Indian Epigraphy c15.t4.52

c15.t4.52

There is a peculiarity of the regnal years quoted in early Pāṇḍya inscriptions as they generally mention two numbers to indicate a particular year, e.g., 4+9, 6+4, etc.² At first sight, this system appears to be explained by the fact that the predecessor and his successor on the Pāṇḍya throne often ruled conjointly for some time and therefore the 13th regnal year indicated by 4+9 may show that the king in question was ruling conjointly with his predecessor till his 4th regnal year and the date in question actually belongs to the 9th year of his rule as the successor of his predecessor. But there are difficulties in accepting such a suggestion. Sometimes the same rulers' records appear to contain regnal dates not only in single numbers but also in different groups of double numbers. We may refer to the inscriptions¹ of Soḷantalai-koṇḍaṇ Vīra-pāṇḍya (whose first regnal year seems to be 946-47 A.D.),² some of which referring to the construction of a temple for the god Śrīkaṇṭheśvara by Kaṇḍaṇ Śāttaṇ alias Teṇṇavaṇ Tamiḷaveḷ, are dated differently as in the year 4+5 and 5+5.³ It is not possible to solve the mystery of such dates without further light being thrown on the subject by future discoveries. In certain double-year dates of the above type, the second number is given not in years but in days, e.g., year 4+day 4635.⁴