page_title: Velvikudi inscription
section_title: Sanskrit portion: Mythical genealogy
hierarchical_section_title: Velvikudi inscription / Content / Sanskrit portion: Mythical genealogy
caption_attribution_description: English: Velvikudi inscription (1)
context_page_description: The Velvikudi inscription is an 8th-century bilingual copper-plate grant from the Pandya kingdom of southern India. Inscribed in Sanskrit and Tamil languages, it records the renewal of a grant of the Velvikudi village to a brahmana by the Pandya king Nedunjadaiyan Varaguna-varman I alias Jatila Parantaka in c. 769-770 CE.
context_section_description: The inscription begins with a Sanskrit portion that invokes the God Shiva, and describes the mythical lineage of the Pandya kings, naming the sage Agastya as their family priest. It also gives the following account of the dynasty's origin:
  At the end of the previous kalpa (age), a king named Pandya ruled the coastal region. At the beginning of the present kalpa, this king was reborn as Budha, the son of the Moon. Budha's son Pururavas introduced the dynasty's emblem - a pair of fish, and shared his throne and taxes with Indra. Pururavas' descendant Maravarman was a patron of the learned, who conquered several enemies and gave away heaps of gold.
  Maravarman's son Ranadhira was an able ruler like his ancestors, and Ranadhira's son Maravarman (II) alias Rajasimha was a powerful, prosperous, truthful and learned ruler. The enemy king Pallavamalla ran away from the battlefield when faced with Rajasimha, wondering if the Pandya king was Shiva, Vishnu, or Indra. Rajasimha generously distributed his wealth among the brahmanas, beggars and temples. He married the daughter of the Malava king, and their son was the next ruler, Jatila. (Sastri identified Malava with modern Mala-nadu.) Jatila alias Parantaka was almost equal to Skanda, the son of Shiva.
caption: Velvikudi inscription (1)
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