Sripatam-tangum Nambimar, tiruvasal Ariyar and several others made a public enquiry and that it was found out that the ten heads of executives serving formerly in the temple colluded with the contractors  (Ottar) of the day, expended the cash, paddy, etc., and  misappropriation the rights of cultivation and enjoying the lands of the temple.  It is further stated that this collusion led almost to the stopping of worship.  With the change of time resulting in direct royal control, it is stated, the Samantanar (apparently of the king) restored the revenues of the temple and provided for the annual selection of the personnel by a congregation of the Srivaishnavar of the eighteen mandals on the occasion of the pushpayaga of the big (annual) festival.      

No. 202 and 203, dated in the tenth year of the reign of Chadaiyavarman Sundarapandya I refer to the arrangements made for the proper management of the temple affairs after the profuse grant of lands and gold bestowed on the temple by the king.  No. 202 is an order containing instructions to Vanadarayar, apparently a royal officer that the work-load in the temple which was borne by only one group (kottu) of officials in the temple should now be extended to members of the other groups and also stipulates further that the Ariyar and Ullurar may be engraved from the month of Avian in the Work of guarding the gold treasures of the temple, evidently the accumulations due to the benefactions of this king.  This order refers to the bid endowments of lands and works in fold such as the gilding of the vimanas, the sundara-Pandyan madil, gopura a palanquin and ornaments caused to be made by the king.  It states that formerly the endowments were looked after by ten persons representing the Kovanavar and that as the endowments have now increased due to the benefactions of the king ten persons selected from all the kottus including the Kovanavar should manage the property.     

The ten persons are to be selected as follows :- 2 from Kovanavar, 2 from Bhattagal Srirangamaraiyor, I from Todavattutumaraiyor of the sabha, 2 from talai-iduvar, I from vassal Ariyar and 2 from aratta (aratta) mukki-anukkar who are tending the gardens.  Kurukulattaraiyan, the headman of Mattur was the Srikaryam officer on the occasion.  This order is said to have been issued at the instance of Sriranganarayanadasan, Kurukulattaraiyan, the headman of Mattur who was the Srikaryam officer, the kovanavar and the Kudavar.  Tirumantira-olainayakam Kannudaiyan Pallavan Vilupparaiyan of  Puduchcheri figures as the signatory of the record.  Of these groups the function of  Kovanavar, appears to be a general duty of supervising the worship.  Srirangamaraiyor and Todavattu (for Todavatti)-tumaraiyor (clean brahmanas clad in white) are evidently the names of two classes of Brahmanas, the distinction between the two being not clear.  The former were apparently members of the sabha of Srirangam.  The latter are mentioned in a stanza of Periyalvar in the Nalayira-divya-prabandham.[1]  Talai-iduvar evidently refer to the people engaged in supplying flowers and garlands.  Vasal Ariyar, as the term indicates, seems to refer to a group of northerners who had guard duty at places of entrance into the temple.  Arattamukki-anukkar, as the record itself describes, were engaged in tending the flower gardens.  Aratta-mukki is one of the titles of Tirumangai-alvar and anukkar means close servants or attendants.  While these six groups were represented in the body of ten persons continued according to these inscriptions, it will be interesting to note that there are other groups of servants such as Sri-bhagavata-nambimar vinnappam-seyvar, Nambimar and Sripadantangam Nambimar, who, though nonetheless intimately connected with the affairs of the temple went without representation. 

No. 257 in characters of the 13^th century is an equally interesting document.  It contains the order issued in the name of the deity regarding the constitution of a committee of 23 members of whom ten are to be selected from out of the kottus of the temple, four from the sanyasins and desantaris, five representing 18 Chera, Sola and Pandya kings and the kshatriyas of the north.  The ten members from kottus were to be selected as (1) Kovanavar (2) Kudavar looking after the temple affairs, (3) bhattagal, (4) Todavatti-tumaraiyor, (5) Ramanujanai-udaiyar, (6) Paduvar, (7) talai-iduvar, (8) garland-makers (9) Ariyar guarding the gates and (10) Sripundarikar holding the lamps and tending the gardens.  A comparison of this with No. 203 discussed above shows that the temple affairs were managed at first by a committee of ten selected from the group called Kovanavar alone and later the ten were selected from Nos. 1, 3, 4, 7, 9 and 10 of the list above.  The present record adds to the list Kudavar, Ramanujanai-Udaiyar, Paduvar and garland-makers.  Further the record proceeds to say that some of these selected persons who observe the codes of conduct and are familiar with the hymns of Sathagopan (Nammalvar) and Kaliyan (Tirumangai-alvar) may be appointed as ekangis.  The rates of payments for all of them are laid down.  They are then ordered to select an ascetic from among the residents of Pangaychchelviyur alias Vellarai, Parantaka-chaturvedi-mangalam alias Saligramam and Nalayiravar-brahmadeyam in Pandimandalam, who is endowed with knowledge and conduct and who is acquainted with Itihasa-puranas and appoint him as the leader (talaikan) of the committee who should be honored as the god’s senapati (i.e. Vishvaksena) is honoured.  The entire administration of the temple and the god’s properties at places where the god has the right to camp is entrusted with the ascetic who is also required to be accosted by Velaikkaras wielding weapons.  The elaborate arrangements made in this record indicate the complexities in the administration of the temple arising out of the accumulating wealth and expanding services.  The creation of a pontificate whose name or designation not given seems to have thrown the traditional seats of power represented by Ramanuja into the background. 

