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CHOLAS
reign. It records that Periyuḍaiyār Attimal[l*]an alias Vikramaśōla-Vāṇakularāyan,
the Malayamān chief of Kiḷiyūr,
made provision for the worship of the
goddess set up by him in the temple at Māriṅgūr, in Kūḍal-Ilāḍappāḍi (a subdivision) of Rājarāja-vaḷanāḍu. The title of this chief seems to suggest that
the inscription may belong to Kulōttuṅga II, the successor of Vikrama-Chōḷa.
Another Malaimān chief who was a subordinate of Kulōttuṅga was Malaiyan
Periya-uḍaiyān alias Ediriliśōla-Vāṇakularāyan of Kiḷiyūr, which is said to be
in Mēlāmūr-nāḍu, a subdivision of Tirumunaippāḍi (No. 85).
Rajadhiraja II.
42 Of Rājādhirāja II there are two inscriptions one from Māraṅgiyūr
(South Arcot district) and the other from Tirukkoḷḷikkāḍu (Tanjore district).
The latter (No. 134) lives astronomical details corresponding to A.D.
1171, November 1, Monday and registers a gift of money for a lamp in the
temple by Vēdavanamuḍaiyān Karu ṇākaradēvanār alias Amani. . . . .kōnār
of Palaiyanūr in Palaiyanūr-nāḍu, a subdivision of Jayaṅgoṇḍaśōla-maṇḍalam,
which is identical with Palaiyanūr, a hamlet pf Tiruvālaṅgāḍu form where also
came Vēdavanamuḍaiyān Ammaiyappan Pallavarāyan of No. 474 of 1905.
Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa III alias Vīrarajendra.
43. Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa III is represented in the collection by three
inscriptions from Chidambaram. Two of these with the introduction Puyalvāyttu, etc., dated in his 7th year (Nos. 3 and 4) call him Vīra-Rājēndradēva.
Another record, which is from Māraṅgiyūr,
without any historical introduction
and dated in the 6th year of Tribhuvanachakravartin Vīrarājēndra
may also be assigned to this king. Like the other inscriptions of this period
secured from Chidambaram, these give some interesting glimpses of land
transactions associated with their grant to the temple. In one of these
(No. 3) two persons Vijayarājan of Vēḷūr in Rājēndraśōla-vaḷanāḍu and
Ponnamudan of Śirukuḍi in Uyyakoṇḍār-vaḷanāḍu purchased some plots
of land for forming a flower-garden to the temple, in your village from the mūlaparishad of Perumbarrappuliyūr in the name of a certain Kavuśiyan
Mahēsvaran Kumaran of Mitunikkuḍi. These lands comprised two kinds, taramperra (assessed) and taramili or aḷavil-nīṅgal (not assessed). The taramili lands were utilised as guhai for the tapasvins and as site for the flower-garden.
The former kind, viz., those entered in the accounts as assessed lands from
which taxes were being realized by the assembly hitherto, were endowed by the
donors for the upkeep of the garden, and on their petition to the king the
taxes due thereon were henceforth remitted and so entered in the accounts
of the Varikku-kūruśeyvān (assessing officer ?). The four tenants looking after
the flower-garden were also exempted from the kuḍimai services. All the concerned documents were to be deposited in the temple treasury. This document
was issued over the signature of eight officers under the orders of the king.
Almost the same kind of transaction is recorded in No. 4 dated a few months
later and in No. 7 dated in the 11th year of Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷadēva. In all
these three transactions, it may be stated, the lands were purchased by the
donors not in their own name the original owners, nor in the name of the
A new procedure in land-gift.
temple to which the endowment was
made, but in the name of some
entirely different individual. The reason for this procedure is not clear from
the contents of the inscriptions. It is interesting to note that among the
owners mentioned in the last record from whom the lands were purchased by
the donor, figures a certain Dāmōdiran Irundanārāyaṇa-Bhaṭṭan of Māriṅgūr
who is referred to as a teacher (or purōhit ?) depending upon the village for his
maintenance (grāmāśrayam-irukkum-uvātti).
Rajaraja III.
44. Of Rājarāja III there are eight inscriptions ranging in date from the
3rd of the 24th year of his reign. One of these is from Kaṇṇanūr (No. 142) in
the Trichinopoly district, while the rest are from the South Arcot district and
mostly from Chidambaram. No. 9 from the last mentioned village registers an endowment for a flower-garden to the god after its purchase from the Mūlaparishad of Perumbarrappuliyūr by Sōmanāthadēva alias Uḍaiyār Svāmidēvar
of Śāṇḍilya-gōtra who hailed from the
Uttarāg-rahāra in Uttara-rāshṭra of
Uttarāpatha. The donor is referred to at the end of the inscription in respectful terms and hence he seems to have been a very influential person at the
time and probably the religious head of some maṭha at the place. Rājarāja’s
other inscriptions record mostly gifts of lands made after purchasing them, to
the temple at Chidambaram, which were made tax-free by order of the king.
One of the records (No. 8) mentions certain lands which were in the enjoyment
of Veḷichchēri Savarṇan Gautaman Svāmi Kumaran Aruḷāḷabhaṭṭan alias
Savarṇa-Chakravarti of Uttamasōlamaṅgalam in Rājādhirāja-vaḷanāḍu from
the 12th year of the king and which were now purchased from his sons by
a certain lady for being endowed to the temple. This Savarṇa-Chakravarti is
already known to us from an inscription of the time of Kulōttuṅga III at
Tiruchchengāṭṭaṅguḍi in the Tanjore district (No. 68 of 1913).
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