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Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s5: 4.4 The Cōḻas

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s5

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4.4 The Cōḻas

c23.s5.1

No stone inscriptions of the Cōḻa dynasty of the Caṅkam Age have been found; nor are there any early Cōḻa coins with legends inscribed on them. Circumstantial evidence relating to the Cōḻas from other types of Tamil-Brāhmī records is summarised below.

4.4.1 Tittaṉ

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A silver ring found in the Amaravathi riverbed at Karur has the legend *tittaṉ* in Tamil-Brāhmī characters of ca. 1st century A.D.¹

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¹ See No. **12**, Table 1.8 and Fig. 1.24 D.

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We hear of Early Cōḻa princes named Tittaṉ ² of Uṟantai (Uṟaiyūr) and his son Tittaṉ Veḷiyaṉ.³ They also figure as poets in Caṅkam literature. Tittaṉ is also known as Vīrai Vēṇmāṉ Veḷiyaṉ Tittaṉ.⁴ Vīrai has been identified as Vīrāmpaṭṭiṇam (Arikamedu) on the east coast.⁵ There is, however, no direct evidence to link the name Tittaṉ found on the silver ring with Tittaṉ of Vīrai and Uṟantai (Uṟaiyūr).

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² *Aka*. 6.

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³ *Aka*. 226.

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⁴ *Naṟ*. 58.

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⁵ I. Mahadevan 1970b.

4.4.2 Neṭuṅkiḷḷi

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A potsherd found during recent excavations at Teriruveli (Mudukulathur Taluk, Ramanathapuram District) is incised in Tamil-Brāhmī with the name *neṭuṅkiḻ [*[ḷi*]* in characters of ca. 1st century A.D.⁶ The name is that of a Cōḻa prince, as *kiḷḷi* occurs only in Early Cōḻa names.

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⁶ Unpublished. I have seen the potsherd in the collections of TNSA at Chennai.

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Neṭuṅkiḷḷi was known mainly for his internecine fighting with another Cōḻa prince called Nalaṅkiḷḷi. Once Neṭuṅkiḷḷi withstood a prolonged siege of his fort at Āvūr by Nalaṅkiḷḷi, causing much distress to the people and livestock within the fort. The poet Kōvūr Kiḻār chastised Neṭuṅkiḷḷi for refusing to go out to fight or surrender the fort acknowledging defeat.⁷ On another occasion, Neṭuṅkiḷḷi was besieged at Uraiyur by Nalaṅkiḷḷi, when Kōvūr Kiḻār again intervened advising both the Cōḻa princes to desist from fighting among themselves ⁸ While at Uraiyur, Neṭuṅkiḷḷi mistook the poet Iḷantattaṉ to be a spy and ordered his execution, when Kōvūr Kiḻār interceded on behalf of the poet and saved his life.⁹ Neṭuṅkiḷḷi died at Kāriyāṟu.¹⁰ However, as the fragmentary pottery inscription has been found in the Pāṇṭiya country and consists only of a name, it cannot, with certainty, be attributed to the Cōḻa prince of the same name.

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⁷ *Puṟa*. 44.

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⁸ *Puṟa*. 45.

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⁹ *Puṟa*. 47.

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¹⁰ *Puṟa*. 47, colophon.

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