Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s4: 1.4 Waning interest and random discoveries (1926-52)
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s4
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1.4 Waning interest and random discoveries (1926-52)
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After 1918, interest in the cave inscriptions waned.⁵ During the next four decades, only five sites with seventeen inscriptions were discovered at long intervals, all of them accidentally. Only two of the newly discovered sites (Vikkiramangalam and the upper cave at Tirupparankunram) are from the southern region to which the earlier search was confined. The other three sites are Pugalur near Karur in the western region, Tiruchirapalli in the eastern region and Mamandur near Kanchipuram in the northern region. The new discoveries made by officers working under the Government Epigraphist, were routinely announced in the *ARE*,¹ and only one estampage (of the inscription from Tirupparankunram)² was published. Among the few new discoveries made during this period, the Pugalur cave inscriptions of the Cēras of the Caṅkam Age stand out. The inscription on the hill at Tiruchirapalli is no longer extant.³
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⁵ Ironically, it is during this lean period for discovery that two major studies on the cave inscriptions appeared, which laid the foundation for all future research in the field (H. Krishna Sastri 1919 and K.V. Subrahmanya Aiyer 1924). We shall consider their contribution in the next chapter.
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¹ Vikkiramangalam (in) *ARE 1926-27*: paragraph 8; 621-623/1926 = Nos. *20-22*. Pugalur (in) *ARE 1927-28*: paragraph 1; 341-347/1927-28 = Nos. *61*, *63-64* & *66-72*. Tiruchirapalli (in) *ARE 1937-38*: paragraph 3; 139/1937-38 = No. *78*. Mamandur (in) *ARE 1939-43*: paragraph 1; 171/1939-40 = No. *73*. Tirupparankunram (upper cave) (in) *ARE 1951-52*: p. 3; No. B. 140-142/1951-52 = Nos. *53* & *54*.
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² *ARE 1951-52*: Pl. facing p. 22.
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³ *ARE 139/1937-38*= No. *78*. It was discovered by the ASI in the narrow passage on the northern face of the hill leading to the cave shelter on the western side (see Fig. 1.15). The passage is a mere cleft and " a portion of the approach has to be negotiated on all fours underneath a projecting boulder, a false step meaning a fatal drop down the precipitous side" (*ARE 1937-38*, Part I, paragraph 2). During our search in December 1991, one of the members of our team nearly lost his foothold and was saved in time, but he dropped the brush (used in preparing estampages) which rolled down the precipice. In spite of our intensive search, the inscription could not be located and is presumed lost. It has been edited in this volume from the estampage taken when the inscription was discovered.
1.4.1 Pugalur: Cēra inscriptions of the Caṅkam Age
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An outstanding discovery⁴ of great historical importance was made at Pugalur in 1928; but the cave inscription was not correctly deciphered at the time, and its significance as a Cēra record of the Caṅkam Age remained unrecognised for almost four decades thereafter.
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⁴ *ARE 349/1927-28*.
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Pugalur (ancient Pukaḻiyūr) is situated on the south bank of the river Cauvery about 15 km. north-west of Karur, the ancient Cēra capital (and presently the headquarters of the District with the same name). Overlooking the river is a hill called Āṟunāṭṭārmalai (known in ancient times as Pukaḻimalai) with a Subrahmanya temple at the summit. On the southern slope of the hill, there are two caves with Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions on the brow and on the stone beds (Figs. 1.9 & 1.10).⁵ There is also a cave on the northern side of the hill with another inscription on a stone bed.⁶
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⁵ *ARE 341-346/1927-28*.
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⁶ *ARE 347/1927-28*.
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(i) *The 'forgotten' inscription at Pugalur
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The Annual Report for the year described the Pugalur cave inscriptions as "mostly damaged" and commented on the longest inscription found at the site as follows:
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In the first cavern there is a comparatively long record of four lines (No. 348) which ends with the word *aṟattār* meaning those who follow *aṟam* (dharma). As the rock is very much weather-beaten, it is difficult to make out this record completely. One of the monks of the Buddhist order mentioned in it whose name can be read clearly is a certain Kōsiṟaṇ Ātaṇ. This word reminds us of Ātaṇ, the name borne by a few Chēra Kings.⁷
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⁷ *ARE 1927-28*: paragraph 1. 'No. 348' mentioned in the Report is a typographical error for No. 349.
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Figure 1.9. Pugalur: cave with Cēra inscriptions.
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[Figure: Figure 1.10. Pugalur: inscriptions on stone beds on the floor of the cave. Note modern pornographic graffiti on one of the stone beds.]
