Famous musical inscription on the rock.
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On the living rock to the south of the cave temple is the
famous inscription on music in Pallava Grantha script. Fortunately it
is in a good state of preservation.
The script resembles more or less that of the inscription of
Mahendra-varman (மகேந்திரவர்மன்) period at Tiruchirappalli
(திருச்சிராப்பள்ளி) and in the South Arcot district (Vellore, வேளூர்
District presently). It has consequently, been generally assigned to
the early seventh century.
This inscription was discovered by Mr. Krishna Sastri in
1904. The area covered by the inscription is 13' x 14'. The wall and
basement of the mandapam in front of the Melak-koil hide parts of the
last section of the inscription.
In the history of Indian music this inscription is very
important. It is the only treatise on music now extant between the
earlier natya-sastra of Bharata (4th century AD) and Sarangadeva's
Sangita Ratnakara (13th century AD). It may be mentioned here that
Natya Sastra, while defining different jati-s, does not give actual
examples of notation. Sangita Ratnakara includes notation, but it is so
much later than the work of Bharata. Bandarkar in Epigraphica Indica
writes: "In these circumstances it is easy to imagine the great value
of the discovery of any notated music belonging to the period earlier
to that of the Sangita-Ratnakara."
The Authorship
The author of this inscription is still unknown. Experts like
Prof. Jouveau Dubreuil, T.N. Ramachandran, K.R. Venkatarama Iyer, C.
Meenakshi suggests that it was Mahendra Pallava who wrote it.
The Inscription:
The inscription commences with an auspicious term ‘Siddham’
followed by ‘ Namah-Sivaya’ meaning salutation to Siva.
The body or the text of the inscription, i.e. the treatise on
musical notation (svara-s) is divided into seven sections. Each section
has a heading, namely,
(1) Madhyamagrame Chatushprahara Svaragamah,
(2) Shadja grame chatushprahara svaragamah,
(3) Shadave Chatushprahara Svar(a)gamah,
(4) Sadharite Chatushprahara Svaragamah,
(5) Panchami Chatushprahara Svaragamah,
(6) Kaisikimadhyama Chatushprahara Svaragamah , and
(7) Kaisike Chatushprahara Svaragamah.
Each section ends with the same words meaning ‘end of
notation’ (samapthah svaragamah).
On the extreme right end of the bottom of the inscription is
a colophon reading as
‘Rudracharya-sishyena-parama-mahesva-re-na-ra(jna)-sishya-hitartha(m)-kvatah
(kritah)-svaragamah’ means ‘composed by the king, who is a great
devotee of Mahesvara and who is disciple of Rudra-charya
(ருத்ராசார்யர்), for the benefit of learners or students of music’.
Just below this colophon is written ‘(E)ttirukum elirkum (I)vai-Uriya’
in Tamil characters. This phrase means ‘belonging to eight and seven’.
Various authors have interpreted this as referring to the main body of
the inscriptions being common to both the seven-stringed and
eight-stringed instrument. Some have also associated this with the word
‘Parivadini’ inscribed inside the cave temple.
Understanding the Inscription:
Dr. C. Meenakshi renders the word jati as taala - and
sankirna jati as a new kind of tala invented by Mahendra-varman. Prof.
Sambamurthi translates jati as raga and points out that jati was used
wherever raga was meant. The Kudumiyamalai text, according Sambamurthi,
"is the first record to mention the solfa names of the seven notes, sa,
ri, ga, ma, pa, dha and ni, where the sruti-s are designated by
resorting to the vowel changes in the name of the note and reduced to a
'mnemonic system of absolute notation."
Other Inscriptions of Kudumiyamalai
There are nearly a hundred and twenty inscriptions in
Kudumiyamalai, some of which are of great importance, help to trace the
history of both of Kudumiyamalai, and of the region.
A Chozha inscription on the wall of Melak-koil.
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It is interesting to note that all the early Chozha
inscriptions in this temple are either in the Melak-koil (மேலக்கோயில்)
or on the walls of the second prakaram, and not in the main shrine of
Sikha-natha. This suggests that, as mentioned before the shrine was
remodelled, and tradition attributes the remodelling to the time of
Mara-varman Sundara Pandya I (முதலாம் மாரவர்மன் சுந்தரபாண்டியன்).
Prince and devotees, who remodelled the temple, have re-inscribed on
the prakaram and kitchen walls some of the more important grants of the
earlier sovereigns that they had to remove or obliterate in the course
of reconstruction.
Vira-pandya Inscription on the outer wall of Sri Akhilandesvari amman shrine.
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There are two early Pandya inscriptions belonging to 7th
century AD describing about some donations to the temple.
There is another interesting Pallava Grantha inscription on
the east wall of the cave temple reading ‘Parivadinidaa’ (பரிவாதினிதா).
The word can be split into Parivadinidaa. Parivadini is commonly
considered as a seven stringed instrument like harp type Vina (வீணை).
The ‘dhaa’ at the end may indicate that the notes are applicable to
that kind of instrument.
It may be mentioned here that this word ‘parivadini’ occurs
in a few other inscriptions in the district, like the cave temples in
Thirumayam (திருமயம்) and Malaiyakkoil (மலையக்கோயில்). Two sculptural
representations of a stringed instrument can be seen in the Vishnu
cave-temple at Thirumayam, and in the Mahishasura-mardini (மகிஷாசுர
மர்தினி) temple at Killukkottai (கிள்ளுக்கோட்டை). Perhaps this
instrument was known as ‘parivadhini’ during that period.
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