
| 10. | Gold | 1st cent. B.C. | Karur. Legend reversed as on a seal; surrounded by an ornamental border. | *bhā va ta ta sa* (*bhava-tatta-sa*) 'of Bhava-datta'. A personal name. | Pkt. influenced by Tamil orthography. cf. *pavatattaṉ* (*Cīvaka*. 1573). Sankaran Raman 2000: p. 153 (**Fig. at p. 147**). |
c20.s16.t4.3
| No. | Metal | Date ca. | Provenance & Description | Legend | References & Remarks (Fig. Nos. from this vol. in bold) |
| 11. | Gold | 1st cent. B.C. | Karur. A headless goat or sheep facing l., apparently an animal which has been sacrificed. | brahma-sahasa (< Skt. *brahma-sahasra*) | Ajay Mitra Shastri 2001: pp. 57-59. He reads the legend as a personal name in Pkt. (*brahma-saha-sa*). The legend as read by me appears to be in Pāli and probably refers to some sacrifice. |
| 12. | Silver | 1st cent. A.D. | Karur. Legend directly incised. *nandīpāda* symbol at l. end. | tittaṇ (*tittaṇ*) A personal name. | A. Seetharaman 1994: No. 4. See section 4.4.1.(**Fig. 1.24 D**) |
| 13. | Gold | 2nd cent. A.D. | Karur. A Tamil name written in Pkt. in Southern Brāhmī characters. Reversed as on a seal. | na lve llai sa (*nal-veḷḷai-sa*) 'of Nal-veḷḷai'. A personal name. | K.V. Raman 1994. cf. Nal-veḷḷai (*Poet*, *Narr*. 250). Conjunct consonants and the Southern Brāhmī *ḻ* are noteworthy. See section 4.19.3 (vi) |
| 14. | Gold | 2nd cent. A.D. | Karur. A standing *mithuna* (amorous) couple engraved in the oval field. | No legend. | A ring of rare beauty. R. Nagaswamy 1991a & b; 1995: (pp. 66-69, Pl. facing p. 66). See section 4.22.1. (**Fig. 4.4**) |
c20.s16.t4.4
Figure 1.25. K.V. Subrahmanya Aiyer (1875-1969). His classic paper (1924) led to the decipherment of the Tamil-Brāhmī script.