Project | Demos | Documentation

Contribute to Biblissima+

Subscribe to our newsletter

Contact us

Paris. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Indien 508

Go to viewer chevron_right
Source
Gallica (Bibliothèque nationale de France)
Library
Paris. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits
Shelfmark
  • Indien 508
Biblissima authority file
Date
  • 1704 at the earliest, since this is the internal date given for the last of the five land transactions recorded on the plate, dated respectively to the year Śaka 1616 (1694‒5 CE) and the year Tātu (1696‒7 CE) of the Jovian cycle for the first two, to the year Śaka 1618 (1696‒7 CE) and the year Vekutāṉiya (1698‒9 CE) of the Jovian cycle for the third, to the year Śaka 1621 (1699‒1700 CE) and the year Viṣa (i.e. Viṣu) (1701‒1702 CE) of the Jovian cycle for the fourth and to the year Cupāṉu (1703‒1704 CE) of the Jovian cycle for the fifth and last one. There is thus a discrepancy of two years between the Śaka and Jovian cycle years.
Language
  • Tamil
Title
  • Copper plate grant, furnished with partial printed translation into French
Agent
  • Role
    • Former owner
    Original form
    • Goschler
Description

  • Contents:

    This plate, engraved on recto (23 lines) and verso (26 lines) records five land transactions in connection with the upkeep of a maṇḍapa, i.e. a choultry or, in French, “chaudrie.” It appears that a certain Tiruvampalanīlaṅkarai Nayiṉār founded a maṇḍapa in Muruṅkaippākkam for Tāṇṭavatampiṟāṉ / Tāṇṭavatampirāṉ / Tāṇṭavayyar, son of Nākaliṅkatampirāṉ (p1v2), and made an endowment (p1r12‒13) for him, who, as in charge of the maṇḍapa, was residing there (p1r14‒15). In the Śaka year 1616, Nallatampi Mutaliyār and Aḻakappa Mutaliyār of Muruṅkaippākkam donated land to Tāṇṭavatampiṟāṉ (land transaction n° 1, p1r1‒p1r10). In the same Śaka year 1616, the same Tiruvampalam Nallatampi and Aḻakappaṉ made a further hereditary land donation to Tāṇṭavatampirāṉ (land transaction n° 2, p1r11‒p1r23). In the Śaka year 1618, Kūṉpāppureṭṭiyār, Paricareṭṭiyār and Kōṉērikavaṇṭaṉ of Ariyāṅkuppam made a further land donation to Tāṇṭavatampirāṉ (land transaction n° 3, p1v1‒p1v9). In the Śaka year 1621, a Reṭṭi of Kiḷiñcikuppam made a further donation (land transaction n° 4, p1v10‒p1v16). Finally, in the year Cupāṉu, four people (Tiruvampalam Nallatampi again, Tiruv(e/ē)ttakāmmacikappu Mutali, Ammaiyappaṉ Kuppaippiḷḷai, and Teṉṉavarāyaṉ Ciṉṉatampi) made a regulation of the donation (land transaction n° 5, p1v17‒p1v26).

    The engraved surface is framed by two parallel lines at the edges of the plate. The lines 25‒26 on the verso are layed-out as 5 columns.

    The text is complete.

    The plate is accompanied by a folio (180 x 120 mm), printed recto-verso, in French. On the recto is an administrative decision dated to January 17th, 1791, which has no relation to our plate, in contradistinction with the verso, where are French translations/paraphrases of two of the land transactions (n° 1 and n° 3) recorded in the plate. These translations (“Traduction des actes de donation qui se trouvent écrits sur une plaque de cuivre”) are certified by Maridas, “interprète en chef du roi au conseil supérieur et au tribunal de la Chaudrie” and dated to May 30th, 1789, Pondichéry. There are further countersigned “Pour copie” by Léger. Maridas took the Śaka years rather than the Jovian cycle years as references for the date of the transactions in his translations. Note also that, as for land transaction n° 3, the given land has, according to Maridas, an area of “30 cougis” i.e. 30 kuḻis, while the plate (p1v6) mentions an area of 50 kuḻis. This folio, or rather portion of a folio, is taken from a printed document entitled Les habitants indiens de Pondichéry à la chambre de députés (Nantes: Imprimerie Busseuil, 1846), which is in fact a petition, advocating for fiscal relief, addressed in 1845 to the French parliament by Nadour Sidam Barom, in the name of the Indian inhabitants of Pondicherry.

    Excerpts

    Plate 1, recto, lines 1‒10 = land transaction n° 1.

