6. The citizens of the great market (per-angadi) (called after) Tribhuvanamahadevi[7] within the limits of Tanjavur, (a city) in Tanjavur-kurram, have to supply every day, as long as the moon and the sun endure, twenty-five plantains to the treasury of the lord in payment of the interest, — which amounts to seven and a half kasu (per year), — on the sixty kasu, which they have received after (the harvest of) the pasan in the twenty-ninth year (of the reign) of the lord Sri-Rajarajadeva, — the rate of interest being one eighth kasu per year for each kasu.

No. 38. On the first niche of the west enclosure, third inscription.

This inscription describes seven images, which had been set up before the 29^th year [of the reign of Rajarajadeva] by the same manager of the Rajarajesvara temple, who is mentioned in the inscription No. 26, and a number of ornaments, which had been given to these images by the same person (paragraphs 23 to 50) and by the inhabitants of two towns (paragraphs 51 and 59). The images represented Nambi-Aruranar (paragraphs 2, 23, 55, 59), Nangai-Paravaiyar (5, 25, 57, 66), Tirunavukkaraiyar (8, 29, 53), Tirunanasambandadigal (11, 36, 51), Periya-Perumal (14, 44), his consort Lokamahadevi (17, 47), and the god Chandrasekhara[8] (20). Of these, Periya-Perumal, ‘the great king,’ and his consort Lokamahadevi are perhaps identical with king Rajarajadeva and his queen Lokamahadevi,[9] both of whom may have been represented as worshipping the god Chandrasekhara, i.e., Siva, in whose honour the king had built the temple.

The inscription is of great importance for the history of Tamil literature, as kit forms a terminus ad quem for the time of the reputed authors of the Devaram or Muvar-padal, a collection of hymns in honour of Siva. Dr. Caldwell[10] was inclined to assign this poem to the end of the thirteenth century. But the present inscription shows, that it must have been written before the time of Rajarajadeva. For the inscription mentions each of the three authors of the Devaram, viz., Tirunanasambandar, Tirunavukkaraiyar (alias Appar) and Nambi-Aruranar (alias Sundaramurti), also the latter’s wife Nangai-Paravaiyar.

It is not improbable, that the sixty-three Tiruttondar or Saiva devotees, among whom the three authors of the Devaram are reckoned, belong to a much earlier period than that of Rajarajadeva. For one of them, who is mentioned along with the rest in Sundaramurti’s humns,[11] was Kochchengannan,[12] the son of the Chola king Subhadeva and of his queen Kamalavati.[13] This Kochchengannan appears to be identical with the Chola king Sengan, the hero of Poygaiyar’s contemporaneous Tamil poem kalavari, which w as recently translated by Mr. V. Kanakasabhai Pillai.[14] The same scholar has published extracts from a latter tamil poem, the Kalingattu-Parani, which alludes successively, without mentioning the names themselves, to the three Chola kings Kokkilli Kochchengannan and Karikala.[15] In the two only copperplate grants, which contain a genealogical account of the Chola dynasty, the same three kings are mentioned, though in different order, as ancestors of Vijayalaya, the grandfather of Parantaka I. The grant of the Bana king Hastimalla[16] enumerates them thus; _ Kokkilli, Karikala and Kochchamkan; and in the large Leyden grant, they are arranged as follows: — Karikala, Kochchamkannan and Kokkilli. To the time of Karikala or, as he is also called in Tamil,, Karikal belongs the Tamil poem Pattinappalai by Rudrangannanar,[17] and to that of Sengan the above-mentioned Kalavari.[18] As poems in the Tamil language are thus proved to have been composed in the time of the early Cholas, there is no objection to assigning the authors of the Devaram to the same period.

The legendary history of the sixty-three Tiruttondar, — and among these, of the three authors of the Devaram, — is narrated in the Periyapuranam by Sekkirar, who is said to have composed it during the reign of the Chola king Anapaya. The Tyagarajasvamin temple at Tiruvarur[19] contains an inscription of this king. The name Anapaya occurs in each of two Sanskrit verses at the end of the inscription; while in the introductory passage the king is called Ko-Rajakesarivarman, alias Tribhuvanachakravartin Sri-Kulottunga-Choladeva. In the 7^th year of his reign, he made gifts to four images, which had been set up in the Tiruvarur temple. As in the Tanjavur inscription, these were images of Aludaiya-Nambi (i.e., Sundaramurti), Paravai-Nachchiyar (the latter’s wife),[20] Aludaiya-Pillaiyar (i.e., Tirunanasambandar) and Tirunavukkarasudevar. The concluding portion of the inscription runs thus: -

“King Anapaya, whose head glitters when placed at the feet of the lord of the Golden Hall, gave land, gold, brass, silver (and) other excellent treasures to the blessed Brahmapurisa, Vagadhipati and Svasvamimitra at the shrine of the blessed lord of Arur.

