chap22
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Art and Culture of Tamilnadu
R. Nagaswamy
22. A PALLAVA GRANTHA INSCRIPTION IN SIAM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE
An inscription in Pallava grantha characters of the sixth century A.D. is of great interest to students of Tamil history. The inscription is found on a granite slab and is now preserved in the Museum of Vat Mahatat, Nakorn Sri Thammarat, a town in Thailand.
According to local sources the inscribed slab came from one of the brick Śiva shrines in the town which contains a Liṅga. Dr de Casparis, who examined this inscription ascribed it to the sixth century A.D. and has stated that it refers to Śiva. A complete reading of the inscription has not so far been published.
A part of the inscription at the beginning seems to have been lost. The first letter reads ta followed by a full stop, indicated by two vertical lines. The rest of the inscription reads tamrayāralakëśvara and is also followed by a full stop. It is clear that the inscription is in Pallava grantha characters of the Tamil country assignable to the sixth century A.D.
The word Tamrayāralakëśvara, is a label referring to the temple. The word, Tamrayar, seems to be the ancient name of the place the present name being Tammarat. Evidently the inscription stands for Lord Alakëśvara of (the town of) Tamrayar. The name Alakëśvara may either refer to Kubera, the Lord of Alaka, or Lord Śiva named Alakëśvara. The latter meaning seems to be more acceptable since the inscription is said to come from a Śiva temple.
The name Tamrayar is interesting. We have mentioned that he inscription is in Palava grantha characters of the Tamil country pointing to close contacts between this part of the world and Tamil Nadu. So it is possible that the word Tamrayar is a corrupt form of Tamil arayar.
The word Arayar, though literally it stands for a king and is an honorific term conferred by a monarch on persons of distinction. The name Tamilarayar occurs in many inscriptions of the Tamil country standing for chieftains. A certain Tamilarayan is mentioned in a inscription of the ninth century A.D. at Nārttāmalai, near Pudukköṭṭai. It is, therefore, possible that the place, Tamrayar; was named after a distinguished noble from the Tamil country, who might have gone to the place on a trade mission.
The full name of the present town is Nakorn Sri Tammarat. Evidently Nakorn stands for Nakaram. A Commercial town or also a mercantile corporation is always referred to as Nakaram in all the inscriptions of the Tamil Nadu. It is possible that a mercantile guild from the Tamil country headed by a certain Tamilarayan established itself in this place long before the sixth century A.D.
It is necessary to note the importance of this town as a place of commercial contact. It is connected by land to Takua Pa, the famous port on the west coast, which was an entrepot for Tamil merchants from very early times. On the eastern side Champa and Sumatra could be easily reached from Tammarat, so much so this place and Takua Pa are considered to form an axis for commercial and cultural contacts across the peninsula.
The existence of such mercantile guilds from the Tamil country is further supported by the find of a Tamil inscription of the ninth Century A.D., in Takua Pa. The ancient name of Takua Pais Takkölam, referred to as such by Ptolemy in his Geography. A Chinese work of the third century A.D. mentions this port as Thakuli-o from where Su-Wu, an ambassador of the king of Fu-nan, is said to have left for India. The place is also mentioned in Rājendra's Conquests as Talai Takkölam.
But the most important find is the Tamil inscription which refers to Maṇigrāmam a mercantile guild and mentions a Viṣṇu temple and a tank called Avani Nāraṇam, which were placed under the protection of a Senāmukha, army.
Prof K.A.N. Sastri, who has edited this inscription, has rightly assigned it to the reign of Nandivarman III, the victor of Tellāru. Nandi bore the significant title, Avanināraṇan and is said to have maintained a powerful fleet. The inscription was not found in Takua Pa port proper, but in a place about 16km inland on the northern bank of the Takua Pa river.
Besides this inscription a group of stone sculptures bearing Pallava features was found in the same area. They are referred to by the local people as Pra Narai. The group consists of three sculptures, a standing four-armed male deity, a female deity and a bust of a male figure all of which are embedded in the trunk of a large tree. Nearby are fragments of sculptures, some relating to these three figures, an uncompleted sculpture of a seated figure and other fragments.
On the south bank of the Takua Pa river, opposite these sculptures are to be seen the remains of an ancient structure, and according to the local people the Pra Narai group of Sculptures came from this ancient structure. We have seen that the inscription refers to a temple tank called Avanināraṇan.
The present name, Pra Narai, given to the group by local tradition, seems to be the shortened form of Prithvi Nāraṇam, a Sanskrit equivalent of the word Avaniāraṇam, recorded in the inscription.
The four-armed Standing figure can be identified as an image of Viṣṇu as traces of a
Śrīvatsa symbol are clearly visible on the right chest. The portrayal of the arms and the gaments resembles features of Viṣṇu sculptures of the Pallava period in the Tamil country. The sculpture of the goddess found along with this is evidently Bhūdevi.
It is interesting to note that the Tamil inscription found here also refers to Nāṅgūr. Nāṅgūr in the Cöḻa country is situated very near Kāveripaṭṭiṉam and was an important centre from very early times.
The Cöḻa emperor, Karikāla took to wife, a Vëḷir princess of Nāṅgūr. Tirumaṅgai Āḻvār who lived in the eight cantury A.D. has praised the heroism of the warriors of Nāṅgūr in his poems. The Takua Pa inscription mentioning Nāṅgūr is dated not long after Thirumaṅgai Maṉṉaṉ.
This brings us to another interesting field of enquiry in the history of the Tamil country. At Kāveripaṭṭiṉam, the ancient port of the Tamil country, there is a suburb even now called Maṇigrāmam, on the southern bank of the river. We have seen that the inscription at Takua Pa, besides mentioning Nāṅgūr mentions Maṇigrāmam.
The references to Nāṅgūr and Maṇigrāmam unmistakably suggest that a mercantile guild from Kāveripaṭṭiṉam left on its eastern voyage from Puhār with a strong contingent of warriors from Nāṅgūr who were known for their valour and Kāveripaṭṭiṉam was still a flourishing place in the reign of Rājasimha Pallava in the eighth century A.D., as reported by the find of a gilded Bhodisattva Maitreya.
The Takua Pa inscription must be dated within 100 years of this period. Kāveripaṭṭiṉam continued to flourish in the reign of Nandi, the victor of Teḷḷāru. As mentioned earlier, Nandi maintained a powerful fleet and what is more the Nandikalambakam, a contemporary work on Nandivarman, refers to him as the ruler of Puhār.
It is well-known that the major part of the trade with the Middle East and the Far East was in the hands of the Cöḻas from about the third century B.C. and that the main port of the Cöḻas was Kāveripaṭṭiṉam. So far as the Tamil country was concerned, continued be a port of importance till at least the important role as a connecting link between the Tamil country and the Far East.