Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s2.t3.1

c20.s2.t3.1

In 1903, Venkoba Rao discovered an inscription in "archaic characters" in a cave on the rocky outcrop at Kilavalavu, a small village about 38 km. north-east of Madurai (Fig. 1.4).³ Even though the inscription is engraved in bold and legible characters and is reasonably well-preserved, it could not be read and its significance was not recognised until much later after many similar inscriptions had come to light. Neither Venkayya⁴ nor Krishna Sastri⁵ refers to it in the Annual Reports on the discovery of the cave inscriptions up to 1909. It was only in 1910, seven years after the discovery, that the Kilavalavu cave and its inscription find a mention in Krishna Sastri's report.⁶ Even thereafter, the estampage of the inscription was not included in the large number of photographs of the cave inscriptions published in the Annual Reports during 1911-18.⁷ The correct reading of this inscription has eluded the investigators until recently probably because of the unusual manner in which it is engraved.⁸ The present Corpus includes the most recent direct reading from the stone and the interpretation based on it.⁹ The inscription is notable for the earliest reference to the port of Tondi on the east coast.