Date:27/09/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/09/27/stories/2004092706510600.htm

Tamil Nadu

Copper plates give details of Vijayanagara kingdom

By Our Staff Reporter

Vijayanagara dynasty copper plate collected from a trader in Tirunelveli.

ERODE, SEPT. 26. Three ancient copper plates with etchings on the Vijayanagara kingdom have been collected from a Tirunelveli brass vessel shop. The plates, each weighing 2.636 kg, 21 cm in length and 18 cm in width, have been handed over by a numismatic inspector of Tiruchengodu, Namakkal district, to the Kongu Research Centre founder Pulavar S. Rasu.

Mr. Rasu said the etchings were written on August 29, 1544 (Tamil year, Salivahana 1466, Aavani), when the legal heir of Sri Krishnadevarayar ruled the Vijayanagara kingdom. The plates had details of the role of the Vijayanagara king, Achutha Deva Maharayar (son of Krishnadevarayar).

His chief secretary, Mallappa Naicker, was in charge of Jayasinganadu (present Tirunelveli area).

Land to villagers

Mallappa Naicker, on the orders of the king, granted sites to 87 Brahmins at Munnerpallam village and 35,165 acres of land to villagers. Income from the land was divided into four portions and granted to 87 Brahmins, an Eswaran temple and for propagating puranas and teaching the Vedas.

The etchings say all Brahmins are Vaishnavites, but they visit the Eswaran temple.

The plates had details of several villages in the Tirunelveli area and of Tamil kings who ruled southern Tamil Nadu.