PARAVAR NAME IN ARITHAPATTI JAIN BED
Arittapatti inscription
Paravar an important community of fishers in Sri Lanka also known as
Bharatakula amongst the Sinhalese gets mentioned in a 3rd century B.C
inscription in Tamil Nadu----------------------
MADURAI SEPT.14. A rare 3rd
century B.C. Tamil Brahmi inscription found near Madurai recently has brought
to light the fact that not only Pandyas and Cheras but the chiefs of the
coastal region in the State also patronised Jainism in the early period. The
discovery by a team of epigraphists, who undertook a survey at Arittapatti in
Melur taluk, is a remarkable evidence of history of early Tamil politics,
culture and language, State Archaeology department sources said here recently.
The inscription was found engraved in a cave of a hillock,
where early Jain monks stayed and preached their faith. It is just four feet
away from another Brahmi inscription discovered by some scholars in 1971.
"Since this new inscription is carved with very thin strokes and illegible,
it had not attracted the attention of the scholars so far in spite of their
frequent visits to this cave," say the sources.
The inscription, engraved as a single line with 33 letters
and running for 3.10 metres, reads as follows: ilanjiy vel mapparavan makan
emayavan nalmuzhaukai kotupithavan. It means, "Emayavan, son of
Mapparavan, chief of Ilanji, has caused the carving of this auspicious
cave." It has been written in the Bhattiprolu (Andhra Pradesh) casket
inscription method and so all short consonants have long strokes. As the
orthography of this inscription resembles that of Mangulam inscriptions (also
in Madurai district), its date may be assigned to 3rd century B.C., say the
sources.
`Ilanji' denotes the name of a place, while `Vel' means chieftain.
Ilanji Vel might have been a ruler of a small territory around Ilanji. There is
also a village near Courtallam with the same name. Emayavan, chief of Ilanji,
was the son of Mapparavan. `Paravar' denotes the people of coastal region
settled in southern districts of Tamil Nadu. `Muzhaukai' means the cave in
which the inscription is found and the prefix, `nal' auspiciousness.
The same word, `Nalmuzhaukai' occurs in Varichiyur Brahmi
inscription also. The previous inscription found at Arittapatti also bears the
word `Muzhagai', which also means cave. One of the Sangam works, `Madurai
Kanchi' refers to the Paravar defeated by Padyan Nedunchezhian. Even the
Velvikudi copper plate speaks of the defeat suffered by Tenparavar at the hands
of a Pandya king, the sources point out.
All this evidence makes clear that the Paravars were the
chiefs of the coastal region and they ruled their areas as subordinates of the
Pandyas of the Sangam age. The previously discovered Brahmi inscription at
Arittapatti also mentions about a chief from Nelveli (now Tirunelveli region).
The inscription throws light on the proximity the chiefs of Nelveli to the
Pandyas of Madurai in the Sangam age.
As many as 60 Tamil Brahmi inscriptions were found during
the past over 100 years from 15 villages including, Mangualm, Anaimalai,
Azhagarmalai, Tiruvadavur, Keezhavalavu, Tirupparankundram and Varichiyur . The
epigraphists, comprising P. Rajendran, V. Vedachalam, C. Santhalingam and R.
Jayaraman, as per directions of the Commissioner of Archaeology, R. Kannan,
undertook the survey.
https://www.heritagevembaru.in/2016/02/arittapatti-inscription.html
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