The Velurpalaiyam plates of Nandivarman III is a 9th-century

copper-plate grant Indian copper plate inscriptions are historical legal records engraved on copper plates in India. Donative inscriptions engraved on copper plates, often joined by a ring with the seal of the donor, was the legal document registering the act of endo ...

which was found at the village of Velurpalaiyam, around 7 miles from the town of

Arakkonam Arakkonam () is a railway town and suburb of Chennai within Chennai Metropolitan Area limit, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, with a population of 78,395 per the census 2011. It is in the newly created Ranipet district, about from Ranipet head ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, India. The grant records the gift of a village to a temple of

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

by the

Pallava The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The dynasty rose to prominence after the downfall of the Satavahana dynasty, with whom they had formerly served as fe ...

king,

Nandivarman III Nandivarman III was an Indian monarch of the Nandivarman II line who ruled the Pallava kingdom from 846 to 869. He was the son of Dantivarman and grandson of Nandivarman II. Reign Nandivarman III, who was a powerful monarch, tried to reverse ...

(). The inscriptions on the plates are in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

and partly in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

(employing the Grantha script) and additionally provide a valuable genealogical record of the Pallavas.

References

{{Reflist Indian inscriptions