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SOUTH INDIAN INSCRIPTIONS
VOLUME
XIII
CHOLA
INSCRIPTION
INTRODUCTION
11. The Chola expedition to Ceylon also finds mention
in a record from Tirunagesvaram (No. 197). The two Sanskrit verses with which
the inscription opens are unfortunately damaged, but with the help of these and
the Tamil portion of the record we can make out that Princess Arinjigai-Piratti
the daughter of Arikulakesari (and hence another sister of Sundara-Chola) who
was married to a Bana chief, set up an image of (a deity called)
Amarasundaradeva in the temple and made provision for offerings and worship to
that image. This was very probably in memory of her husband who fell fighting
along with the Kodumbalur general Parantakan Siriyavelar on the battle field in
Ceylon, since the Sanskrit portion mentions Simhala and refers to some heroic
fight which âthe ornament of the Bali familyâ, viz., her husband, the Bana
chief, put up against his enemies.
12. A dynasty of chiefs known as the Paluvettaraiyar
figures largely in the inscriptions copied at Kila-Paaluvur and Mela-Paluvur in
the Tiruchchirappalli District. They seem to have held positions of power and
influence under the Cholas from the time of Parantaka I and to have been
related to the royal family by marriage. We find it mentioned in A.R. No. 231
of 1926 dated in the 12th year of Parantaka, that Paluvettaraiyar
Kandan Amudanar fought, on behalf of his Chola overlord, a victorious battle at
Vellur against the forces of the Pandya king and his Ceylonese ally, in which
the Pandya lost his life. To commemorate this success the Commander Nakkan
Sattan of Paradur made a gift of a perpetual lamp to the temple of
Tiruvalandurai-Mahadeva at Siru-Paluvur.
It is perhaps this Amudanar who is referred to in the Anbil
Plates of Sundara Chola as a Kerala prince whose daughter was married to
Parantaka I and bore him prince Arinjaya (Ep. Ind. Vol. XV, p. 50). By
âKerala princeâ should be meant a relation of the Chera king, since we know
that the Chera contemporary of Parantaka I was Vijayaraghavadeva (A.R. No. 169 of 1912), the probable
successor of Sthanu-Ravi the friend and ally of Aditya I (S.I.I., Vol.
III, No. 89). He must have taken service under the Chola like the Kerala
general Vellankumaran under prince Rajaditya (A.R. No. 739 of 1905), and his
help of Parantaka might have been situably recognized by the king by the grant
of chiefship over a large tract of land. Tappildarma Pallavaraiyan to whom we
were introduced on P. IV as the perundaram of Arinjaya calls himself a
Paluvettaraiyan.
A descendant of Kandan Amudanar â probably his son â was
Paluvettaraiyar Maravan Kandanar who finds prominent mention in the records of
Sundara-Chola and his successor Uttama-Chola. He is represented in this volume
by five inscriptions dated between the 10th and 13th
years of the reign of the former. Nos. 208, 215 and 344 state that with the
permission of this chief, the Nagarattar, the Todapatti-Chettigal
and the authorities of the two temples at Paluvur had it engraved on stone that
he manrupadu takes payable by them were to be on the same lines as at
Nandipuram. It is of interest to note here that the rules obtaining at
Nandipuram were regarded as model for some other villages also. An instance of
this is to be found in C.P. No. 10 of 1913-14 referred to in para. 10 above,
wherein Malavaraiyan Sundarasolan, the same as Kolli-Malavan Orriyuran is
stated to have ordered the adoption of the rate prevailing at Nandipuram in
collecting the taxes on house-sites, etc., in his region. No. 236 registers an
assignment of 24 veli of land at Pasungulam on permanent lease to a
private individual with certain obligations to the temple, under the orders of
the same Paluvettaraiyar Maravan Kandanar, thus reflecting the chiefâs high
estate.
