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South
Indian Inscriptions |
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PANDYAS
The safety of the temples and their property seems to have been guaranteed in
ancient times by such precautionary measures, as can be seen also from an
inscription at Saṅgrāmanallūr in the Coimbatore district (No. 167 of 1909)
wherein it is stated that the gōpura, the temple and its precincts were placed
under the protection of soldiers. In another record from Tiruvālīśvaram in the
Tinnevelly district, it is stated that the local temple, its treasury and the temple
servants were placed under. the protection of the Chōḷa army called Mūnrukaimahāsēnai (No. 120 of 1905). The interest evinced by the Perumapaḍaiyār and Valaṅgai-mahā-śēnaiyār in the affairs of the temple at Peruṅgulam in the
Tinnevelly district was also pointed out in the Epigraphical Report for 1932-33,
p. 68.
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His officer Tennavan-Pallavadiyaraiyan.
The lady Tuḍarūri mentioned above is called the wife of Śrīkaṇthaśūra in
another record from Ukkirankōṭṭai (No. 195). This suggests that Tennavan
Pallavadiyaraiyan alias Māran Śūran noticed above was also known as Śrīkaṇṭha-Śūra.
This Pallavadaiyaraiyan is
stated in No. 196 to have been a mahā
nāyaka of Kaḷakkuḍi under Śaḍaiya-Māran. He constructed a hall (ambalam) called Nagarattān for the use of the Nagarattār established by him in Rāśiṅgappēraṇgāḍi, probably named after his
master king Rājasiṁha, which was newly formed by him in front of the palace.
He made an endowment for keeping the hall clean and presented a tuḍar-viḷakku (chain of lamps) for lighting it. The sheep required for the lamp were left in
charge of Nakkan Munnūrruvan and Venravāypēśi, who are called Paḍaittalaivar and were probably connected with the army stationed there.
To the same king may be assigned No. 203 which is a fragmentary record
registering a gift of sheep for providing a stipulated quantity of ghee by the
standard measure Nārāya-nāli to the Bhaṭāra at [Tiru]tturutti in Aṇḍa-nāḍu
by a certain Dēya. . . . . who, to judge by the epithets dēviyār applied to her,
should have been a lady of distinction.
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47. Vira-Pandya. ‘ who took the head of the Chōḷa’ is represented by a single
Vatteluttu inscription (No. 197) from Ukkirankōttai. It is fragmentary and is
dated in his 15th year and mentions a goddess set up in the Northern entrance to Karavanlapuram in Pāṇḍimārttāḍa-vaḷanāḍu. In the Epigraphical Report Vira-Pāṇḍya ‘ who took the head of the Chōḷa,. for 1932-33 (pp. 67-68) it has been
suggested that the surname Pāṇḍimārttāṇḍa might have been borne by
this Vīra-Pāṇḍya. The territorial name Pāṇḍimārttāṇḍa-vaḷanāḍu is also mentioned in a record of Śaḍaiya-Māran, dated in his 2 + 18th year from
Tiruppuḍaimarudūr in the Tinnevelly district (No. 122 of 1905) where a servant
of Vīra-Pāṇḍya is also referred to.
Tirappattur and its temple.
48. Tiruppattūr in the Ramnad district is a sacred Śaiva centre of the
Pāṇḍya country and is hallowed as the place visited by the Śaiva saints Jñānasambanda and Appar who have each left a decade of verses in praise of the god.
In inscriptions the deity is called Tirukkarraḷi-Bhatārar (No. 90 of 1908),
Taḷipparamēś vara (No. 93 of 1908) and
Tiruttaḷiyāṇḍār (No. 94 of 1908).
Besides this, we have evidence in the present collection of other images such as
Kūttāḍudēva (No. 183), Ōṅgukōyil-Uraivār (No. 186), Tiruvambalap-Perumāḷ
and Dakshiṇāmūrti (No. 174), Tiruvādavūr-Nāyanār (No. 175) and Bāṇaliṅga-Nāyanār Kailāyamuḍaiya-Nāyanār (No. 169), which were set up in this temple
at different periods. The worship of Bhairava occupies an important place in
the daily ceremonies of the temple. The sculptural features of this deity do
not however conform to the characteristics of Bhairava, who is here represented
as a seated dwarfish figure with a paunch. This deity is called Āṇḍa-Piḷḷaiyār
in the inscriptions engraved on the walls of this shrine. An inscription of the
time of Tribhuvanachakravartin Kulaśēkharadēva (No. 167) mentions that the
temple of Tiruttaliyāṇḍār was under the superintendence of a tapasvin named
Tiruviḍaimaruduḍaiyān Porpadikkunāyakan Tiruchchirrambalamuḍaiyān alias
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