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Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c28.s8.t12: XLII. Tamatakallu

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c28.s8.t12

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XLII. Tamatakallu

c28.s8.t12.1

121.1 *ēḷur

c28.s8.t12.2

Read *ēḻūr*. (P.)

c28.s8.t12.3

Even though the site of the present inscription is in Karnataka, Ēḻūr may probably be identified as Ēḻūr in Namakkal District in Tamil Nadu (Table 4.3). This place was the headquarters town of 'seven *nāṭus*' in Koṅkumaṇṭalam, from where the Nānādēśi merchant guild carried on trading 'in all four directions' in the medieval period. It is likely that the sculptor of the herostone, who also engraved the present inscription in Tamil in Vaṭṭeḻuttu script, belonged to a family originally hailing from Ēḻūr in Tamil Nadu.

c28.s8.t12.4

Cf. LT *ēḻūr* (*Tēvā.* VI:70.5).

c28.s8.t12.5

Cf. (inscr.) *ēḻūr nāṭu* (*ARE* 5/1906, Pāṇṭiya, 13th cent. *A.D.* at Namakkal).

c28.s8.t12.6

**a. *ēl*-** (attribute) 'elevated, high' from *eḻu* (v.) 'to rise'. Cf. *eḻucci* (n.) 'elevation'; Ka. *ēl* 'to rise' (D. 851a); *eḻucci* 'to rise' (*Piṅkala.* 2187). However, according to tradition, Ēḻūr was the headquarters of seven *nāṭus* (regions). In this case, *ēl* is to be interpreted as the bound form of the numeral *ēḻu* 'seven' (D. 910).

c28.s8.t12.7

**b. *ur*** Read *ūr* (n.) 'village'. See 19.2.

c28.s8.t12.8

121.2 *mōnala[ñ]-cāttaṉ

c28.s8.t12.9

N. of the sculptor. The composite name *mōnala(ṉ)* + *cāttaṉ* indicates that Cāttaṉ was the son of Mōnalaṉ (*Tol. Eḻu.* 350).

c28.s8.t12.10

Sandhi: **-ṉ > -ñ-** before **-c**.

c28.s8.t12.11

Cf. LT *antuvañ-cāttaṉ* (*Puṟa.* 71:13).

c28.s8.t12.12

Cf. (inscr.) *māṟañ-cāttaṉ* (*SII.* V:No. 337, Pāṇṭiya, ca. 9th cent. *A.D.*)

c28.s8.t12.13

**a. *mōnala(ṉ)*** A personal name. Cf. *mōna* (Pāli) 'wisdom, character, self-possession' (*PED*). The name occurs in Kannada inscriptions. Cf. *mōnala seṭṭi* (*Epi. Car.* XII: pg. 90); *monala lingappa nāyakar* (ibid. IV. Ng. 27). As the expression does not occur in Tamil as a personal name, it may be presumed that the sculptor's family had been long settled in Karnataka.

c28.s8.t12.14

Cf. LT *mōṉam* 'good nature' (*Tivā.* 2309; *Piṅkala.* 342); *mōṉiyar* 'sages' (*Piṅkala.* 313).

c28.s8.t12.15

**b. *cāttaṉ*** See 55.5.d.

c28.s8.t12.16

The label inscription is a signature

c28.s8.t12.17

This small label inscription engraved on the rim of a *vīrakal* (herostone) is the signature of the sculptor. It is remarkable that the signature is in Tamil language and Vaṭṭeḻuttu script, indicating his mother-tongue. This is the earliest and northernmost among the Tamil inscriptions discovered in Karnataka.

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