13. No. 225 from Udaiyargudi which is dated in the 12th
year of the king records an endowment of two plots of land, one by Adittan
Kodaippirattiyar, the queen of Arinjigai-Panmar who died at Arrurâ and the
other by Udaiyapirattiyar Viman Kundavaiyar another queen, for providing water
for the sacred bath of the deity and for offerings. No. 224 from the same place
records another gift by the latter queen who is called the mother of Arinjiya-Pirantakadevar
by which is evidently meant Parantaka II Sundara-Chola. This is at variance
with the statement in the Anbil Plates of Sundara-Chola that he (Parantaka II)
was the son of Arinjaya by a Vaidumba princess named Kalyani, unless we
identify this lady with Viman Kundavaiyar herself ; or, she might be a
step-mother of Parantaka II. Viman Kundavaiyar again figures in the 14th
year of the king (No. 249) as a donor to the temple at Tiruvisalur, and in No.
271 from the same place dated in the 17th year of the king she is
referred to as the Queen Dowager (?) (Purvadeviyar).
14. An inscription from Koyil-Tevarayanpettai dated in the
14th year of the king (No. 250) provides an interesting example of
the encouragement given to learning in ancient times. It registers an endowment
of 20 karunkasu made by one Bradayan (Bharadvajan) Senda[n]
Nakkapiran-Bhatta Sarvakratuyaji (the same as Senda Nakkan of No. 169 of the
kingâs 7th year) of Kurramangalam, who stipulated that the sum of 3 kasu
accruing from the amount as interest every year should be given as a prize to
the best of the competitors (excluding the successful candidates of the
previous years) who recited prescribed portions of Jaiminiya-Samaveda
before the deity on the night of Tiruvadirai in Margali month, evidently as
part of the festival in the temple.
Similar examples of encouragement to learning are provided
in Nos. 170 and 342 both of the time of Rajaraja I. The former registers
several gifts to the temple including an endowment to two persons reciting the Tiruppadiyam
and another to 25 Brahmins who were to recite Talavakara-Samaveda,
Taittiriya-Veda and Chhandogya-Samaveda before god in the temple at
Kuttalam (Tanjore) built bySembiyan-Mahadevi, the mother of Uttama-Chola. The
latter record mentions an endowment made as Mahabharata-vritti for the
(daily) reading of the Mahabharata in the temple.
The latest date known for Parantaka II is the 17th
year of his reign. Nos. 277 and 278 from Koyil-Tevarayanpettai (Tanjore
District) and No. 281-A from Chintamani (Chingleput) all dated in this year
give the appellation Madiraikonda to the king. The first of these refers
to gifts made previously to the temple in the 13th, 14th
15th and 17th years of the king, and (curiously) to one
made in the 19th year also which is evidently a mistake for some
other date. The last inscription is important as indicating the northernmost
limit of the Chola kingdom at this period. Chintamani which is called by the
name Tiruppagavanrurai in the record is said to be âas sacred a place on the
east coast as Gokarnam is on the westâ.
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15.
Rajaraja I : More than 50 inscriptions in this volume
may be referred to Rajaraja I. They range up to the 22nd year of his
reign, though it is rather peculiar that they do not begin with his famous
historical introduction Tirumagalpola, etc., which we find generally in
his records later than his eighth year. In about ten of them, all from the
Tanjore District, we find prominent mention of Sembiyan (or Pirantakan)
Madeviyar, the mother of Uttama-Chola, as the donor of rich endowments to the
temples including those for the supply of water from the river for the sacred
bath of the deities on Sankranti day. One such inscription is No. 144
from Tiruvenkadu which gives a consolidated list of all the gifts made to the
temple at that place up to the 6th year of the king by this lady and
by other members of the royal family at different times. Thus gifts made in the
second year of Gandaraditya alias Mummudi-Chola by the queen ; in the 4th
year of Parakesari (Uttama-Chola) by herself and by a certain Koyirpillaiyar ;
in the 10th and 11th years of Parakesari Uttama-Chola by
the king himself; in the third year of Rajakesari (Rajaraja) by
Sembiyan-Mahadevi and by Sorabbaiyar Tribhuvana-Mahadeviyar, a queen of
Uttama-Chola ; and lastly in the sixth year (of Rajaraja I) by
Sembiyan-Mahadevi are all mixed up together and consolidated for record. It is
of interest to find included at the end of the inscription a gift made by this
queen for the merit of her servant (adiyal) Ilaichchiyan Malapadi.
A visit paid by queen Panchavanmadeviyar to the temple at
Tiruvidaimarudur in the fifty year of the king finds mention in No. 133 which
states that the occasion was marked by a gift of land made by her for the
upkeep of a gardener looking after the champaka garden which had been
presented by Sembiyan-Mhadevi.
