Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c14.s9: 11. Tiruveṅkāḍu Temple Inscription
Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c14.s9
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11. Tiruveṅkāḍu Temple Inscription
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| Location | South wall of the shrine of the Śvetāraṇyeśvara temple at Tiruveṅkāḍu, Tanjore Dist., Tamil Nadu |
| Script | Grantha |
| Language | Sanskrit (verse) |
| Meter | *Sragdharā* (v. 1) |
| Type and format | Donative stone inscription |
| Purpose | Records the dedication by Mahādeva of a permanent lamp in the temple |
| Date | Thirty-ninth regnal year of Kullotuṅga Coḻa [I?] = A.D. 1108–9 |
| Reference | E. Hultzsch, “Four Inscriptions of Kulottunga-Chola,” EI 5, 1898–99, 103–6 (ins. B, 104). |
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Text
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1. svast[i] śrīḥ / ā setor ā h[i]mādrer avati vasumatīṃ śrīkulo-
2. ttuṅgacoḻe nissīmnas tanmahimno jagati vitataye ta-
3. nnavattriṃśavarṣe [*/] saṃskṛtyājyārtham urvvīn dvijakulatila-
4. ko nittyadīpan nyadhatta śvetāraṇye śivāya kṣitividita-
5. mahādevanāmā vipaścit // maṅgalam mahāśrīḥ //
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FIGURE 21. Tiruven̄kāḍu temple inscription. From EI 5, plate facing p. 104; copyright, Archaeological Survey of India.
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1–5. Good luck [and] fortune! While the illustrious Kulottuṅga Coḻa was ruling the earth from Setu to the Himālayas, in order to spread his boundless grandeur in the world, in his thirty-ninth [regnal] year, the world-renowned wise man named Mahādeva, an ornament to the family of Brahmans, dedicated to Śiva in the Śvetāraṇya [temple] an eternal lamp, after consecrating land for the (supply of) ghee. [May it be] auspicious [and] most fortunate!
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Notes
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Line 1: Setu: “The Bridge,” i.e., “Adam’s Bridge” between India and Sri Lanka. Line 3: “after consecrating land for the (supply of) ghee”: I.e., the donor also granted an area of land as a permanent endowment providing revenue to pay for the ghee to be burned in the lamp. Line 4: Śvetāraṇya: This is the Sanskrit equivalent of the Tamil Tiruven̄kāḍu, “the White Forest.”