The Vijayanagara section contains 254 inscriptions (Nos. 287 to 540) all of them arranged in the order of their date.  Those among them that are not dated have been placed next or near the numbers to which they are related by dint of their contents.  It is well known that inscriptions of this period do not cite the regnal year of the ruling king’s but only the Saka date along with other details.  Since the occurrence of the king’s name cannot be expected in every inscription of this period as in the case of the previous sections, the sway of a particular king in this area on the date of record should be determined only on other counts.  The king’s name given on the top of a few inscriptions does not necessarily imply that the king’s rule extended up to the period noted in the next inscription where the king name is given at the top.  This applies more so in the case of the later inscriptions, when the Nayakas at Madurajand Tanjavur chose to acknowledge and to ignore the royal house as the circumstances warranted.  Readers also may come across instances in the early Vijayanagara period where some of the inscriptions which fall chronologically later are dated in the reigns of the ruler at Viayanagara, while a few earlier inscriptions refer only to his viceroy in the south (No. 290).   

The section of Vijayanagara inscriptions differ very much from the earlier sections, as noted above, in their mode of dating.  Nearly in all cases where Sanskrit passages occur in the inscription the Saka date is given in chronograms composed according to the katapayadi system such as bhandupriya (No. 282) manasalghya (No. 298), senaslaghya (No. 301. bhumivandya (No. 407) mesevandya  (No. 413) and similar chronograms in Nos. 423, 457, 460, 488, 554.  Though the practice of quoting dates in Saka era was not unknown in this part of the Tamil country, only the Vijayanagara inscriptions contained the saka dates as an integral part of its date and the practice of quoting regnal years was entirely given up. 

This famous centre of pilgrimage was visited by representatives of all the linguistic groups and hence we find inscriptions in all ancient South Indian Languages viz., Tamil, Telugu and Kannada and also in Marathi, and Oriya.  We find, in addition inscriptions being written in a script other then the one in which inscriptions of the language is used to be written.  No. 414 is a Tamil inscription written in Grantha characters.  Nos. 310 and 311 are Kannada inscriptions engraved in Grantha script. 

The Vijayanagara section opens with a Sanskrit inscription (No. 287) in Grantha characters which has a very significant bearing on the spurt of religious enthusiasm and expansion witnessed at Srirangam during this period.  It deals with the restoration of the image of Ranganatha by Goppana, a general of Kampana II, who was ruling as a viceroy from Chenji.  Kampana’s debut into the Tamil country at this period put a stop to the Muslim incursions and the country was insured against any future onslaughts, by the strong Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagara, and this forms the subject-matter of the well-known work Madhura-vijayam by his queen Gangadevi.  Thus with the restoration of worship of the main deity at Srirangam, this famous religious centre began to flourish and make rapid progress in its strides.  That this progress was evident in all aspects of activities in the temple is borne amply by the inscriptions in this section.  While it might have been no less vigorous during the earlier periods, the expansion of the temple is so profusely illustrated by the inscriptions of this period that one is compelled to feel that the pomp and splendour of this period is but a very true reflection of the pomp and splendour of the Vijayanagara masters.  Evidently the Vijayanagara kings and their subordinate officers were more inclined towards Vaishnavism.  The gifts or donations, the feeding of Srivaishnavas, the festivals, the building activities, the founding of new religious institutions inside the temple, the endowments for various services including the patronage of religious literature afford clear proofs of the interest evinced in the temple by the royal masters and their highly placed subordinates.

