Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s2.t1.8

c20.s2.t1.8

While Sewell and Francis had recorded that the Kalugumalai hill is in the Mangulam village, the next report in *ARE* 1906-07 stated that the hill belonged "partly to Arittapatti and partly to Mangulam". However, according to Krishna Sastri, the cave inscriptions are "nearly 3 to 4 miles away from the [Arittapatti] village and belong properly to a smaller village named Mangulam".⁴ In spite of such clear documentation, the site was inexplicably called 'Arittapatti' in *ARE* 1906-07 and the subsequent Annual Reports and this name was adopted by Krishna Sastri⁵ himself and by Subrahmanya Aiyer¹ and others² following their lead. It was only in 1966 that the original name Mangulam was restored to the site.³ By this time however, the eastern hamlet of Mangulam called Meenakshipuram had become a separate revenue village and the name of the site was again changed adding to the confusion.⁴ Considering the long association of Mangulam with the now famous cave inscriptions at this site, the name has been retained in this study.⁵ Incidentally, another cave with a Tamil-Brāhmī inscription has been discovered recently at Arittapatti itself.⁶