13th-century inscription on Pandya period taxes found in Ramnad

MADURAI: An 800-year-old inscription referring to the Pandya period taxes was discovered at Shiva Temple in Emaneswaram near Paramakudi in Ramanathapuram district.

A team led by V Rajaguru, president of Ramanathapuram Archaeological Research Foundation, comprising young archaeologist V Sivaranjani, archaeology department trainee Ushanandini, and Thiruppullani Heritage Club students S Srivibin, A Mohammed Sahabdeen, found inscriptions on the granite stone lying on the southern side of the temple when they were examining the inscriptions recorded by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 1914.

Rajaguru on Tuesday said there are two shrines – Iyamaneswaramudaiyar and Mallikarjuneswarar in the temple. The stone with the inscription might have been in the sanctum sanctorum of the old Mallikarjuneswarar shrine. It contains two fragmentary inscriptions of 11 lines. As the letters in these are of different sizes, they could be considered fragments of different inscriptions, he said.

One inscription has details on two ‘veli’ of land that were given as a donation for three days of celebration in the temple, five ‘ma’ of land for the monastery, and two ‘mavarai’ of land for the master who recites songs like Devaram in the temple, he said. ‘Veli’, ‘ma’, and ‘mavarai’ are the land measurements, he added.

The terms of taxes during the Pandya period such as kadamai, andarayam, vettipattam, panchupeeeli, sandhu vigraha peru, sekkirai, thattolip pattam, idayarvari, and inavayam were mentioned in the inscription, Rajaguru said, adding these taxes would have been waived and the land would have been donated during that period.

He further said the inscription states that the remaining land was donated in addition to the land already donated to temples and the land donated to Buddhist and Jain temples. As there is a mention of land being donated to the monastery, it is believed that there was a monastery on the premises of the temple.

Another inscription with small letters mentions the names of the taxes andarayam and viniyogam, as well as a village ‘Keelai Nettur’ alias ‘Keerthi Visalainallur’, he explained adding Keelanettur is located in Sivaganga district.

He stated, “As the inscription of Maravarman Sundarapandian I in the Amman shrine was the oldest in this temple, it could be assumed that the Mallikarjuneswarar shrine was also built during his period. So, the inscriptions found in the temple could belong to the Sundarapandian I period of the 13th century AD.”