“I, called Anapaya, the bee at the lotus feet of Natesa (i.e., Siva) at the Golden Hall in the excellent Vyaghragrahara,[21] bow my head at the lotus feet of (future) princes, who are disposed to protect the charitable gifts made at Lakshmyalaya[22] by other (kings).[23]

“The mother of Aludaiya-Nambi (was) Isainaniyar.

“The mother of the saint (viz., Sundaramurti), called Nani, was born at this (town of) Kamalapura, in the family of Nanasivacharya, in the Saiva (doctrine and) in the Gautama-gotra.”

The above passage shows, that king Anapaya was a worshipper of the Siva temple at Chidambaram, and adds the name of Isainaniyar,[24] the mother of Sundaramurti, to those of Brahmapurisa (i.e., Tirunanasambandar), Vagadhipati (i.e., Tirunavukkaraiyar) and Svasvamimitra (i.e., Sundaramurti.)[25]

Another inscription of the Tiruvarur temple, which is dated in the 5^th year of Ko-Parakesarivarman, alias Tribhuvanachakravartin Sri-Vikrama-Choladeva, contains a second reference to the subject of the Periyapuranam. From a written copy, which my assistant prepared during the few hours we could devote to the temple, it appears that the inscription relates to the legend of the calf, which was accidentally run over by the chariot of the son of the Chola king Manu. The same legend is located at Tiruvarur and told in other words in the introduction of the Periyapuranam (pages 10 to 12.)

Translation

1. Hail! Prosperity ! The following copper images, -[26] which had been set up in the temple of the lord Sri-Rajarajesvara until the twenty-ninth year (of the king’s reign) by Adittan Suryan, alias Tennavan Muvenda-Velan, a headman (of) Poygai-nadu, who carried on the management of the temple of the lord Sri-Rajarajesvara, — were engraved on stone, after they had been measured by the cubit measure (preserved) in the temple of the lord, after the jewels (given to them) had been weighed without the threads by the stone called (after) Dakshina-Meru-Vitankan, and after the gold had been weighed by the stone called (after) Adavallan : -

2. One solid image of Nambi-Aruranar, having two sacred arms and (measuring) seventeen viral and two torai in height from the feet to the hair.

3. One lotus on which this (image) stood, (measuring) two viral and a half in height.

4. One pedestal on which this (image) stood, joined to this (lotus and measuring) eight viral square, and three viral and two torai in height.

5. One solid image of Nangai-Paravaiyar, having two sacred arms (and measuring) sixteen viral in length.

6. One lotus on which this (image) stood, (measuring) two viral and two torai in height.

7. One pedestal, joined to this (lotus and measuring) six viral and two torai square, and three viral in height.

8. One solid image of Tirunavukkaraiyar, having two sacred arms (and measuring) twenty-two viral and two torai in height from the feet to the hair.

9. One lotus on which this (image) stood, (measuring) two viral and six torai in height.

10. One pedestal, joined to this (lotus and measuring) eight viral and six torai square, and four viral in height.

11. One solid image of Tirunanasambandadigal, having two sacred arms (and measuring) twenty-two viral and two torai in height from the feet to the hair.

12. One lotus on which this (image) stood, (measuring) two viral and two torai in height.

13. One pedestal, joined to this (lotus and measuring) nine viral and two torai square, and four viral in height.

14. One solid image of Periya-Perumal, having two sacred arms (and measuring) one muram, four viral and a half in height from the feet to the hair.

15. One lotus on which this (image) stood, (measuring) five viral and two torai in height.

16. One pedestal, joined to this (lotus and measuring) eleven viral square, and five viral and six torai in height.

17. One solid image of his consort Ologamadeviyar, having two sacred arms (and measuring) twenty-two viral and two torai in height.

18. One lotus on which this (image) stood, (measuring) five viral in height.

19. One pedestal, joined to this (lotus and measuring) eleven viral square, and five viral and two torai in height.

20. One solid brass image of Chandrasekharadeva, set up as Devaradevar[27] of Periya-Perumal, having four divine arms (and measuring) five viral and two torai in height from the feet to the hair.

21. One brass pedestal, (measuring) two viral and four torai square, and one viral in height, and (bearing) a lotus, which was joined to this (image and measured) one viral and a half in height.

