Tiruvalangadu plates

Tiruvalangadu plates
Name	Tiruvalangadu plates
Material	Copper plates
Created	c. 10th century CE (claiming 9th century reign)
Period	Chola dynasty
Place	Tiruvalangadu, Tamil Nadu
Location	Chennai Museum (originals reported)

Tiruvalangadu plates are a set of inscribed copper plates associated with the medieval South Indian Chola dynasty and their royal genealogy, attributed to a grant connected with Rajaraja I, Rajasimha, and other Chola rulers. The plates provide genealogical lists, royal titles, and grant formulas that have been cited in studies of Pallava succession, Chalukya interactions, and regional polity in medieval Tamilakam. Epigraphists, art historians, and numismatists have treated the plates as primary evidence alongside contemporaneous sources such as the Udayendiram plates, Kanyakumari inscriptions, and temple records from Brihadisvara Temple (Thanjavur).

Introduction

The plates are framed within the tradition of South Asian copper-plate grants exemplified by the Hoysala records, Vengi charters, and Pallava grants. They enumerate ancestral names comparable to lists in the Tirumukkudal and Kaveripattinam epigraphs and employ royal epithets used by Parantaka I, Aditya I, and later claimants such as Rajaraja Chola I. Scholarly work situates the plates amid debates about Chola origins, linking them to narratives found in the Lalgudi and Uraiyur traditions and parallel to genealogical claims in the Chola-Vijayalaya corpus.

Discovery and Provenance

The plates were reportedly recovered from the temple-compound at Tiruvalangadu in Kanchipuram district and entered collections referenced by Robert Sewell, C. Minakshi, and collectors active in the colonial period such as Col. Mackenzie and Alexander Rea. Provenance narratives trace transfers between local priests, the Madras Presidency archives, and the Government Museum, Chennai. Later catalogues by the Archaeological Survey of India and publications in the Epigraphia Indica recorded squeezes and editions; disputes over custody involved scholars like S. R. Balasubrahmanyam and institutions including the French School of the Far East.

Description and Contents

Physically, the plates consist of multiple rectangular copper leaves inscribed on both sides in continuous registers and fastened with a ring, resembling the Srirangam and Anbil copper-plate formats. Textual content includes an invocation to Siva and lists of ancestors with titles such as Parakesari and Rajakesari, land-grant formulas naming villages near Kaveri and fiscal exemptions paralleling clauses in the Naganathapuram charter. The register contains date-notations using regnal years, mentions of assemblies like the Ur and local brahmadeya grants similar to Gangaikondacholapuram epigraphs, and occasional references to Chalukya–Chola encounters and tribute relationships recorded also in Kolar and Pattadakal inscriptions.

Historical Significance and Chronology

Historians have used the plates to reconstruct Chola genealogy and to align the sequence of rulers such as Vikramaditya Varaguna-era figures, Sundara Chola lineage claims, and the emergence of imperial power culminating under Rajaraja I. Chronological readings of the date-notations have been compared with numismatic series involving Chola coinage, with synchronisms proposed against Pallava Narasimhavarman II and Rashtrakuta campaigns. The plates contribute to discussions about the transition from early Chola polities centered at Uraiyur and Kaveripattinam to imperial capitals such as Thanjavur and Gangaikonda Cholapuram.

Language, Script, and Paleography

The inscriptions are composed in medieval Tamil with Sanskritic formulae and are inscribed in a regional southern script derived from Grantha and Vatteluttu traditions. Paleographers compare letter-forms with dated specimens from Simhapuri and Mahendravadi, and studies by K. V. Raman and Iravatham Mahadevan have charted the evolution of specific graphemes, ligatures, and numerals. Orthographic patterns reveal contact with Sanskrit epigraphic conventions observable in Prakrit-influenced plates and in contemporaneous inscriptions attributed to Chalukya Pulakeshin II.

Art Historical and Epigraphic Analysis

Art historians connect the plates’ provenance and inscribed toponymy to temple patronage patterns visible in sculptural cycles at Brihadisvara Temple (Thanjavur), Airavatesvara Temple, and regional shrines at Kanchipuram. Epigraphists analyze the grant formula, the use of royal cognomina, and boundary clauses in light of land-holding practices recorded in the Chola administration corpus and comparative records such as the Hoysala inscription corpus. Comparative stylistic study links the plates to contemporaneous iconographic programs, donor portraits, and inscriptional layouts studied by scholars including N. Subrahmanian and George Michell.

Legacy and Scholarly Debates

The plates have generated debates over authenticity, interpolation, and ideological manufacture of genealogy—controversies echoed in discussions involving K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, M. S. Narayan, and revisionist scholars like N. Sethuraman. Interpretations diverge on whether the genealogical list preserves oral tradition or later retrojection to legitimize rulers such as Rajaraja I and Rajendra Chola I. The plates remain central in comparative analyses with the Tiruvarur and Kanyakumari records, continuing to inform research in South Indian history, epigraphy, and the study of medieval Dravidian polity.

Category:Chola inscriptions Category:Copper-plate grants