Kaladi and Sankara

[Lakshmi Srinivas]

--- Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan <Palaniappa at AOL.COM>
wrote:
> In tirunAvukkaracu's case, this name was coined for
> him. So there was no need
> to qualify his name with a place name. If we had a
> good database of
> inscriptions, one can look for ArUrc cuntaran2.
>
> In any case, we do find caGkaran2 accompanied by
> place name in another
> instance. SII 14, no. 144 has the following name
> "..cEri ko/OTTaiyUrc
> caGkaran2 civatEvapaTTac cOmAci". This inscription
> is in Mannarkoyil in
> Ambasamudram taluk in Tirunelveli district. It
> mentions the scribe's name as
> cURRi caGkaran2An2a camaiJcacappiriyan2. SII 14,
> no.194 in Cermatevi in the
> same taluk mentions one caGkaran2 kaNavati. Note
> these places are in the same
> western Tirunelveli region as kAlaTiccaGkaran2. SII
> 14, no. 231 in
> Vijayanarayanam, in Nanguneri taluk in Tirunelveli
> District mentions a nampi
> caGkaran2 vAcutEvan2. SII 5, no. 404 in nellaiyappar
> temple mentions a
> cEtuGkanATTuc caGkara nArAyaNamUrtti
> tiruvELaikkARan2. SII 5, no. 412  in the
> same temple mentions a caGkaranArAyaNap perumpilARu
> in tirunelvEli. The same
> inscription mentions caGkaran2pATiyAr who
> contributed oil.  SII 5, no. 437 in
> the same temple mentions a vaTTamaNi caGkara
> nArAyaNabhaTTan2.
>
> The popularity of caGkaran2 as a name in the
> 12th-13th centuries in the
> Tirunelveli area is beyond doubt. caGkaran2pATi is a
> non-issue. It referred
> to oil-pressers and was derived from cakra. The
> interpretation of kAlaTi in
> the meanings suggested can be ruled out. No person
> of the status enjoyed by
> the mazavarAyan2 is going to call his son a servant.
> (kAlaTi literally means
> "at the feet". In fact, precisely due to this, a
> chieftain would not name
> his child kAlaTi without the additional piece of
> information provided by the
> name caGkaran2. I do not think the place name kAlaTi
> was as widely known as
> ArUr.) So the rationale for the use of kAlaTi must
> be that it referred to a
> place. (Note there is no instance of kAlaTi being
> used by an elite person as
> a result of any vow or religious reason where they
> deliberately choose a
> negative name.) If at all one wants to give a name
> meaning a servant of god
> Sankara, then it has to caGkaran2 kAlaTi and not
> kAlaTiccaGkaran2.
> Redundancy in language is there to minimize
> information loss in
> communication. Given the status of the chieftain,
> and the specific form
> kAlaTiccaGkaran2, the conclusion is inescapable that
> it referred to Sankara
> of Kaladi. There is no justification to interpret
> the components of "kAlaTic
> caGkaran2" as being in any way different from those
> of "ko/OTTaiyUrc
> caGkaran2".
>
> Regards
> S. Palaniappan
>

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