SOUTH INDIAN INSCRIPTIONS VOL XXXVIII (1912) Collection

The Archaeological Survey of India needs to be congratulated for bringing out this excellent collection of medeival South Indian Inscriptions. The editor Dr S Swaminathan has done a conmendable job in collecting, collating and reconstructing the texts of 636 inscriptions collected during the year 1912. The publication of an SII volume is keenly anticipated by historians as each one is a treasure house of information in that a society that did not have the intellectual ability to record its owen past is always at a disadvantage. Fortunately Inscriptions come in handy and provide a wealth of information about historical conditions prevailing in the medieval period.

The volume under consideration consists essentially of Chola and Vijayanagara Inscriptions and these are distributed thoughout the 3 major states of South India with Tamil Nadu taking the vast majority of the Inscriptions. When Eugene Hultzch began the Seies way back in 1887 few would have imafgined that more that a 125 years later the series will still be around and going from strength to strength. Dr Swaminathan himself has edited 3 volumes in this series and that marks a significant contribution to South Indian history. All the conventions of epigraphic publication are followed: the text is given is as complete a manner as possible with * denoting the conjectural reading. The text is user friendly and the introcuction summarises the inscription adequately. Some early Pallava inscriptions are useful for calculating the rate of interest on gold deposited in a temple treasury. Interesting sidelight on temple wealth and its moral status in contemporary society is provided by an example from Trivuvorriyur Temple in which a sum of 811 kalunju of gold was levied as fine from those who misappropriated temple property. This is a far cry from today when Temple under Government Departments are being systematically robbed of their wealth. In Triruchendur Temple the entire Jewelry of the temple was replace with fake ornaments. The dravidianist political culture in Tamil Nadu today is spelling a death knell to the culture and intellectual vitality of the Tamil country.

A detailed study of the Tiruvorryur Temple is now possible as a cirect onsequence of the publication under review. As a padal perra stalam, this temple enjoyed considerable patronage under the early Cholas and under Parantaka I (905-955) this temple acquired royal stature due to the association of Velan Kumaran, a military officer who was defeated in the Battle of Takkolam. Another unique aspect of this volume is the collection from Devikapuram, North Arcot District. The earliest mention of Iswara Nayaka of the Tuluva line and the father of Narasa Nayaka occurs in one of the inscriptions here.

The volume is a valuable addition to the growing Corpus of Inscriptions dealing with an important period of South Indian past.