    (p1r1) {pcs} cālivakaṉacakāṟtam 1616 {varuṣam} cellā niṉṟa tātu {varuṣam} citti-

    (p1r2) rai {mācam} {mutal} muruṅkaippākkam nallatampi mutaliyār Aḻakappa mutaliyār Ava-

    (p1r3) rkaḷ tiruvampalanīlaṅkarai nayiṉār Avarkaḷ kaṭṭukiṟa maṇṭapam kuḷam pū-

    (p1r4) ntōṭṭam tōppu turavu yitukaḷukkāka viṭṭa nilam puñcai {kuḻi} 150

    (p1r5) yitu tāṇṭavatampiṟāṉukku kuṭuttōm yitukku yātām oruvaṟ

    (p1r6) vikātam paṇṇiṉ atē Uṇṭāṉāl keṅkaikaraiyil kārāmpa-

    (p1r7) cuvai koṇṇa tōṣattil pōka kaṭavār ākavum yituvum mā

    (p1r8) ṉiyam viṭṭatu maṇṭapattukku mēlaṇṭai puñcai {kuḻi} 50 kiḻakkē

    (p1r9) maṇal veḷiyil {kuḻi} 32 yittai Apakariccavaṉ vīṭukulaṣṣeya-

    (p1r10) m {pcs} tiruvampalam nallatampi Aḻakappaṉ {pcs}

    Translation:

    Year 1616 of the Śaka Cālivākaṉa, [that is,] year Tātu current, month of Cittirai, day 1. (We) the honourable (avarkaḷ) Nallatampi Mutaliyār [and] Aḻakappa Mutaliyār [of] Muruṅkaippākkam, [for the upkeep of] the pillared hall (maṇḍapa), the pond (kuḷam), the flower-garden (pūntōṭṭam), the grove (tōppu), and the well (turavu) that the honourable Tiruvampalanīlaṅkarai Nayiṉār has built (kaṭṭukiṟa); for all of this (yitukaḷukkāka), the land given [by us] (viṭṭa nilam) [is] 150 kuḻis of puñcai. This we have given to Tāṇṭavatampiṟāṉ. To this [gift], whoever makes obstruction/destruction, if that happens, let him be (ākavum) due (kaṭavār) to go into the sin of killing a black cow (kārāmpacuvai) on the bank of the Ganges. Furthermore, a māṉiyam that has been given [is] 50 kuḻis of puñcai on the west side of the pillared hall [and] 32 kuḻis at Maṇal Veḷi on the east side (of the pillared hall). [For] He who does wrong (apakariccavaṉ) to this (ittai), [there will be] the ruin of [his] house and family. Tiruvampalam Nallatampi [and] Aḻakappaṉ.

    Plate 1, verso = land transactions n° 3‒5.

    Abbreviations. c = column, f = folio, lm = left margin, p = plate, r = recto, rm = right margin, U = unit (codicological and/or textual), v = verso. GOML = Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras/Chennai. MTL = Madras Tamil Lexicon. TMSSML = Tanjore Maharaja Serfoji Sarasvati Mahal Library.

    Transliteration conventions.

    Unmarked puḷḷi, ō, and ē restored. Conjectural (whether the text is not clearly legible or the character is ambigous, e.g. kāl or length of o and e) readings between parentheses. Alternative readings between parentheses separated by slash. Lost or entirely illegible character: "?". Crossed-out character: "X". Conjectural restoration of lost or entirely illegible between square brackets. Uppercase for initial vowels (in excerpts only). Unquoted text represented by (...). Conjunct letter: e.g. t°, to be read tum or tam. Grantha letters in bold. Symbols/Abbreviations made explicit, between curly brackets: {pcs} = piḷḷaiyār cuḻi, short form; {pcl} = piḷḷaiyār cuḻi, long form, that is, with long horizontal stroke towards right; {varuṣam}, {mācam}, {tēti}; {line-filler}. Unfoliated folio number between square brackets, e.g. "f[1]r". Numerals normalised to decimal notation, e.g. "1121" not "1000 1 100 2 10 1". Hyphen occasionaly used to mark in-word components. Hyphen systematically used at the end of a line when the line-beginning is within a word or within a cīr. Sandhi split to the minimum: overshort u occasionally restored as an apostrophe. Stanzas split by cīr, as far as possible. aṭi boundary marked by "‡".

    Physical Description:

    South India, Tamilnadu. Copper plate in fairly good state of preservation. Slight damages on the left side of plate and at one corner. Green oxydation, here and there, but excellent readability. 1 plate. 305 x 20 mm. Tamil script.

    Custodial History:

    Don de Madame Goschler.

Place
Rights
  • Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits
License
Digitisation
Manifest URL
Related
Biblissima portal
Library logo