This inscription (No. 287) contains a verse which is recorded in traditional accounts such as Guruparampra-prabhavam and Koyilolugu as composed by Sri Vedantadesikar, the celebrated poet and Vaishnava-acharya.  The defeat of the Muslims by Gopana followed by the restoration of worship in the Srirangam temple was an event of far-reaching significance even so far as this temple is concerned.  For, it released the suppressed spirit of the people and the expanded activities as recorded in the later inscriptions testify to this. 

Devaraya’s reign witnessed the full restoration of the previous land-grants and some privileges to the local sthanikas at the instance of Uttama Nambi (No. 310) and the latter was honored by the king with gifts of golden parasol, necklace, bracelets, etc., in appreciation of his services for the temple.  This paved the way for the growing influence of Uttama Nambi on the affairs of the temple, to such an extent that we do not hear much in the inscriptions about the time-honored institution of the hereditary acharyas.  This is most probably due to the fact that the material progress of the temple could not be attended to by the religious heads.  Uttama Nambi was evidently the name of the family as two persons father and son, are both called Uttama Nambi (No. 332).  Thus the new family of Uttama Nambi appears to have sprung up sometime about 1413 A.D. (No. 307) and the title was held hereditarily.  The benefaction by the first Uttama Nambi and his elder brother Chakraraya are recorded in Nos. 307, 308, 310-16, 320 and 330.  Sriranganarayana-Jiyar, the representative of an earlier institution is mentioned only by chance in Nos. 311 and 328 along with (Nos. 309, 312. etc.) other local temple officials while certain entire inscriptions speak of Uttama Nambi.  Koyilolugu ascribes to this Uttama Nambi, the role of an emissary on behalf of the Sriranagam temple to Gopana. 

Subsequent to this period the influence of Uttama Nambi appears to have been on the wane for, the last we hear of an Uttama Nambi effectively is from No. 345, dated in 1472 A.D.  In about 1489 A.D. the influence of the members of the Kandadai house was already at work and in No. 347 of that date, a Sattadaparama Ekangi called Kandadai  Ayodhya Ramanujayyangar is mentioned in connection with grant of two villages to the temple.  The association of this person is elaborately described in Koyilolugu (p. 69).  He is described as one Ramaraja., an elder brother of Vira-Narasimha ruling from Ghanagiri and as having visited Ayodhya as also evidenced by his name.  He is stated to have become a disciple of Kandadai Annan and to have received from him the dasyanama of Kandadai Ramanujadasar.  The date 1489 A.D., seems to point to the identity of this Vira Narasimha with Saluva Narasimha whose predecessors also figures as donors in the inscriptions of this temple.  Though the identity of this Ayodhya Ramanujayyangar is not so clear from inscriptions as Koyilolugu would have it, it is clear that this royal disciple might have been instrumental in raising the status of his preceptor.  We hear more of this preceptor and his descendants and their disciples after this date (Nos. B 358, 369, 370, 374, 378, 379, 415, 422, 447, 466, 485 and 498). A significant result of this development was the creation of a feeding charity at the Ramanuja-kutam. The donor’s share of the food offerings in the temple nearly and always went to this feeding charity thus ensuring a steady flow of itinerant Srivaishnava pilgrims from distant Kasmiradesa (No. 306), from Pratapagiri (No. 321) and from places near by.

No. 460, dated in 1546 A. D. in this section narrates the services rendered to the temple by Nalantigal-Narayana  Jiyar of earlier times thus affording evidence regarding the origin of the office of Sriranganaryana Jiyar is mentioned in almost all the inscriptions of the Vijayanagara period (Nos. 311, 328, 484, etc.) as a party to the transactions recorded in them. The inscriptions are correspondingly stated to have been attested to by Sriranganarayanapriyan, the temple accountant (Nos. 416, 418, 419, etc.) as against the Pallavan Vilupparaiyan of the earlier times.  

From the time of Uttama Nambi onwards the temple was visited frequently by high dignitaries of the Vijayanagara Empire and was in turn benefited by their munificent donations. No.340 will prove to be a good instance of this. According to this inscription dated in 1464 A. D., Saluva Tirumalairaja assigned the produce from the lands of all the villages named as tiruvidaiyattam in the various divisions (sirmai), to the treasury of the temple. No. 379 records the endowment of a large sum of 10,500 chakram-panam by a member of the merchant community. The inscription states that this money should be invested in lakes and channels—a very useful mode of investment—and that the resultant revenue must be utilized to serve the purpose of the endowment. A lesser amount of 50 pon was also required to be similarly invested according to another inscription (No. 507). Even Konerideva-maharaja, the most bigoted chief of the area as described by the Koyilougu had caused the construction, of the door-jambs (No.352) for the entrance into the Sokkappanai-vasal-gopuram in the fifth prakara and also arranged for the offering of musarodara  (curd-rice) to the god by endowing land in Pichchandarkoyil (No. 353).   

