Early South Indian Palaeography c14.s2: 2. Karungāḷakkuḍi
Early South Indian Palaeography c14.s2
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2. Karungāḷakkuḍi
c14.s2.1
This village lies about eight miles to the north of Melur in the Madurai District on the road to Tiruchirapalli. The caverns on the hills near the place and the beds chiselled therein are of special interest. One of the caverns which contains a Brāhmī inscription measures 33 feet east to west as well as north to south, opening both on the southern and northern sides.
c14.s2.2
In another cavern higher up on the same hill there is a Vaṭṭeḷuttu inscription in Tamil verse cut on one in a row of rocky beds. That record states that a certain chief called Paḷḷidaraiyan rendered service in different capacities to his master the Pāṇḍya king referred to in the verse by the terms *Vaḻudi* or *Mīnavan*, by building a bright *vimāna*, stopping the sea from encroaching and by protecting sacrifices at Tiruppodiyil by his scholarship, asceticism and saintliness (?).¹ Apparently it contains a reference to the sage Agastya whose intimate connection with the Pāṇḍyas, the Podiyil hill and Tamil literature is so well-known. The age to which Paḷḷidaraiyan or his master, the Pāṇḍya king, belonged, cannot be determined at present; but palaeographically the Vaṭṭeḷuttu characters in which the epigraph is incised may be assigned to the ninth century A.D. One interesting inference the inscription leads to is that the beds in the natural caverns were used not only by the Jaina saints, but also by laymen about twelve hundred years ago, as is done by mendicants of the present day.
c14.s2.3
¹ No. 563 of 1911.
c14.s2.4
Further on a rock, opposite to the cavern containing the Brāhmī record on the west is engraved a Jaina image with a Vaṭṭeḷuttu inscription below it, which invokes the teacher Ajjaṇandi.²
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² No. 562 of 1911.
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The short Brāhmī inscription consisting of eleven characters³ has been read by Krishna Sastri as follows:—
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³ No. 561 of 1911.
c14.s2.8
[*E*] *ṭhu ya r* [*u*] *ra a ri ṭi na pa ḷi*
c14.s2.10
He considers that the first five syllables which end in *ura* may constitute the name of a village and also draws attention to the word *pali* occurring in other records also (Ariṭṭāpaṭṭi and Kīḷavaḷavu).⁴ He also thinks that between the eighth and ninth letters of the record, *ti* and *na* the impression shows a symbol, somewhat like that of the mark of interrogation (?). He is not sure whether it is to be read as Aśokan *kha* or simply treated as a clumsy slit on the stone.
c14.s2.11
⁴ See *Proceedings of the First All-India Oriental Conference*, pp. 208 and 217.
c14.s2.12
Subrahmanya Ayyar, treating the *na* as a basic consonant reads the inscription as consisting of three words.
c14.s2.13
*Eṭhuyarūra Aritin Paḷi*
c14.s2.14
He also supplies the masculine suffix *n* to the first word, the modern equivalent of which will be Eṭṭiyūraṉ and translates it as
c14.s2.15
"This is the cave of Āriti of Eṭṭiyūr."
c14.s2.16
Narayana Rao follows Krishna Sastri in his reading of the inscription and restores the epigraph in Sanskrit as follows:
c14.s2.17
*Eṭhuyarara Hāritanām Pali* = (*Ki* ?).
c14.s2.18
The actual reading of the record is:
c14.s2.19
*E ṭhu ya u ra Ari ti da pa ḷi.*
c14.s2.20
In accordance with the general principle followed in reading the Drāviḍī script found in the Bhaṭṭiprōlu inscription, the present inscription may be read as follows:
c14.s2.21
[*E*] *ṭhuyūr Aritin paḷi.*
c14.s2.22
The words *aritin* and *paḷi* have been discussed earlier. The only other word in the present inscription is Eṭhuyūr. The suffix *ūr* added to it points to the fact that it is the name of the village. The record will therefore mean
c14.s2.23
"The bed of Aritiṉ (i.e. Hārita) of Eṭhuyūr (or Eṭṭiyūr).