This inscription and No. 44 are written continuously, the first two words of No. 44 occupying the end of line 46 of No. 43. The two first lines of No. 43 state that both inscriptions are copies of earlier stone inscriptions, and that these copies were made when the maṇḍapa of the temple was pulled down and rebuilt. Consequently the alphabet of Nos. 43 and 44 exhibits more recent forms than No. 42, though the date of No. 43 is anterior to No. 42.
No. 43 belongs to the 17th year of the reign of the same king as No. 42,—Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman (l. 3 f.). It records that three villages were granted to the temple at the request of the Bāṇa king Vikramāditya (l. 12 ff.). Two chiefs of this name are mentioned in the Udayēndiram plates of Vikramāditya II.Ep. Ind. Vol. III. p. 75.Pṛithivīpati II., because the Chōḷa king Parāntaka I. transferred to the latter the Bāṇa kingdom, which he had wrested from two Bāṇa chiefs.i.e. before about A.D. 909.Ep. Ind. Vol. IV. p. 222.Kṛishṇarāja, the friend of the Bāṇa king Vikramāditya II.,Ep. Ind. Vol. III. p. 75.Rāshṭrakūṭa king Kṛishṇa II. (A.D. 888 and 911-12); and the Bāṇa king Vikramāditya, who is mentioned in the subjoined inscription as a contemporary of Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman in the 17th year of this king, may be identified with Vikramāditya I., the grandfather of that Vikramāditya II. who issued the Udayēndiram grant.
One of the three villages granted was Aimbūṇi (l. 6), apparently the modern AmmuṇḍiMadras Survey Map of the Guḍiyātam tāluka. A different village of the same name (properly Aṉpūṇḍi, No. 101 on the map of the Vellore tāluka) is mentioned in Vol. I. pp. 87 f. and 135 f.Viḍēlviḍugu-Vikkiramāditta-chaturvēdimaṅgalam (l. 9 ff. and 1. 20 ff.). The executor of the grant was Kāḍupaṭṭi-Tamiḻa-Pērarayaṉ (l. 15). The same title was borne by the executor of the Bāhūr plates of Vijaya-Nṛipatuṅgavarman. In the transcript of these plates, which is in my hands,Ep. Ind. Vol. IV. p. 180.Viḍēlviḍugu, i.e. ‘the crashing thunderbolt,’ may have been a surname of Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman and of his son Vijaya-Nṛipatuṅgavarman.
Of great interest is the mention of persons who had to sing the Tiruppadiyam, i.e. the Dēvāram, in the temple (l. 32 f.). Hitherto the earliest known mention of the Dēvāram was in an inscription of Rājarāja I.
svasti śrī
taṟku muṉpuḷḷa cilālekaippaṭi
ko vijayanan=tivikkiramapanmar
Āvatu paṭu
livallamuparameśvarar
Iṉṉā
ḷattūrum Ittevar te
tā
m viṭelviṭukuvikkiramā
tittaccaturvvetimaṅ
kalameṉṉum perā
l Ekakkirāmamāka māvali
vāṇarāyaṉā
vāṇarāyaṉ viṇṇappat
m kāṭupa
Āṇattiyālum Ekakkirāmamākki
muṭaiya parameśvararkku Iṟuttu va
poṉṉirupatiṉ kaḻañcumivvi
ṭelviṭukuvikkiramātittaccat
vvetimaṅkalattuccavaiyār
Iṟuppārākavumiṉṉellilt
ruvamirtukku nellu Aṟunūṟṟu
kkāṭiyum tiruvuṇṇāḻikaiyuḷḷār
tibrāhmaṇa
rkku nellu Aiñ
ñūṟṟukkāṭiyum śrīpa
li koṭṭuvārkku nellu
Aiññūṟṟukkā
tiruppaḷḷittāmam
paṟippārkkum tirup
patiyam pāṭuvāruḷḷi
ṭṭa palapaṇi ceyvār
kku nellu nānūṟṟu
kkāṭiyum tiruko
viḷakkukkum tirumeyppūccuk
citārikkhaṇḍasṭitana
(Line 1.) Hail ! Prosperity ! (The following is) a copy of a stone inscription which existed before the maṇḍapa of the temple had been pulled down and re-erected.
(L. 3.) In the 17th year (of the reign) of king Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman.
(L. 4.) Māvalivāṇarāya, alias Vikkiramādittavāṇarāya, (had made) the request that to (the temple of) Paramēśvara (Śiva) at Tīkkāli-Vallam in Mīyāṟu-nāḍu, (a subdivision) of Paḍuvūr-kōṭṭam, (should be given three villages) in the same nāḍu, (viz.) Aim[bū]ṇi, Viḷattūr and Amaruṉṟimaṅgalam, a dēvadāna of this god, (and that they should be clubbed together into) one village, named Viḍēlviḍugu-Vikkiramāditta-chaturvēdimaṅgalam.
(L. 14.) In conformity with (this request), and Kāḍupaṭṭi-Tamiḻa-Pēra[ra]yaṉ being the executor,āṇatti see Ep. Ind. Vol. V. p. 52, note 10.the three villages) were made into one village.
(L. 16.) The members of the assembly of this Viḍēlviḍugu-Vikkiramādittachaturvēdimaṅgalam shall have to pay two thousand kāḍi of paddy and twenty kaḻañju of gold, which were being paid before by this Amaruṉṟimaṅgalam to this (temple of) Paramēśvara at Tīkkāli-Vallam.
(L. 23.) Of this paddy, six hundred kāḍi of paddy (are allotted) for offerings; five hundred kāḍi of paddy to the Śiva-Brāhmaṇas who desire to be fed, beginning with those in charge of the store-room of the temple;kāḍi of paddy to those who beat (drums before) oblations; four hundred kāḍi of paddy to those who pick (flowers for) temple garlands, and to those who perform various (other) services, including the singers of the Tiruppadiyam; and twenty kaḻañju of gold for the perpetual lamps, for anointing the idol, for bark,etc.
(L. 40.) (The members of the assembly) shall have to pay this paddy and this gold to this god as long as the moon and the sun exist.
(L. 43.) In this manner weViz. the king.the village) for (providing) the necessaries.
(L. 45.) This charity (is placed under) the protection of all Māhēśvaras.