Hindu inscription from China

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Temple; the idol installed was named after the king of the place, Chekachai

Khan, (son of Kublai Khan?) and the temple duly named Thirukkaneeswarar temple.

Anyway, the existance of a Hindu temple in Quanzhou, and its Tamil reporting

goes to show the trading partnership of south India and China. he details of

six lines in Tamil of the Kalvettu:1. harah svasti sri sagaptam 1203 vatu

cittirai2. ccittirai nal sri ce[kace]kan tirumenikku nan3. raka udaiyar

tiruk[ka]niccuramudaiya nayanarai4. eriyaruiap panninar campanda perumal5. ana

tavaccakkaravartikal ce[ka]caikan parman6. padiAccording to Prof. Noboru

Karashima of Tokyo Taisho university, "The above text reveals that in 1281 a

Tamilian called ChampandaPerumal alias tavach-chakkravartikal, by permission of

Chekachai Kan, i. e.,

Chchchai Kahan (the Chinese Emperor Kublai Khan?) installed an idol of Siva

there to pray for the health of the authority. The installation of Siva idol

may well be taken for the establishment of a Siva temple which is called as

Thirukkanichuram obviuosly named after the emperoer Khan and it is quite

interesting to note in this connection that in Quanzhou there are still many

pieces of stone sculptures and pillars with carved designs which represent

Hindu religion. The sculptures and pillars remaining in a Buddhist temple

called the kaiyuansi were studied by A K KUmaraswamy but since 1950 many more

pieces have been excavated. These Hindu sculptures and pillars indicate that

there was once a fairly big Hindu temple in Quanzhou. It has been suggested by

a

Chineses scholar that a Hindu temple called the Fanfosi was constructed by a

son-in-law of Pu Shougeng a famous muslim high official living in Quanzhou

during the thirteenth century. But the Tamil inscription mentioned above may

explain better the circumstances in which a Hindu temple was established in

Quanzhou. Anyway, the existance of Siva sculptures and a Tamil inscription

reporting the establishment of a Hindu temple is a sure indication that there

was a considearble Hindu Tamil population in Quanzhou during the thirteenth

century"

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