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The reading is garbled and the only word correctly made out is Ātaṉ which was, however, incorrectly identified as the name of a monk.¹
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¹ Apparently, the reading was based on the almost wholly illegible estampage which I have seen in the Directorate of Epigraphy, ASI, Mysore. The equally illegible estampage taken in 1963-64 has been published by T.V. Mahalingam (1967: Pl. 23, printed upside down); but his reading (ibid. p. 280) appears to be based on the tracing published by me earlier (I. Mahadevan 1965a).
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Two more cave inscriptions were discovered much later in 1963-64 at Pugalur.² These were also described as "very much damaged due to their exposure to the weather".³ One of these inscriptions also has four lines and is engraved on the brow of the same cave just above the one discovered earlier. This has been described as follows:
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² *ARE* B. 296 & 297/ 1963-64. Even though the newly discovered inscriptions occur in the same caves at Pugalur as those reported in *ARE* 1927-28, the name of the site has been changed in the later Report as Velayudhampalaiyam. Considering the long association of the hill with Pugalur since ancient times, the original name of the site has been retained in the present study.
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³ *ARE* 1963-64: pp. 28-29.
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No. 297, in the second cave before the turning in the overhanging rock, records that the rock (*kal*) was cut (*arupita*) by Kaḍuṅgōṉ-Eḷaṅgōṉ Kōḷaṉ, son of Kōṉ Kaḍuṅgōṉ. Probably the reference is to the cutting of the overhanging rock below which this record is found.⁴
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⁴ Ibid.
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Even though two Tamil words are correctly identified, the reading of the personal names is garbled and the purport of the record was as completely missed as in the case of the lower inscription found earlier.
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(ii) *Rediscovery of the Cēra inscriptions at Pugalur*
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I visited Pugalur for the first time in February 1965. I reached the western cave on the southern side of the hill late in the afternoon. The brow of the cave was bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun, the oblique lighting picking out clearly the boldly engraved characters of the lower inscription.⁵ I had come prepared to see a damaged or fragmentary inscription. What I saw was a weather-worn inscription which was otherwise not damaged at all and could be read without much effort. As I read the words *kō*, *ātaṉ* and *irumpoṟai*, I realised with astonishment that the inscription was indeed a record of a Cēra king of the Irumporai line which ruled from Karur in the Caṅkam Age. The name of the city is mentioned as *karu-ūr* in one of the stone-bed inscriptions in front of the cave.⁶
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⁵ *ARE* 349/1927-28 = No. *61*. See also Fig. 8.29 (tracing) and Pl. 27 (computer-enhanced print from a direct colour photograph).
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⁶ *ARE* 343/1927-28 = No. *69*.
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The upper inscription⁷ on the brow of this cave is much fainter and more difficult to make out. However, with some effort, it could also be read almost completely except for three letters lost in the second line due to flaking of the stone. It turned out that the upper inscription is a near-identical repetition of the lower one and the few letters lost in the former could be restored from the identical passage in the latter.
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⁷ *ARE* B.297/1963-64 and Pl. IIIb = No. *62*.
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The preliminary report on the decipherment of the Cēra (Irumporai) inscriptions at Pugalur published by me in a newspaper article ¹ in March 1965 aroused much scholarly interest,² since no inscriptions of the Caṅkam Age were known to exist till then.³
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¹ I. Mahadevan 1965a. The Pugalur inscriptions, illustrated with tracings of some of the better preserved ones, were also published by me in the *Corpus of the Tamil-Brāhmī Inscriptions 1966* (1968): Nos. 56-67. Revised readings illustrated with improved tracings and estampages have been included in the present Corpus (Nos. 61-72).
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² K. V. Subrahmanya Aiyer whom I met in May 1966 was pleasantly surprised that the two Cēra inscriptions at Pugalur are preserved well enough to be visible to the naked eye even though their estampages are illegible. He informed me that he had not personally visited the site.
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³ I was so excited by the unexpected discovery that I wrote, somewhat too lyrically perhaps, that "the Tamil kings of the Sangam Age have at last come into the limelight of history and archaeology from the twilight of fables and ballads" (I. Mahadevan 1965a).
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The inscriptions record the construction of a rock shelter for Ceṅkāyapaṉ, a senior Jaina monk on the occasion of the investiture of Iḷaṅkaṭuṅkō as the heir apparent. The prince is described as the son of Peruṅkaṭuṅkōṉ who is the son of King Ātaṉ Cel Irumporai. The inscriptions may be assigned to the 2nd century A.D. on palaeographic evidence.