தமிழ் இணையக் கல்விக்கழகம் - TAMIL VIRTUAL ACADEMY

மொழிகள்

C03141 --[Coins And Store Inscription - An Introduction]

காசும் கல்வெட்டும் - ஓர்அறிமுகம்
Coins and inscriptions provide valuable historical information. The use of coins made of copper, silver and gold formed a turning point in the history of trade and commerce. Coins were found in the riverbeds of காவேரி, அமராவதி, வைகை, தென்பெண்ணை and பாலாறு. In order to preserve messages people often engraved them on stone or metals. These were known as சிலாசாஸனம்.

    Stone inscriptions are found in mountain caves, and on memorial pillars and pieces of broken pots. They may be in verse or prose. There is an interesting inscription dating 926 A.D. It describes how a man called கிளிநல்லூர் உடையான் பாகன் சர்வதேவன் donated 96 goats to a Siva temple in திருவிசலூர்.

  • A complete inscription has 9 parts:
  • An auspicious word (e.g.) ஸ்வஸ்தி ஸ்ரீ; எல்லா நன்மையும் பெறுக.
  • மெய்க்கீர்த்தி: a verse on the glory of the king
  • Name of the king
  • The year of inscription
    Name of the Donor
  • Information about donation
  • Witness: காப்புச்சொல் - blessing those who perpetuate this donation
  • Author

The inscription ends with words like பன்மாகேசுவரர் இரட்சை or வைஷ்ணவர் இரட்சை.

Orginally round letters or வட்டெழுத்துக்கள் were used. Later grantha letters were also used. There was no punctuation and no dots on top of letters. A special dictionary is available for கல் வெட்டுகள்

Names of kings of சங்ககாலம் have been found on inscriptions; (eg) அதியமான், நெடுஞ்செழியன் etc. Even words from sangam literature have been found (eg) பண்ணன், ஆதன், பிட்டன் etc.

Many inscriptions tell us about kings and the laws promulgated by them. Here are some examples: The tanks should be desilted every year; If someone kills a hardcore criminal, he will not be punished with hanging; when people don't pay taxes to temples, their bronze vessels could be forfeited. These inscriptions do not have any relevance to the temple. But they were inscribed there so that everyone might read them.

There are inscriptions which tell us about kings, their period and their greatness. A special title was prefixed to the king's name. (eg) திரிபுவன சக்ரவர்த்தி. The name of the year when the king came to power, the month, the date, the star, and the day are also be mentioned.
The Jain monks engraved inscriptions in mountain caves where they lived. They were in பிராமி script. Later தென்பிராமி came to be known as தமிழி.

The Pallava king Mahendra Varman built rock temples. Donations to temples were inscribed on these rock walls. These inscriptions provide a fascinating account of Tamil history of earlier times.

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புதுப்பிக்கபட்ட நாள் : 01-09-2016 04:09:47(இந்திய நேரம்)