22. One solid aureola of copper, covering this (image and measuring) twenty-one viral in circumference.

23. The same person gave to (the image of) Nambi-Aruranar : -

24. One necklace (tarvadam) of rudrasha (beads), — inclusive of fifty-six gold screws (suri) and fifty-six rudraksha (beads), — eight karanju and nine manjadi, and worth twenty-five kasu.

25. The same person gave to (the image of ) Nangai-Paravaiyar : -

26. Two sacred arm-rings (tirukkaikkarai), consisting of three karanju of gold, — each (consisting of one) karanju and a half of gold.

27. Two sacred foot-rings (tirukkarkarai), consisting of three karanju of gold, — each (consisting of one) karanju and a half of gold.

28. One ring (modiram), (consisting of) half a karanju (one) manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.

29. The same person gave to (the image of) Tirunavukkaraiyar : -

30. A screw (fixed in) a rudraksha (bead), weighing, — inclusive of one rudraksha (bead) which was strung on a gold thread (nul), — six manjadi and two tenths, and worth one kasu.

31. A screw (fixed in) a rudraksha (bead), weighing, — inclusive of one rudraksha (bead) which was strung on a gold thread, — six manjadi and two tenths, and worth one kasu.

32. A necklace (kanthika), weighing, — inclusive of one rudraksha (bead) [and one screw], — five ka[ranju]........... manjadi and (one) kunri, and worth eight kasu.

33. One sacred gold flower (tirupporpu), (consisting of) three quarters (of a karanju), four manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.

34. One sacred arm-ring, (consisting of) two karanju of gold.

35. One sacred arm-ring, (consisting of one) karanju and three quarters and four manjadi of gold.

36. The same person gave to (the image of) Tiruna[nasambandadigal] : -

37. A screw (fixed in) a rudraksha (bead), weighing, — inclusive of one rudraksha (bead) which was strung on a gold thread, — half a karanju and two manjadi, and worth one and a half kasu.

38. A screw (fixed in) a rudraksha (bead), weighing, — inclusive of one rudraksha (bead) which was strung on a gold thread, — half a karanju (one) manjadi and (one) kunri, and worth one and a half kasu.

39. One necklace, weighing, — inclusive of fifty-six gold screws and fifty-six rudraksha (beads), — eight karanju, four manjadi and (one) kunri and worth twenty-five kasu.

40. One sacred gold flower, (consisting of one) karanju and (one) kunri of gold.

41. One sacred arm-ring, (consisting of) two karanju and (one) kunri of gold.

42. One sacred arm-ring, (consisting of one) karanju and three quarters and four manadi of gold.

43. One sacred girdle (tiruppattigai), (consisting of) two karanju of gold.

44. The same person gave to (the image of) Periya-Perumal : -

45. Two sacred arm-rings, consisting of two karanju and a half, two manjadi and six tenths of gold, — each (consisting of one) karanju six manjadi and three tenths of gold.

46. Two sacred ear-rings (tirukkudambai), consisting of three quarters (of a karanju), two manjadi and four tenths of gold, — each (consisting of) eight manjadi and seven tenths of gold.

47. The same person gave to (the image of ) Ologamadeviyar, the consort of this (image) : -

48. Two sacred ear-rings, consisting of three quarters (of a karanju) of gold, — each (consisting of) seven manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.

49. One sacred arm-ring, (consisting of one) karanju, two manjadi and three tenths of gold.

50. One sacred arm-ring, (consisting of one) karanju and eight tenths (of a manjadi) of gold.

51. There were engraved on stone the jewels, — weighed by the stone called (after) Dakshina-Meru-Vitankan, — and the gold, -weighed by the stone called (after) Adavallan, — which had been given until the twenty-ninth year (of the king’s reign) to (the image of) Tirunanasambandadigal, which the same person had set up, by the citizens of Kuruvaniyakkudi,[28] alias Parakesaripuram, a devadana to (the temple of) the lord Sri-Rajarajesvara, in Tiruvali-nadu, (a subdivision) of Rjendrasimha-valanadu : -

52. One gold screw fixed (in) a rudraksha (bead), weighing, — inclusive of a string (nan) (with) and eye and a hook, — (one) karanju and seven manjadi and worth three and a quarter kasu.

53. To (the image of) Tirunavukkaraiyar, which the same person had set up, (the same citizens) gave : -

54. One gold s crew fixed (in) a rudraksha (bead), weighing, — inclusive of a string (with) an eye and a hook, — (one) karanju and seven manjadi, and worth three kasu.

55. To (the image of) Nambi-Aruranar, which the same person had set up, (the same citizens) gave : -

56. One gold screw fixed (in) a rudraksha (bead), weighing, — inclusive of a string (with) an eye and a hook, — (one) karanju and seven manjadi and worth three kasu.

