Temple inscriptions provide interesting insights into the past and provide glimpses of life and times of a certain period. Such inscriptions are found in abundance at the Sri Parthasarathyswamy temple -- on the floor of the sanctum, on the outer wall of the main sanctum, floors of the mantapams and the prakara, the mantapam walls of shrines, beneath a sculpture of a mini-elephant, on the steps of the temple tank… everywhere, literally. The inscriptions are in Sanskrit, Pallava Grantha, Tamil and Telugu.
There is a massive inscription in Telugu running to 14 paragraphs, which is datable to 1585 CE and belongs to the Vijayanagara king, Sri Rangaraya. Even fragmentary inscriptions with Roman letters have been found on the floors. Obviously, they were brought from somewhere else and used in the temple for paving the floors.
The importance of the inscriptions found in the temple can be inferred from the fact that R. Nagaswamy, renowned epigraphist and former director, Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, has devoted 103 pages out of 312 pages in his book in Tamil titled, “Inscriptions in the Great City of Chennai.” The book, first published in 1970 by the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, is testimony to the painstaking work that he did in locating and transcribing these inscriptions and how he has systematically listed them. He has published a summary of the text of the 91 inscriptions found in the Parthasarathy temple, their exact locations, how some fragmentary inscriptions in the temple were actually brought from Siva temples in Tirusoolam and Tiruvanmiyur and used here, and so forth.
A novel highlight of the latest mahasamprokshanam is the setting up of a small inscription park on the temple premises. The architect of this park is R. Kannan, additional chief secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, Tamil Nadu Government. He suggested that labels with transcriptions of the 12 fragmentary inscriptions on display should be exhibited so that visitors can understand the import of what these inscriptions say. D. Karthikeyan, Commissioner, Tami Nadu Archaeology Department, helped him in setting up this park.
S. Vasanthi, deputy superintending archaeologist, Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, and R. Sivanandam, assistant superintending epigraphist, selected the inscriptions.One of the inscriptions in Tamil belongs to Kulothunga Chola of the 12th century and it mentions that a prakara (Tirumalaigai) in the Parthasarathy temple is named after him. A Telugu inscription dated 942 from Chittoor ‘zilla’ (district) talks about the gift of 1200 flowers from a donor to the temple. Totally, three inscriptions in Telugu are on display, besides one in Sanskrit.
As luck would have it, when conservation was under way on June 5, 2015 ,in the main sanctum, an inscription belonging to the Chola emperor Rajendra I was located on the floor in the north-west corner. It was behind the deities. The fragmentary inscription is a ‘prasasthi,’ that is it’s a eulogy to Rajendra I, who ruled from 1012 CE to 1044 CE. It talks about how his fame should grow manifold and how he had conquered many lands including Vanavasi (Banavasi) and Kollibakkai (Kaliburgi/Gulbarga), both in Karnataka now.
K.T. Narasimhan, former superintending archaeologist, Chennai Circle, Archaeological Survey of India, said there could be two reasons behind the location of the inscription on the sanctum floor. One was that Rajendra I himself could have suggested that his inscription be placed in there because it would be safe there. The second, and more plausible reason, was that this fragmentary inscription, which would have been originally engraved elsewhere, was brought to the temple and used in paving the sanctum floor. Narasimhan pointed out that a lithic inscription is erected in such a way that a person can stand in front of it and read it. But here, it was found on the floor behind the deities in a corner, where it is virtually impossible to read. So the lithic record must have been brought here and used.
The earliest inscription is that of Pallava king Dantivarman, dating back to 808 CE. It was originally found on the northern side of the entrance to the main sanctum. Later, it was removed from there and is now on display in a corner of the prakara. The record talks about landlords of Triplicane pledging lands for providing food offerings and an ‘eelam’ lamp to the deity.
There are several references to place names such as ‘Ezhumur’ (the present-day Egmore), Velacheri, Ayanpuram (Ayanavaram) and Tiruvanmiyur. According to Nagaswamy, the earliest inscription about Ezhumur, from 1309 CE, is found on the northern wall of the sanctum and belongs to the reign of Kulasekara Pandya and deals with how “Ezhumur Nadu” came under “Puliyur kottam” (Puliyur, as it is called even today, is near the present-day Kodambakkam) of “Jayamkonda Chola mandalam.” It provides information on how a landlord or chieftain “Ayanpura kizhavan” sold land to raise funds to provide for offerings to the temple deity. The inscription calls it “Thelliya Singaperumal” temple. (There is a separate sanctum, facing west, for Thelliya Singaperumal). Later, it came to be known as the Parthasarathy temple.
An interesting inscription (1842 CE) talks of how the deceased “Kanchipuram” Pachaiyappa Mudaliar (who made outstanding contributions to charity and education) had bequeathed a lakh of “varahans” (currency) and how the interest accruing from it could be used to provide food to pilgrims coming to the temple and for teaching “sastras of this land and English language to the Hindu boys by employing a pandit.” This lithic record is found on the wall near the temple’s eastern entrance.
