THE CHOLAS

Kulōttuṅga I.
  18. Of Rājēndradēva and Vīrarājēndra, there are only two inscriptions one of each (Nos. 235 and 257), while Kulōttuṅga I is represented by 14 inscrip tions ranging from the 13th (No. 118) to the 47th year (No. 117) of his reign. Of these, No. 56 from Śrīraṅgam which is partly built in mentions Vāṇādhirāja, the minister of Jayadhara (i.e., Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa I) as the donor probably of a prākāra to the temple. Three records from the same place refer to his military officers (sēnāpati) Vīrarājēndra-Adiyamān (No. 118) who made a gift of a flower-garden to the temple and Arigaṇḍadēvan Āyarkkolundinār alias Gaṅgaikoṇḍaśōla-Munaiyadaraiyar of Kōṭṭūr (Nos. 122 and 123). Still another officer of the king was Adhikāri Nishadharāja (No. 124). Another inscription (No, 130) mentions as donors to the Raṅganātha temple certain Malayāḷa officers attached to the Perundanam and Śirudanam of the king. It is probable that these persons were engaged as custodians of the king’s treasuries. The chauri which was presented by them to the temple is called ‘Āyiravan’ after their surname which perhaps indicates their number in the Chōḷa king’s employ.

   No. 129 from Śrīraṅgam dated in his 34th year states that the assembly of Rājāśraya-chaturvēdimaṅgalam, a brahmadēya in Uraiyūr-kūrram, who made a gift of land to the temple, met in a hall called Rājēndraśōlan-maṇḍapa in their village and it is interesting to note that they counted the number of the members present before beginning their deliberations.

Vikrama-Choḷa.
   19. The next king represented in the collection is Vikrama-Chōḷa for whom there is a single inscription from Tiruppaṅgili (No. 164). This is dated in his 14th year and refers to the endowment made for worship and offerings to the god in the temple of Tiruppaiññili-Uḍaiya-Nāyanār and to Vikramachōḷī- śvaram-Uḍaiyār consecrated therein by the king. From the reference in the inscription to the temple of Tiruppaiññili-uḍaiyār as being situated at Tiru- veḷḷarai a village about 3 miles away, it may be presumed that the present Tiruppaṅgili where this is now found, formed part of Tiruveḷḷarai in the days of Vikrama-Chōḷa.

Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa III.
   20. Inscriptions of Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa III in the collection are dated between his 8th (No. 258) and 35th (No. 208) regnal years. Of these, No. 258 from Kāppalūr, dated in the 8th regnal year of the king records a gift of land in Kāmappullūr alias Śuṅgantavirttaśōlach-chaturvēdimaṅgalam by Pṛīthvigaṅgan for maintaining a flower-garden in the Periyakōyil at Tiruvaraṅgam, i.e., Śrīraṅ- gam. The land endowed was situated in the North Arcot distrcit and evidently its income alone was to be utilized for rearing the flower-garden at Śrīraṅgam. The donor Pṛithvīgaṅgan whose full name is not given in the record was probably a chief of Paṅgaḷa-nāḍu. In the time of Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa III two chiefs of this nāḍu are mentioned in epigraphs at Tiruvaṇṇāmalai, viz., Kūttāḍundēvan Prithvigaṅgan Vanniyamādēvan Alagiyaśōlan and Alagiyaśōlan Varantarum-perumāḷ alias Chōḷēndraśiṅgap-Pṛithvigaṅgan (Nos. 546 and 558 of 1902), and it is possible that the chief mentioned in the present record is identical with one of these two chiefs. These chiefs figure as father and son in another inscription secured this year from Kāppalūr (No. 260) wherein the father assumes the title ‘Ānaikaṭṭina’. It states that the prākāra wall and the kitchen in the temple of Tirukkāmīśvara of the place were constructed by Alagiyaśōlan, son of Anaikkaṭṭina Pṛithvigaṅgan Kūttāḍundevan.

  An inscriptions from Tiruppaṅgili (No. 156) refers to the consecration of the images of ‘Emberumakkaḷ’ in the temple of Tiruppaiññili-uḍaiya-Nāyanār by Nambāṇḍāḷ, daughter of Periya-Nāchchi, an agambaḍi-peṇḍu residing at Āragaḷūr in the Arrūr-kūrram. Among the persons from whom this donor purchased land for endowment, figures one Narasiṅgan Sundarattōḷuḍaiyān bearing the title ‘Kavikēśi’ by which we have perhaps to understand that he was a poet of some repute. ‘Emberumakkaḷ’ are evidently the four chief Śaiva-Nāyaṇmārs whose images are found installed invariably in all Śiva temples. The term ‘Emberumakkaḷ’ as connoting the Nāyanmārs is found in

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