yavarmanku

mān tān naṅkūr Aṭai tn toṭṭa kuḷam· pēr śrī-Ava ni-nāraṇam·

maṇi-k-kirāmat·tār kkum cēṉā-mukattārkkum· muḻutārkkum Aṭai-k-kalam·

yavarmanku ravarmatṟku ravarman kuṇa yavarmatku y ravarman kuṇā ya varmakku yaravarmakku mān tān mān tān mān tān mān tān mān tān māṉ tāṉ māṉ tāṉ naṅkūr Aṭai tn naṅkaraiyait naṅkūr aṭai t naṅku rayai t naṅkūruṭaiyān naṅkuruṭaiyan naṅkurutaiyaṉ The standardised reading naṅkūr-utaiyāṉ would make good sense, but it does not appear possible to us, as it is not clear if letters are lost at the beginning of the line 3 and if toṭṭa, in the same line 3, is preceded by t or n. toṭṭa ttoṭṭa n toṭṭa n toṭṭa ṉ toṭṭa kuḷam· pēr kuḷamp-ēr kuḷam pēr śrī-Avani-nāraṇam· śrīnāraṇam śrīAvanināraṇam śrīnāraṇam śrī Avanināraṇam śrī Avanināraṇam The syllable ni that most editors supply as omitted at the end of line 3 might in fact be supplied as lost at the beginning of line 4. It is in fact not clear whether letters have been lost on the left, on the right, or on both sides of the slab. maṇikkirāmat·tārkkum maṇikkirāmattārkkum maṇikkirāmattārkkum maṇikkirāmattārkkum maṇikkirāmattārkkum maṇikkirāmattārkkum The syllable k that most editors supply as omitted at the end of line 4 might in fact be supplied as lost at the beginning of line 5. It is in fact not clear whether letters have been lost on the left, on the right, or on both sides of the slab. muḻutārkkum cāpattārkkum m uḻutārkkum kulattārkkum patārkkum pātarkkum apatārkkum suggests that uḻutār is used here in the sense of uḻavar or uḻunar, "cultivators".

of ravarman the hoofs of the team of oxen touching our boundary (?) Prosperity !

Nāraṇam (is) the refuge of the members of Manikkirāmam and of the members of the detachment and of the bowmen (?).

The tank, (by) name Śrī-[Avani]-Nāraṇam, which was dug near Naṅkūr by ravarman Gu[ṇa] [m]āṉ himself, (is placed under) the protection of the members of Manikkirāmam and of the men of the vanguard and of the cultivatorsuḻutār.

(The year) of (the reign of the king) yavarman ; man dug a tank in our . Its name is Śrī-Nāraṇam. This is placed under the protection of the Maṇikkirāmattār, the Cēṉamukattār and (his own) descendentskulattār.

The tank called Avani-nāraṇam dug by the lord of Naṅkūr (is placed under) the protection of the members of Manigrāmam, the residents of the military camp and .

Umpteenth year of varman. suggests that, if his "purely tentative" reading of lines 1-3 is correct, then several lines (a lenghty passage) would be missing at the beginning of the inscription. We follow here , who suggests that we have here the usual beginning of a Tamil inscription, with the name and regnal year of the king, whence his reading of the last letter in line 1 as y, as the last remnant of the word yāṇṭu. According to and the name of the king is perhaps Bhāskaravarman. Contra, see , . 305 suggests to read mataku, "sluice", which would make sense in relation to a tank, but must confess his uncertainty.

The name of the tank that If the standardised reading naṅkūr-utaiyāṉ is accepted, this "lord of Naṅkūr" would be the commissioner of the tank. See 308, who is tempted to identify him as a native of Nāṅkūr in the Tanjore district. has dug toṭṭaPast peyareccam of toṭu-tal. at? Naṇkūr is the glorious AvanināṟaṇamThe tank might have named after the biruda Avanināṟaṇaṉ (Sanskrit Avaninārāyaṇa) of the Pallava king Nandivarman III. See 306. The inscription has thus been dated to the reign of this king..

It is a help aṭaikkalamWe follow here against others: the tank is made for the use of these persons, not put under their protection. for the members of the Maṇikkirāmam maṇikkirāmattārMaṇikkirāmam is the name of a Tamil merchant guild, from Sanskrit maṇigrāma., for the members of the Cēṉamukam cēnāmukattārCēṉamukam is usually considered as the name of another Tamil merchant guild, from Sanskrit Senāmukha. See e.g. 44. The etymology suggests however a soldiers' group, possibly attached to the protection of the merchants. 432 translates as "the residents of the military camp". See translations in , and in . See also 72 on sanskrit senāmukha., and for the cultivators uḻūtārWe follow here Hultzsch. Contra, see 306.

Edited and translated in , with an estampage; revised edition and translation by . Edited in , , (without diacritic marks!). Text in , after Hultzsch. Text and summary in (IP 148).

This revised edition by Emmanuel Francis, based on previous edition(s), published visual documentation and a photo (2012, kindly supplied by Nicolas Revire).

49-50 XXVI XX 432 148 11-12 284 12 148 5 XIII