Hi Bill,

Thanks for this interesting material!

I am willing to contribute ... if time permits ;-)

Could you share more (and higher-resolution) pictures?

 

Here is my quick reading and translation of one of these (“image3”).

 

(1) {piḷḷaiyār cūḻi}

(2) civalōkam· –

(3) pōṇavar·kaḷ· A-

(4) ṭaiyāḷam· –

(5) mut·tiyaṉ· Iraṇ- –  

(6) ṭāvatu kumāṟaṉ

(7) cantirappiḷḷai –

(8) yeṟanta nāḷ …

(9) …

 

Sign/mark [of/for] one who has gone [to]/ reached the Śivalōka.

The day when Cantirappiḷḷai, the son of Muttiyaṉ the second, died (yeṟanta, i.e. iṟanta) [is] … [the date appears to be stated in lines 8-9, which I am unable to read.]

 

As for references, you could check

Cotton, Julian James. List of Inscriptions on Tombs or Monuments in Madras: Possessing

Historical or Archaeological Interest. 2 vols. Edited by B. S. Baliga. Madras: Government

Press, 1946. [available, I think, on internet archives]

 

Here are some pictures of late-20th/21st-century epitaphs, dating back to the good old days when fieldwork in India was possible. These were taken at the entrance of an Aiyanar temple in Pudukkottai district, between Kīraṉūr and Virālimalai:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qky65bxbtg5ex8b/AADuTv5N2cXPZ8UDg6-CGTUEa?dl=0

Maybe knowledgeable colleagues in this list might enlighten me on this practice.

 

With very best wishes.

 

Manu