16. The present village of Olagapuram in the South Arcot
District evidently derives its name from Lokamahadevi a queen of
Rajaraja I. Probably in the wake of its foundation was also built the Siva
temple which is now in ruins. For we learn from No. 54 dated in the third year
of Rajaraja that Ambalavan Gandaradittanar, a perundaram nobleman of the
king, erected a stone temple to Srikayilayattu-Paramasivami at
Ulogamadevipuram,, a taniyur in Oyma-nadu, and made a gift of sheep for
burning a lamp in the temple. In another inscription from the same place dated
in the 7th year of the king (No. 167) this chief figures again as
the donor of a flower-garden to the temple. He is herein called Gangan
Ambalavan Gandaraditta-Vlupparaiyan of Kuvalalam (Kolar) in the Ganga 6,000
province. His full name is given as Gangan Ambalavan Gandaradittan alias
Mummudisola-Vilupparaiyan in No. 61 of the kingâs 3rd year from
Udaiyargudi, which states that 19 veli of land was endowed to the temple
in his name for the daily feeding of 56 Brahmins in the temple.
Another officer or chief who is said to have belonged to the
perundaram of Mummudi-Chola (Rajaraja I) and who hailed from Kuvalalam
was Ambalavan Paluvurnakkan alias Vikramasola-Maharajan. He built of
stone the Srivimana of the temple at Govindaputtur and endowed land for
worship therein in the 3rd year of the king (No. 76). This chief
figures largely in the reign of Uttama-Chola under this title. In a record from
the same place dated 2 years later (No. 124) he is mentioned with the title
Rajaraja-Pallavaraiyan.
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17. The chiefs of the Paluvettaraiyar family
who figured in the inscriptions of Sundara-Chola are mentioned in the records
of this reign also, wherein they are referred to in terms of respect implying
the high position they were still holding. Nos. 98 and 171, dated in the 4th
and 7th years of the king and No. 298 of the 22nd year
mention respectively Paluvettaraiyar Kandan Maravan and Paluvettaraiyar Kumaran
Maravan. It is not clear whether the two names refer to one and the same
person, or to father and son, which seems more probable. From No. 98 we learn
that Kandan Maravan had founded the temple of Tiruttottam-Udaiyar at
Mannupperumpaluvur in Kunrakkurram, and that he gave all the right of worship
therein to a resident of Tiruchchiruvalandai on the representation of the
supervisor of the temple, while he was staying at Senapuram in Maladu. No. 298
says that under orders of Kumaran Maravan a certain Vadugan Madhavan of Poygaikkuruvidam
reclaimed a portion of devadana land at Uragankudi and gave it to the
temple of Avanigandharva-Isvaragarattu-Mahadeva.
Still another member of the Paluvettaraiyar family besides
Kumaran Maravan mentioned above â if not identical with him â was
Palavettaraiyar Kumaran Kandan figuring in No. 235. By a slight
mistinterpretation in the text of this record the chief has been taken to be
son of Pagaividai-isvarattu-Devanar, whereas the latterâs son was correctly
Nakkan Pudi, who under orders of Kumaran Kandan brought some fallow lands at
Uragankudi under cultivation and presented them to the temple for the
maintenance of two lamps. Two daughters of this Devanar of Paluvur are also
known one of them being Nakkan Akkaranangai who was married to a Chera prince
(No. 153) and the other, Nakkan Panchavanmadevi, a queen of Rajaraja I (A.R. No. 385 of 1924)
18. Another prominent feudatory of the king was the chief
of Miladu in the present South Arcot District. No. 63 from Tiruvamattur
dated in the kingâs 3rd year records a gift of lamp to the temple by
the chief Raman Siddhavadavan alias Vikramasola-Miladudaiyan of
Bhargava-gotra. His wife Pulisayyan Sami Abbai also known as Milada-Madeviyar
the donor of a lamp to the temple at Kilur (No. 104) is called the daughter of
the Pandya king. An inscription from Tiruvisalur of the 3rd year of
the king (No. 39) registers an endowment of land to provide for 108 pots of
water being supplied on every Sankranti day for the sacred bath of the
deity, made by Siddhavadavan Suttiyar a queen of Uttama-Chola and thedaughter
of a Miladu chief whose name is not however given. She must have been either a
sister or a daughter of this Vikramasola-Miladudaiyar.
