Vazhappally copper plate (c. 882/83 AD
) is a copper plate inscription in the
Malayalam language
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...
from
Vazhappally
Vazhappally is a suburb of Changanasserry, Changanasserry Municipality, Kottayam district, Kottayam District, in central Kerala. The famous Vazhappally Maha Siva Temple, Vazhappally Shiva Temple is situated in Vazhappally. Vazhappally is a part ...
,
Kottayam
Kottayam () is a city in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It is the district headquarters of the district and is located about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 Indian census, Kottayam has a population of ...
, in the state of
Kerala
Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...
, south India.
It is dated to the twelfth
regnal year
A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year of rule, a t ...
(882/83 AD) of the medieval Chera ruler of Kerala,
Rama Rajasekhara
Rama Rajasekhara (''fl.'' 870/71 – c. 883/84 AD) was a Chera Perumal ruler of medieval Kerala, south India. Rajasekhara is usually identified by historians with Cheraman Perumal Nayanar, the venerated Shaiva ( Nayanar) poet-musician of the B ...
.
The copper plate documents a temple committee resolution regarding a land grant for daily worship in the temple.
The amount of paddy available from the granted land in two seasons is estimated to be over 12,200 kilograms (or around 12 tons).
Contents
The record is engraved on a single copper plate (with five lines on each side) in an early form of Malayalam, using the
Vattezhuthu (script) with necessary
Grantha characters. The contents of the plate are incomplete.
It was discovered by V. Srinivasa Sastri from Thalamana Illam near
Changanassery
Changanassery, () formerly Changanacherry, is a municipality in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It is located south of the district headquarters in Kottayam and about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 ...
.
The plate is currently owned by Muvidathu Madham,
Thiruvalla
Thiruvalla, () also spelled Tiruvalla, is a Municipalities of Kerala, municipality in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, India. The town is spread over an area of and has a population of 52,883 people, down from 56,837 in 2001. It is also the H ...
.
The inscription begins with the invocation "Namah Shivaya" ("Respect to Lord
Shiva
Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...
"), instead of the usual medieval Chera invocation "Swasti Sri" ("Hail! Prosperity!")
In the record, king Rajasekhara is described with the titles "Sri, Raja Rajadhiraja, Parameswara Bhattaraka, Rajashekhara Deva", and "the Perumal Atikal".
The copper plate documents a temple committee resolution by the Thiruvatruvay Pathinettu Nattar and the Urar of Vazhappally, in the presence of king
Rajasekhara Rajasekhara may refer to:
* Rama Rajasekhara/Cheraman Perumal "Nayanar" (''fl.'' 9th century), theologian, devotional poet and ruler from south India
* Rajashekhara (Sanskrit poet) (''fl.'' 10th century), Sanskrit poet, dramatist and critic
* ...
, regarding a land grant for daily worship in the temple.
The inscription also prescribes fines for those who obstruct daily worship in the temple. Notably, it mentions a coin called the "dinara".
The Vattezhuthu characters in the Vazhappally copper plate are noted for their similarity to those in the Madras Museum Plates of Jatila Varman Parantaka Pandya. The Grantha characters in the plate exhibit a later form compared to the Kasakudi and other early
Pallava
The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of South India, the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The Pallavas played a crucial role in shaping in particular southern Indian history and heritage. The ...
grants. The plate also resembles
Quilon Syrian copper plates
The Kollam (Quilon) Syrian copper plates, also known as the Kollam Tarisappalli copper plates, or Kottayam inscription of Sthanu Ravi, or Tabula Quilonensis (c. 849 CE) are a copper plate grant issued by Ayyan Adikal, the chieftain of Kollam, c ...
(mid-9th century AD), another early Chera record, in both script and language.
Medieval Chera king Rajasekhara is commonly identified by scholars with
Cheraman Perumal Nayanar
Cheraman Perumal Nayanar (Malayalam script, Malayalam: ; Tamil script, Tamil: ; literally meaning "Chera king the Nayanars, Nayanar") was a bhakti poet-musician and religious teacher of the Tamil language, Tamil Shaivism, Shaiva tradition in m ...
, the venerated
Shaiva
Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the supreme being. It is the second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million Hindus, found widely across South Asia (predominantly in ...
(
Nayanar) poet-musician.
Translation
References
External links
* {{Cite book , last=Mathew , first=Alex , url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/7061 , title=Political identities in History , date=2006 , publisher=Mahatma Gandhi University , location=Kottayam
History of Changanassery
History of Kerala
Vatteluttu
Malayalam inscriptions
9th century in law
Chera dynasty
Kerala history inscriptions
Vazhappally
Kodungallur Chera kingdom