57. To (the image of) Nangai-Paravaiyar, which the same person had set up, (the same citizens) gave: -

58. One neck-ring (pattaikkarai), (consisting of) three quarters (of a karanju) and (one) kunri of gold, — including one spiral.[29]

59. There was engraved on stone the gold, — weighed by the stone called (after) Adavallan, — which had been given until the twenty-ninth year (of the king’s reign) to (the image of) Nambi-Aruranar, which the same person had set up, by the citizens of Venni,[30] an devadana to (the temple of) the lord Sri-Rajarajesvara, in Venni-kurram, (a subdivision) of Nittavinoda-valanadu : -

60. One sacred ear-ring (tirukkambi), (consisting of one) karanju, (one) manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.

61. One sacred ear-ring, (consisting of one) karanju and (one) manjadi of gold.]

62. One string of round beads (tiral-mani-vadam), (containing) two karanju, (one) manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.

63. One sacred arm-ring, (consisting of one) karanju and three quarters and four manjadi of gold.

64. One sacred arm-ring, (consisting of one) karanju and three quarters, three manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.

65. Two sacred foot-rings, consisting of three karanju and three quarters and three manjadi of gold, — each (consisting of one) karanju and three quarters and four manjadi of gold.

66. To (the image of) Nangai-Paravaiyar, which the same person had set up, (the same citizens) gave: -

67. One sacred ear-ring, (consisting of) three quarters (of a karanju), two manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.

68. One sacred ear-ring, (consisting of) three quarters (of a karanju) and two manjadi of gold. 

No. 39. On two pillars of the west enclosure.

This inscription records, that Rajarajadeva’s senapati, who had built the enclosure of the temple,[31] set up before the 29^th year of the king’s reign and image of Ardhanarisvara,[32] to which the presented a number of ornaments.

Translation

1. Hail ! Prosperity ! The following copper image – which had been set up ;in the temple of the lord Sri-Rajarajesvara until the twenty-ninth year (of the king’s reign) by Narakkan[33] Sri-Krishna Rama, alias the general (senapati) Mummadi-Chola-brahma-marayan, a Perundaram of the lord Sri-Rajarajadeva (and a native) of Keralantaka-chaturvedimangalam in Vennadu, (a subdivision) of Uyyakkondar-valanadu, — was engraved on stone, after it had been measured by the cubit measure (preserved) in the temple of the lord, after the jewels (given to it) had been weighed without the threads and the frames by the stone called (after) Dakshina-Meru-Vitankan, and after the gold had been weighed by the stone called (after) Adavallan : -

2. One solid image of Ardhanarisvara, (measuring) three quarters (of a muram) and one viral in height from the feet to the hair. The Isvara half and two divine arms; the Uma half had one divine arm, and its copper was covered with brass.

3. One lotus on which this (image) stood, set with jewels (and measuring) two viral and a half in height.

4. One pedestal on which this (image) stood, (measuring) three quarters (of a muram), two viral and two torai in length, ten viral and two torai in length, ten viral and a half in breadth, and five viral in height.

5. One solid aureola, covering this (image and measuring) two muram and a half and two viral in circumference.

6. To this (image) were given: -

7. One sacred crown (sri-mudi), weighing, with the pinju and the lac, thirty karanju and three manjadi, and worth fifty kasu. On (it) were strung one hundred and twenty-one pearls, viz., round pearls, roundish pearls, polished pearls, small pearls and ambumudu ; (into it) were set seven small pearls and eleven diamond crystals ; and (on it) were fastened thirty-four crystals.

8. One sacred garland (tiru-malai), weighing, with the pinju and the lac, six karanju and seven manjadi, and worth twelve kasu. Into (it) were set ten small pearls, twenty-six diamond crystals and seven potti ; and (on it) were fastened thirty-two crystals.

9. One front-plate (vira-patta), weighing, — inclusive of sixteen nerunji[34] flowers, made of gold, — four karanju and three manjadi, and worth three kasu. On (it) were s truing one hundred and eleven pearls, viz., round pearls roundish pearls, polished pearls, small pearls, ambumudu, crude pearls, sappatti and sakkattu.

10. One sacred armlet (sri-bahu-valaya), weighing, — inclusive of three crystals, which were fastened on (it), — two karanju, eight manjadi and (one) kunri, and worth five kasu.

11. One sacred armlet, weighing, — inclusive of three crystals, which were fastened on (it), — two karanju and a half, two manjadi and (one) kunri and worth five kasu.

