Annual Reports

THE PANDYAS

in the present collection refer to the acquisition of lands for the settlement of 32 bhaṭṭas in this agaram (Nos. 47, 48 and 50) and others for forming a trunk road (nāṭṭuperuvali) which ran through this colony (Nos. 45, 46 and 49). One point of interest stipulated in the formation of the colony was that the sites in it could be sold to one another among themselves, but if necessity arose to sell them outside, they had to be given only to Bhāgavatas and to persons of the same darśana (No. 42). In the Kōyilolugu, the sixth mprākāra in the Raṅganātha temple at Śrīraṅgam called the Kaliyugarāman-tiruvīdi is said to have been the gift of Kaliyugarāman. This is now called the Chittirai-vīdi. High up on each of the four door jambs of the big gōpura in the middle of the Kīl-Chittirai-vīdi is found the label Kaliyugarāman (No. 98) in Grantha characters of the 13th century A.D. incised above a standing composite image of a Gaṇḍabhēruṇḍa, having a human body surmounted by two birds’ heads facing in opposite directions. As the Hoysaḷa emblem Gaṇḍabhēruṇḍa is engraved on this gōpura and as the style of workmanship in the latticed windows of this gōpura is reminiscent of Hoysaḷa art, it seems reasonable to infer that its construction was started by the Hoysaḷa king Vīra-Narasiṁha. As the magnificent gōpura of seven storeys at Jambukēśvaram was constructed by Sōmēśvara (No. 19 of 1891), and as it resembles in workmanship the Kaliyugarāman-gōpura at Śrīraṅgam, it may be inferred that the construction of this latter was commenced by a Hoysaḷa king, probably Vīra-Narasiṁha, and was perhaps completed by Vīra-Pāṇḍya during his occupation of Śrīraṅgam. It may also be noted that the figures of two fishes with an aṅkuśa in between are sculptured in relief on two of the ceiling beams of this gōpura testifying to the Paṇḍya collaboration in its completion.

  In two records of the king reference is made ti an agrahāra founded by a certain Tuppa-Nāyakkar (Nos. 44 and 50) who perhaps was identical with the horse-dealer of Nallūr in Malai-maṇḍalam, figuring in a record of the 2nd year of the Hoysaḷa king Vīra-Rāmanāthadēva (No. 67 of 1892).

Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Pāṇḍya (A.D. 1303), his surname Kodaṇḍarama.
   43. Some inscriptions of Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Pāṇḍya secured from Śrīraṅgam refer to the foundation of an agrahāra called Kōdaṇḍarāma-chaturvēdimaṅgalam after the king’s name, at Tiruvaraṅgam-Tiruppati i.e. Śrīraṅgam, where he is stated to have settled 208 bhaṭṭas and erected therein a temple for gods Vishṇu (Lakshmī-Nārāyaṇa-Perumāḷ ; No. 18) which perhaps was named as Kōdaṇḍarāmap-Perumāḷ after his surname (No. 19). Since the title Kōdaṇḍarāma was assumed by Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Pāṇḍya born in the asterism Pushya, the kings has to be identified with the one whose date of accession was A.D. 1303 (Ep. Rep. for 1918, Part II, para. 50) and not with any other Jaṭā-varman Sundara-Pāṇḍya whose asterisms were different. One of the officers of Sundara-Pā¬ṇḍya at Śrīraṅgam was Neṭṭūruḍaiyān Kāliṅgarāyan figuring in Nos. 19, 20, 21, while a worshipping (Śrīpādaśēvai-paṇṇum) priest named Āsūri Lakshmaṇa-Bhaṭṭa-Sōmayājiyār of Kaṇṇuḍai-chaturvēdimaṅgalam in Pāchchilkūrram, a subdivision of Rājarāja-vaḷanāḍu is mentioned in No. 12. The foundation of another Kōdaṇḍarāma-chaturvēdimaṅgalam after the name of the king is referred to in a record from the South Arcot district (No. 209) from Veṅgūr, which registers a sale of land to the Brahmans colonising that settlement by the Bhūmipputtirar alias Nattamakkaḷ who had enjoyed the tenancy right of the village. These Nattamakkaḷ belonged to the Veḷḷāḷa community as can be seen from the praśasti which is found as preamble in some of their records, especially the one from Tirukkōyilūr (No. 117 of 1900). It may be remarked that the Pāṇḍya king Vīra-Pāṇḍya (No. 75 of 1903) who also bore this surname was a patron of this agricultural community. From the present inscription it looks as if the community had a corporate existence, and acted in that capacity in selling the lands to the Bhaṭṭas of the agaram, and in setting it apart for the maintenance of the Pugalālaiyan alias Bhūmipulliran-tirumaṇḍapam in the same village. This body also bore the name of Chitramēli-periyanāṭṭār, apparently from the plough-share which they worshipped and which was also adopted by them as their standard.

Māravarman Kulaśēkara II. A.D. 1314.
   44. The records of Māravarman Kulaśēkhara from Śrīraṅgam are invariably dated in the 2+1st year, and relate to purchase of several bits of land made by the Bhaṭṭas of Kōdaṇḍarāma-chaturvēdimaṅgalam. Since this settlement was formed in the time of Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Pāṇḍya whose date of accession was A.D. 1303 as mentioned above, the Kulaśēkhara of these inscriptions must be identified with the one who counted his regnal years from A.D. 1314. Since these records as well as those of Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Pāṇḍya relating to the same