[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Archaeology, epigraphy and coins](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy) › [Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003) › c28.s8.t5 # Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c28.s8.t5: XXXV. Indalur Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c28.s8.t5 - **Language:** English ### XXXV. Indalur ### [c28.s8.t5.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.1) \*\*113.1 \*kīḻccēri\*\*\* (P.) The eastern quarter of the village, even though the name of the main village is not mentioned. Cf. \*\*\*mēṟcēri\* (112.2)\*\*. ### [c28.s8.t5.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.2) \*\*a. \*kīḻ-\*\*\* Read \*kīḻ-\* (adj.) 'eastern'. Cf. \*kīḻ\*, \*kiḻakku\* 'east' (D. 1619). ### [c28.s8.t5.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.3) Cf. LT \*kīḻ-t-ticai\* 'east' (\*Tivā.\* 848; \*Piṅkala.\* 13). \*kīḻ\*: id. (\*Cūṭā.\* 1:90). ### [c28.s8.t5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.4) \*\*b. \*cēri\*\*\* (n.) 'hamlet'. See \*\*112.2.b\*\*. ### [c28.s8.t5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.5) \*\*113.2 \*kōḻi\*\*\* (n.) 'cock'. See \*\*112.5\*\*. The present inscription is also engraved on a stele which features the bas-relief sculpture of a fighting cock. The stele is a memorial stone for 'the fighting cock of the eastern quarter', even as No. \*\*\*112\*\*\* commemorates 'the fighting cock of the western quarter'. ### [c28.s8.t5.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.6) Note the occurrences of \*oṟṟu\* in the phrase \*\*\*kīḻ-c-cēri-k-kōḻi\*\*\*. ### [c28.s8.t5.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.7) \*\*113.3 \*p\[o\]ṟkoṟṟi\*\*\* (N.) Pet name given by the villagers to their favourite fighting cock. ### [c28.s8.t5.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.8) Cf. (inscr.) \*kōvivaṉ\*, the pet name of a dog which stood guard over its master in a skirmish (\*Ceṅkam Naṭukaṟkaḷ\*: No. 59/1971, herostone inscription, ca. 7th cent. A.D.). ### [c28.s8.t5.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.9) \*\*a. \*po(ṉ)\*\*\* (n.) 'gold', an attribute in the figurative sense 'beautiful' when prefixed to a name. ### [c28.s8.t5.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.10) Cf. LT \*poṟkōṭṭu imayam\* 'the Himalayas with a golden (i.e., shining) peak' (\*Puṟa.\* 2:24). ### [c28.s8.t5.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.11) Sandhi: -\*ṉ\* \> -\*ṟ\*- before -\*k\* (see also the citation above). ### [c28.s8.t5.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.12) \*\*b. \*koṟṟi\*\*\* A personal name after the goddess Durgā (D. 2169). See also \*\*66.4.b.\*\* ### [c28.s8.t5.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.13) The ancient sport of cockfight in the Tamil countryside ### [c28.s8.t5.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.14) Cockfight was a popular sport in ancient Tamil country. See section 4.23. ### [c28.s8.t5.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.15) Cf. LT \*uyttaṉar viṭāar pirittu iṭai kaḷaiyār kuppai-k-kōḻi-t-taṇi-p-pōr pōla\* 'when fowl (foraging) on the rubbish heap fight among themselves, there is none to encourage them (to fight) or separate them (when they are tired)' (\*Kuṟun.\* 305: 5-6); the allusion by contrast is to what happens when an organised cockfight by specially trained fighting cocks takes place. ### [c28.s8.t5.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.16) \*kūr vāy aḻal akaintanna kāmar tutai mayir\* \*maṉai uṟai kōḻi maṟaṉuṭai-c-cēval\* \*pōr puri eruttam pōla-k- kañaliya\* ### [c28.s8.t5.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.17) 'As the neck of the domestic fighting cock with the sharp beak and flaming red feathers bristles when it fights' (\*Aka.\* 277:13-16). ### [c28.s8.t5.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.18) The following is a dramatic description of a cockfight: ### [c28.s8.t5.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.19) \*pāyntum eṟintum paṭintum palakālum\* \*kāyntum vāykkoṇṭum kaṭuñ cēval\* ### [c28.s8.t5.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.20) 'The ferocious cock now leaps up and jumps forward,now backs down, and then again attacks angrily with the blade (tied to its leg)' (\*Puṟapporuḷ\* 348). ### [c28.s8.t5.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.21) We learn from the old commentary that there was a \*kōḻi-nūl\* (treatise on fighting cocks) with the help of which, experts rated cocks according to their fighting abilities. It appears that villages with two hamlets, Mēṟ-cēri (the western quarter) and Kīḻ-c-cēri (the eastern quarter) had fighting cocks for each quarter: ### [c28.s8.t5.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5.22) \*mēṟcēri-k-kōḻi -y- alaittatu eṉa-k- kīḻ-c-cēri-k-kōḻi alaippuṇṭatu\* (\*Tol. Col.\* 60, comm., Cēṉā.); \*mēlai-c-cēri-c-cēval alaittatu eṉṟa tuṇaiyāṅē kīḻai-c-cēri-c-cēval alaippuṇṭatu\* (\*Naṉṉ.\* 402, comm., Caṅkara.). 'Driven hither and thither by the harassing of the (fighting) cock of Mēṟcēri (Mēlai-c-cēri), the (fighting) cock of Kīḻ-cc-cēri (Kīḻai-c-cēri) got harassed (i.e., the first statement implies the second)'. ## Cites (9) - [Piṅkala Nikaṇṭu](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vernacular.tamil.nikantu.pinkalam.13) — Piṅkalar, Tamil - [Akanāṉūṟu](https://indike.org/pramana/in.sangam.eight_anthologies.akananuru.277) — Uruttiracaṉmaṉ, Tamil - [Puṟanāṉūṟu](https://indike.org/pramana/in.sangam.eight_anthologies.purananuru.2) — Kapilar & Auvaiyār (Caṅkam), Tamil - [Kuṟuntokai](https://indike.org/pramana/in.sangam.eight_anthologies.kuruntokai.305) — Pūrikkō, Tamil - [Cūṭāmaṇi Nikaṇṭu](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vernacular.tamil.nikantu.cudamani) — Maṇṭalapuruṭar 1500, Tamil - [Naṉṉūl](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vernacular.tamil.grammar.nannul) — Pavaṇanti, Tamil - [Puṟapporuḷ Veṇpāmālai](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vernacular.tamil.grammar.puraporul_venpamalai) — Aiyaṉāritaṉār, Tamil - [Cēntaṉ Tivākaram](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vernacular.tamil.nikantu.tivakaram) — Tivākarar, Tamil - [Tolkāppiyam Collatikāram](https://indike.org/pramana/in.sangam.grammar.tolkappiyamcollatikaram) — Tolkāppiyar, Tamil --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c28.s8.t5) · Pramāṇa