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South
Indian Inscriptions |
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Part
- I
Miscellaneous
Inscriptions From the Tamil Country
II.-
Inscriptions at Melpadi
No.
15 to 16 on the Cholesvara shrine
No.
17 to 19 Cholesvara & Somananathesvara shrine
Melpadi,
which I visited in 1889, is a village six miles north of Tiruvallam
in the North Arcot district. The
antiquity of the place is established by the Karhad plates of the
Rashtrakuta king Krishna III., who in A.D. 959 was encamped at
Melpati.
About a mile west of Melpadi is the hill of Vallimalai, an
ancient site of Jaiana worship.
Melpadi
contains two temples of Siva, the larger of which, Somanathesvara,
is still used, while the other, Cholesvara, is deserted.
I publish below four inscriptions of the Cholesvara temple
(Nos. 15 to 18) and one of the Somanathesvara temple (No. 19).
Of these, four belong to the reign of the Chola king Rajaraja
I. (Nos. 15, 16, 17 and
19). Of these, four
belong to the reign of the Chola king Rajaraja I.
(Nos. 15, 16, 17 and 19).
Of these, four belong to the reign of the Chola king Rajaraja
I. (No. 18). From three
of them (nos. 15, 16 and 17) we learn that the Cholesvara temple was
built by Rajaraja I. himself. Hence
it is contemporaneous with the great temple at Tanjavur.
The ancient name of the Cholesvara temple was
Arinjigai-Isvara (Nos. 15 and 16) or Arinjisvara (Nos. 17 and 18).
The first part of this compound is probably a corruption of
Arimjaya,
the name of Rajarajaâs grandfather.
Rajaraja is said to have built the temple âas a
resting-place (?) for the king who fell asleep (i.e., died)
at Arrurâ (Nos. 15, 16 and 17).
If I am correct in deriving the name of the temple from
Arimjaya, it would follow that the same king is meant by the
expression âthe king who died at Arrur.â
According to No. 19, the ancient name of the Somanathesvara
temple wasCholendrasimhesvara.
Melpadi
bore the two names Melpadi (Nos. 15 to 18) and Rajasrayapuram (Nos.
15 to 19).
The second designation has to be derived from one of the
surnames of Rajaraja I.
The same applies to the names of two street of Melpadi, viz.,
âthe high-street of Mummadi-Cholaâ
(No. 15) and âthe high-street of Arumolidevaâ
(No. 19). Melpadi
belonged to Tuy-nadu (nos. 18 and 19) or Tunadu (Nos. 15, 16 and 17)
a subdivision of Perumbana-padi
(Nos. 15 to 18), a district of Jayankonda-Cholamandalam.
Three of the inscriptions were put in writing by the
accountant (karanattan) of the city (Nos. 15, 16 and 18).
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