The money endowments that wear deposited in the temple treasury were required to yield a rate of interest as laid down in the Yajnavalkya-smriti (asiti-bhago uriddhi-ssyat) Working out to a rate of 15 percent per year (Nos. 423 and 447). No. 420 records that Auasaram Mallarasayyan arranged for the broadening of Peruvalavan-vaykkal, for the enlargement of the endowment for food offerings as a result of the additional revenue and foe the distribution of the offerings in the night feeding charity and to the brahmanas, sudras, paradesis  and for two tannirppandals. Besides grants of money, precious jewels were also donated in large quantities (Nos. 379, 397, 398, 430, 442-43 and 445).  

This leads us to the practice of the distribution of food offerings arising out of these endowments. Though this distribution could never have been a new phenomenon, the Vijayanagara inscriptions have devised a new phrase in this respect. They often speak of vittavan-vilukkadu meaning the ‘donor’s share’. But in very few cases only this was enjoyed by the donor himself (Nos. 376, 389, 460, etc.,) and in every other case the share was allotted to a particular preceptor (Nos. 379, 384, 388, 401, 403 etc.,) or his institution such as matha or kutam (Nos. 371, 373, 378 etc.) or in private house (No. 344) at the behest of the donor. The last mentioned refers to the service of mushtimadhukaram, evidently a sweet dish in handfuls to Srivaishnavas. Apart from these special feeding charities, the cosmopolitan feeding of all sorts of people irrespective of east, nativity etc., was also known as already explained above. It may be easily surmised that the rest of the food offerings must have been used to be bestowed on the vast groups of servants in the temple, though the inscriptions do not give elaborate details in this respect.   

The scale of offerings detailed in these inscriptions is simply stupendous. As a natural corollary to this we find the unique institution, of Dhanvantari in the temple. According to Koyilolugu, it appears that originally only the service of a medicinal decoction (kudinir) at night to the deity was arranged for by the grant Ramanuja through his disciple Garudavahana-panditar. But a hospital (arogyu-salai) was also erected within the temple to the west of Edutta-kai alagiye nayanar (northern) Gopura­ in the fourth Prakara only in 1257 A. D. (No. 267) and an endowment of land as Salaippuram  was created by Singanna-dandanyaka, the Hoysala general on the same date. The endowment was entrusted into the hands of the then Garudavahana-bhattar, an office held hereditarily. Subsequently (No. 353) in 1493 A.D., the hospital which was destroyed in the course of the Muslim invasion was renovated and the image of Dhanvatari was also installed and an endowment for its maintenance was also created by the contemporary Garudavahana-panditar identified with the author of Divyasuri-charitam.

This volume includes also a few inscriptions which are good examples of literary styles and some of them also contain quotations from literary works. No. 292 contains a Sanskrit verse in Grantha expounding Virupaksha’s creed about the real functions of the father, the relatives and the wife. This verse is found to be opening verse in the drama Narayana-vilasa in which the sutradhara introduces king Virupaksha as the author of the play. No. 295 is an excellent example of Sanskrit prose. Besides, the inscription is important as it refers to Virupaksha’s visit to the famous sage Vidyaranya described as apara Sankaracharya.—The record being unfortunately incomplete, the other details are lost. Nos. 314 an 324 are compositions of Vyasabharati who appears to have been a popular figure in the area during this period (vide A.R.Ep., 1938-39, pt. II, paragraph 45). No. 382 reveals the name of a work Jnanachintamani which was required to be recited before the god. Its authorship not given Bhaktasanjivi  (No. 408) is the name of another work stated to have been composed by Tirumalai-amman who was no doubt identical with Oduva Tirumalamba, the famous court-poetess of Achyutaraya who later become his queen and composed two Sanskrit verses (No. 440) in honor of her husband, the king on the occasion of the tulabharamahadana performed by him. Both these two works Jnanachintamani and Bhaktasanjivi are otherwise unknown to us.   

