Pallava Antiquities

We shall therefore study : 1° the tenor of the inscription ; 2° the style of the temple ; 3° the form of the letters of the alphabet used in the inscription. [...] Section I. The tenor of the inscription The beginning and the end of the inscription are concealed by a structure of bricks built in front of the temple. [...] From him of the name DrOrli pure by the perforance of great penance there appeared as the sciences of the Vedanga from the Veda the ruler of the earth named Pallava From whom ( did descend ) as the floods of the Ganges from the moon 4 the great family of the Pallvas sanctified by treading in the path (of righteousness) holy and so worthy of great esteem. [...] At what period were the first and the fourth tiers written ? As the second and third tiers are of the time of Rajasirhha it is extremely probable that the first and the fourth lines are contemporaneous with the two others that is to say that the four tiers have been written at the time of the construction of the temple by Rajasirhha. [...] The discovery of the inscription in the temple of Panamalai has proved on the contrary that at the time of itajasithha different kinds of alphabets were used and that a difference in the stage of evolution of the letters does not at all indicate a difference in the ages.