Mampalli copper plate

Mampalli copper plate (10th century AD)

The Mampalli copper plate (974 AD), also romanised as Mamballi, records a donation from the chiefly family of Venad (in present-day Kerala) to the Chengannur Temple. The inscription is the earliest epigraphical record to mention the Kollam Era (referred to as the "Kollan-Tonri Era", year 149).

The record is engraved on both sides of a single copper plate in Vattezhuthu, with necessary Grantha characters, in an early form of Malayalam language. The plate was originally owned by Mampalli Madhom near Trivandrum and is now preserved at the Padmanabhapuram Palace Museum.

A second plate, considered a companion to the first and dated to approximately the same period, is owned by Mampalli Madhom.

Contents

The Mampalli record is notable for containing two royal deeds by the chiefly family of Venad.

(a) First deed (as an attipperu)

This deed records a meeting between Srivallavan Kotai, the chieftain (the utaiyar) of Venad, and the committee of Brahmin village elders of Chengannur (Tiruchenkunrur Parutai Perumakkal) at the Panainkavil palace in Kollam.

Srivallavan Kotai donated the sole proprietary rights of the deity (the pattaraka) of the Ayirur Temple — originally installed by Tirukkalaiyapuram Aditya Umayamma (Tirukkalaiyapurattu Atichan Umaiyammai) — along with the land assigned to the Ayirur deity (the landed property of the Ayirur Temple), to Aditya Umayamma.

(b) Second deed (as a kizhitu)

Aditya Umayamma, in turn, donated what she received — the proprietary rights and the landed property of the Ayirur Temple — to Chengannur Temple as a subordinate property endowment (kizhitu). This included provisions for routine expenditures and the payment of a protection fee (rakshabhoga) to the village assembly secretaries (potuvals).

The village assembly secretaries (potuvals) were responsible for protecting the Ayirur Temple and its property and were to receive 200 para (a unit of measure) of paddy annually as protection fee (rakshabhoga). A fine was also prescribed: anyone who violated the agreement — by obstructing cultivation or confiscating property in the kizhitu — along with their accomplices, was required to pay a fine of 200 kalanju (a unit of measure) of gold.

Witnesses to the transaction

The following individuals are listed as witnesses:

• Murunkaiyur Tevan Pavittiran
• Itaiyamanam Cannaran Kandan
• Manalmukku Kantan Tomataran
• Punalur Iravi Parantavan
• Kutakottur Parantavan Kandan

Scribe: Chattan Chataiyan, the secretary (potuval) of Chengannur.