12. One sacred waist-band (udara-bandhana), weighing, — inclusive of one crystal and two diamond crystals, which were fastened on (it), — three karanju and a half and (one) manjadi, and worth seven kasu.

13. Sixteen sacred gold flowers (tirupporpu), consisting of sixty-four karanju of gold, each sacred gold flower (consisting of) four karanju of gold.

14. Four sacred gold flowers, consisting of sixteen karanju and two manjadi of gold, — each (consisting of) four karanju and (one) kunri of gold.

15. One sacred gold flower, (consisting of) four karanju and (one) manjadi of gold.

16. Five sacred gold flowers, consisting of nineteen karanju and three quarters, two manjadi and (one) kunri of gold, — each (consisting of) three karanju and three quarters, four manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.

17. Three sacred gold flowers, consisting of eleven karanju and three quarters and two manjadi of gold, — each (consisting of) three karanju and three quarters and four manjadi of gold.

18. One sacred gold flower, (consisting of) three karanju and nine manjadi of gold.

19. One sacred arm-ring (tirukkaikkarai), (consisting of one) karanju and a half, three manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.

20. One sacred arm-ring, (consisting of one) karanju and a half and two manjadi of gold.

21. One sacred arm-ring, (consisting of one) karanju and a half, four manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.

22. One sacred girdle (tiruppattigai), (consisting of one) karanju and three quarters, two manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.

23. One sacred foot-ring (tiruvadikkarai), (consisting of one) karanju and three quarters, four manjadi and (one) kunri of gold.

24. One sacred foot-ring, (consisting of) two karanju, seven manjadi and (one) kunri of gold. 

No. 40 On two pillars of the west enclosure.

This short inscription is dated in the 3^rd year of the reign of Rajendra-Choladeva and records the setting-up of a copper image by the same manager of the Rajarajesvara temple, whose name we have found in two inscriptions of the 29^th year of the reign of Rajrajadeva.[35]  It commands considerable interest, because it refers explicitly to the legend of one of the Tiruttondar, as preserved in the Periyapuranam.[36] In the 6^th chapter of this book, we are told how Meypporunayanar, a Chedi (!) king residing at Tirukkovalur,[37] was stabbed by his enemy Muttanadan, who had managed to obtain a private interview in the disguise of a Saiva devotee. The door-keeper Tattan, who intended to kill the murderer, was prevented by the dying king, who exclaimed: — “Oh Tattan ! He is a devotee of Siva; therefore do not harm him!” – or, as expressed in the verse which is prefixed to the story : — “(He is) one of us, oh Tattan!” In the subjoined inscription, the corresponding words are: — “Oh Tattan! (He is) one of us; see!” — [38] and the person who utters them, is called Milad-udaiyar, ‘the lord of Miladu.’ This designation of Meypporunayanar is synonymous with Malada-mannar, ‘the king of the inhabitants of maladu,’[39] in the opening verse, and with Malaiya-manattarukku arasar, ‘the king of the inhabitants of the great country of hills,’ in the prose version.

In the introduction to No. 38, it was mentioned that Sekkirar, the author of the original poetical version of the Periyapuranam, wrote during the reign of the Chola king Anapaya, alias Kulottunga-Choladeva. The characters of the Tiruvarur inscription of this prince are decidedly more modern than those of the Tanjavur inscriptions of Rajaraja and Rajendra-Chola. Accordingly, the Periyapuranam must have been composed after their time. On the other hand, the subjoined inscription proves that the legends, which Sekkirar embodied in his work, were not of his own invention, but must have grown up in the time of the predecessors of Rajendra-Chola.

Translation

1. Hail ! Prosperity ! In the third year (of the reign) of Ko-Parakesarivarman, alias Sri-Rajendra-Choladeva, (the following) copper images, -[40] which Adittan Suryan, alias Tennavan Muvenda-Velan, a headman (of) Poygai-nadu, who carried on the management of the temple of the lord Sri-Rajarajesvara, had caused to be made until the third year (of the king’s reign), — were engraved on stone, after they had been measured by the cubit measure (preserved) in the temple of the lord, and after the jewels (given to them) had been weighed by the stone called (after) Dakshina-Meru-Vitankan :-

2. One solid (image of) Miladudaiyar, who said: — “Oh Tattan ! (he is) one of us : see !” – having two arms (and measuring) twenty viral in height from the feet to the hair.

3. One pedestal, on which this (image) stood, joined to a lotus (and measuring) ten viral, in length, eight viral in breadth, and eight viral in height.

4. The same person gave to this (image) : -

5. One rudraksha (bead), weighing, — inclusive of seven Manjadi of gold which was set into it, — half a karanju, four manjadi and (one) kunri, and worth one kasu.

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