Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s2.t1.30

c20.s2.t1.30

I visited the Mangulam caves for the first time in November 1965. The bright winter sun had lit up the facade of the upper southern cave (Fig. 1.²) and the long one-line inscription on the brow of the boulder caught my eye. It was weather-worn and looked more like bruising on the rock than engraving, but was otherwise undamaged. The bold and legible letters were clearly visible to the naked eye. As I spelled out *ne-tu-ñ-ca-li-ya-ṉ* (*neṭuñceḻiyaṉ*) and *va-lu-t-ti-y* (*vaḻuti*), I realised with astonishment that I was indeed looking at an inscription of a Pāṇṭiya king of the Caṅkam Age not reported earlier. However, I found out later that I had only rediscovered the long-forgotten inscription of Mangulam, which had till then existed only as a catalogue number (*ARE 465/1906*).³