Still another feudatory chief of Rajaraja was Madhurantakan
Achchapidaran son of Virsola-Ilangovelar of Kodumbalur, who made a gift
of 30 kalanju of gold for the daily feeding of a Brahmin in a matha at
Govindapadi in Valla-nadu, a subdivision of Damar-kottam. No. 33 from
Tirumalpuram in the North Arcot District with records this gift is dated in the
3rd year of rajakesarivarman who is distinctly called Rajaraja in
the Sanskrit verse at the beginning of the inscription. This is an important
feature of the record as showing that the name Rajaraja had been
borne by the king from the very beginning of his reign, and not conferred
on him in his 19th year by the temple authorities at Chidambaram as
suggested in S.I.I., Vol II (int. p. 5). This fact is confirmed by
another epigraph as will be seen presently.
19. No. 149 from Little Kanchipuram dated in the 6th
year of Rajakesarivarman deserves notice as fixing an important land-mark
in the early military campaigns of Rajaraja. It registers an order of the king
to his minister Kon Vidividangan alias Villavan-Muvendavelan of
Uttarangudi in Arvalak-kurram, a subdivision of Sola-nadu, to donate all the
900 sheep which had been captured by Kurukadi-kilan Paraman Malapadi alias
Mummudichcholan Solakon after his attack on and conquest of Sitpuli-nadu and
Pakkai-nadu, for burning ten lamps in his name as Rajaraja in the temple
of Ainjandi Durga-Bhattaraki at Kachchippedu. From two inscriptions of the time
of Parantaka I from Tiruvorriyur (Nos. 160 and 236 of 1912) it is known that a
general of that king conquered Sitpuli and destroyed Nellur, and on return from
there made a grant to that temple. It was surmised in M.E.R. 1913, II,
18, that Sitpuli referred to the Eastern Chalukya king (Bhima II) or one of his
subordinates. The present inscription would indicate that the reference is
rather to a locality or region and not to any individual. Pakkai-nadu is
evidnelty the Paka-nadu (Nellor District) mentioned in inscriptions. These
regions must have been lost to the Cholas in the disturbed period following the
Rashtrakuta invasion and conquest of the Chola territory in the last days of
Parantakai. Now when Rajaraja was preparing himself for a programme of
conquests, the attack by his military chief of these divisions should have
formed a preliminary to the scheme of campaign against the Vengi country after
the enterprise at Kandalur. The date of the inscription shows that he directed
his attention to the north as early as the 6th year of his reign.
No. 131 from Perangiyur in the South Arcot District which
may be referred to the reign of Rajaraja I deserves mention. It registers an
endowment of two pieces of land made by the assembly of Peringur in
Tirumunaippadi, one for the maintenance of a lamp in the local temple and the
other for feeding a tapasvin daily therein, for the merit of one
Ganavadi Nambi Aruran who was doing the srikaryam (sacred service) to
the Mulasthanattu-Perumanadigal of their village, as a memorial to the
sacrifice he made of himself (atmatyagam) in the sacred service of the
god. We have to understand by this expression a life of dedication to god. It
may incidentally be mentioned here that Saint Sundaramurti was also known as
Nambi Aruran.
20. There are very few inscriptions of Rajakesarivarman
which may be assigned to kings subsequent to Rajaraja. No. 157 from Tirupporur
in the Chingleput District and No. 211 from Nerur in Tiruchirappalli are both
of the reign of Kulottunga I. No. 216 from Tiruppalaivanam (Chingleput) is to
be ascribed to Kulottunga II. In this last inscription the king is called
rajakesarivarman âwho was pleased to cover with gold the temple of
Tirupperambalam (Chidambaram)â. This act of devotion is definitely claimed for
Kulottunga II in A.R. Nos. 350 of 1927 and 349 of 1929. It finds mention in Kulottungasolan-ula
a poem by Ottakkuttan in praise of this king, and in Sekkilarâs Periyapuranam
were it is stated that king Anapaya (Kulottunga II) gilded the Chidambaram
temple.
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