|
THE PANDYAS
The officer Pallavarayan of Tuñjalur.
years corresponded respectively to the cyclic years Pārthiva and Vijaya i.e., in
the time of the king of that name whose date of accession was A.D. 1276. In
No. 425 of 1911 from Lēpāka in the Cuddapah district dated in the 13th year of
a Māravarman Sundara-Pāṇḍya, probably the second of that name whose initial
date was A.D. 1238, the chief Pallavarāyan of Tuñjalūr is again mentioned. Thus
this officer may be considered to have
flourished in the reigns of the four kings
Māravarman Sundara-Pāṇḍya II (A.D. 1238), Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Pāṇḍya I
(A.D. 1251), Māravarman Kulaśēkhara I (A.D. 1268), Jaṭāvarman Sundara-
Pāṇḍya II (A.D. 1276) covering a period from A.D. 1238 to 1287, which though
rather long, is not impossible. The Kōyilolugu, however, ascribes the construction
of this maṭha as well as that of Śēran-maṭham and Laṅkēśvaran-maṭham to a
certain Paḷḷikoṇḍaśōlan, but in view of the information contained in this record,
the statement made in the Kōyilolugu has to be set aside as incorrect. Maṇa-vāḷamāmuni, the Vaishṇava āchārya of the Tenkalai sect, who flourished early in
the 15th century, appears to have stayed at this maṭha and to have expounded
his teachings. An image of this guru is being worshipped in it and a few mural
paintings on its walls depict some incidents in the āchārya’s life. It is on this
account that this maṭha is now called Maṇavāḷamahāmuni-maṭham. It may be
mentioned that the vimāna and a maṇḍapa of the Nammālvār temple at Kapilatīrtham in Tirupati were also constructed by the same chieftain Pallavarāyan (Tirupati Dēvasthānam Report, p. 77).
Of the nine records of Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Pāṇḍya without any distinguishing epithets (Nos. 12, 18 to 21, 29, 158, 177 and 209), the majority comes from
Śrīraṅgam. From the long Sanskrit inscription engraved on the walls of the
Raṅganātha temple here, it can be surmised that Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Pāṇḍya I
(accn. A.D. 1251) captured Śrīraṅgam from the Hoysaḷa Sōmēśvara described as ‘ the
Moon of the Karṇāṭa family,’ who also probably lost his life in the encounter.
Sundara-Pāṇḍya’s lavish benefactions to this temple, justifying the title Hēmā-
Chchhādanarāja assumed by him and the several tulābhāra ceremonies that he
conducted here are noticed in the inscriptions copied form this place in previous
years. The Kōyilolugu which gives the history of this temple contains some
additional personal details as to how Sundara-Pāṇḍya wanted to set up an image
of himself in the temple and how, on the opposition of the temple authorities to
this, he had to content himself with consecrating an image of god Hari ‘ made of
gold to the tips of the nails’ and called after his own name of Hēmāchchhādanarāja
or Ponmeynda-Perumāḷ (Ep. Rep. for 1899, para. 43). This latter image is actually
referred to in an inscription (No. 6) of a Tribhuvanachakravartin Sundara-Pāṇḍya
without the distinguishing epithet Māravarman or Jaṭāvarman, which, however,
on account of the early regnal year 2 in which it is dated, has to be attributed to
a king later than Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Pāṇḍya I whose inscriptions dated earlier
than the 10th year are not found in this vicinity. Besides this image, Jaṭāvarman
Sundara-Pāṇḍya I appears to have installed images under the same name in other
temples also, as is evidenced by a record (No. 150 of 1904) from Tiruvēndipuram
dated in his 14th year.
Māravarman Kulaśēkhara, A. D. 1268.
40. Maravarman Kulaśēkhara whose date of accession was A.D. 1268
is represented by one inscription from Śrīraṅgam (No. 7) dated in the 10th year.
The astronomical details given in it corres- ponded to A.D. 1277, December 6. This
record mentions as donor Matituṅgan Tanininruvenra-Perumāḷ alias Āryachakra-vartti of Chakravarttinallūr in Śevvirukkai-nāḍu. A chief called Āryachakra-
vartti with the title ‘Dēvar’ applied to him figures in the reign of this Pāṇḍya
king in the Ramnad district (Nos. 110 of 1903, Ep. Rep. for 1927-28, para. 23, and
No. 21 of 1929). The Singhalese chronicle Mahāvaṁsa says about this chief “that
the five brothers who governed the Pāṇḍya kingdom sent to this island, at the head
of an army, a great minister of much power who was a chief among the Tamils
known as Āriyachakkravartti. And when he landed and laid waste the country
on every side, he entered the great and noble fortress, the city of Śubhagiri. And
he took the venerable tooth-relic and all the solid wealth that was there
and returned to the Pāṇḍyan country.” The chief mentioned in the present
inscription is probably to be identified with his namesake noticed in the Mahāvaṁsa and the title ‘ Tanininruvenra-Perumāḷ’ applied to him has perhaps some bearing
on his exploits in the Singhalese country.
Māṛavarman Vikrama-Pāṇḍya, c. A.D. 1283.
41. Māravarman Vikrama-Pāṇḍya is represented by three inscriptions
(Nos. 236, 243 and 268), all of which come from the Tirukkoyilur taluk of the South
Arcot district. No. 279 wherein the king
is simply called Kōnērinmaikoṇḍān, may
|