The inscriptions is Tamil naturally forming by far the bulk of this volume afford also some good examples of the manipravala  style penculiar to the Vaiahnavite cult in the south, though no literary work in Tamil is referred to This style has already taken root as evidenced by No. 272, a Hoysala inscription included in the previous section No. 460 records the events that occurred before a couple of centuries preceding the date of the record (1546 A. D.) and the style adopted in its narration those events reminds us very much of the well-known manipravala  works now extant in the from of hagiographies and the earlier excellent commentaries of the Divyaprabandham. No. 532 is another example where apt quotations from Divyaprabhandham and Divyasuricharitam are interspersed in the text of this inscription.   

The expanding temple must have had its problems of administration According to the Koyilolugu, it appears that there were more than one occasion when the lapses of administration had to be rectified only by the sacrifice of a few Ekangis or Jiyars by falling the high tops of the gopuras. Though this practice was no doubt popular in the south, only one inscription (No. 521). Dated in 1610 A. D., records the honors conferred on the image of one Periyalvar who fell down from the gopura in protest of the complete stoppage of the offerings to the god. The Koyilolugu records the occurrence of similar acts in the reign of Koneridevamaharaja. But the inscriptions (Nos. 352 and 363) of the period do not, however, refer to them.  

The continuous control of the Tamil country by the Vijayanagara rulers gave it a political stability, as referred to, and guaranteed, a steady growth and expansion of the temple at Srirangam in all respects. A considerable number of structures were also put up resulting in the expansion of the temple proper with its seven prakaras. A brief summary of such constructional activities as evidenced by the foundation inscriptions in this collection is given here. No. 293 records the construction of the vimana, gopura and mandapa for Chakrin i.e.  chakrattalvar, the deity symbolie of the dise in one of the hands of god Vishnu by virupaksha, son of Harihara and grandson of Bukka, who commenced to rule as one of the Viceroys in the south from 1383 A. D. The inscription is engraved on the nitals of two pillars in the mandapa in front of the Chakrattalvar shrine in the fifth prakara. Since an inscription (No. 221) of the Pandya times engraved the south wall of this shrine refers to Tiruvalialvar i. e. Chalrattalvar, the constructions recorded in this inscription were evidently improvements made upon a small shrine that already existed. No. 304 refers to the inscription of an image of Vitthala-natha by Annappa Chaundappar of Belvoledesa, a sthanika ofr the temple sometime before 1396 A.D.  He is also stated to have gilded the vimana (Koyilalvar), and to have also repaired the thousand-pillared mandapa.  The installation of an image of Garuda by Chakraraya, the brother of Uttamanambi in 1415 A.D.is recorded in No. 308 (cf. also No. 325). No. 314 records the following constructions caused to be made by Chakraraya, the brother of uttamanambi:--(1)  A passage with nine pillars to the south of Perumal-tolan-tirumandapam (cf. No. 315, (20 the tirukkavanappatti (ornamental roof) in the big mandapa by Uttamaraya, i.e.  Uttamanambi, (3) a temple for Srinagar, i.e., Narasimha after clearing the forest and colonising the area, (4) a mandapa in front of the shrine of Annadi-emperuman, in which he consecrated Maruti, i.e., Hanuman and (5) a manadapa at the entrance into the kitchen of the temple, in which he consecrated Lakshmi.  Annadi-emperuman is evidently identical with Annamurti, the presiding deity of the kitchen.  This is now represented in the temple by a two-armed stone image holding a bolus of curd-rice in one hand and kalasa containing payasa in the other.  In the prabha-mandapa behind the head are carved the emblems Sanikhaa and Chakra.  This image is placed in the unjal-mandapa near the Aryabhattalvasal, close to the passage leading into the kitchen.  There are also two bronze images of this deity in the temple.  No. 57 engraved in the proper right of this image and dated in 1588 A.D., records an endowment for conducting worship of this deity.  Chakraraya also installed the Dasavatara images apparently in a shrine in 1439 A.D.  No. 488, dated in 1567 A.D., contains Sanskrit verses in praise of these images and it records also an endowment for their worship by Kumara Achyutam son of Chinna Cheuva and Murtyamba, who is evidently identical with Achyuttappanayaka of Nedungunram, the victory of Vijayanagara in Thanjavur.  The consecration of the image of Dhanvantari is another unique feature in this temple (No. 354).  Its connection with Garudavahana-bhatta, the hereditary physician of the temple is described elsewhere.

While endowments providing for the recitation of the divyaprabandham are not unknown during the early period (cf. the provision for Tettaruntiral,etc., in an inscription from Tiruvallikkeni in Madras), Vijayanagara inscriptions from Srirangham afford evidence, though of a later period, regarding this aspect.  Vedaparayana was also given prominence as in Nos. 447 and 496.  Endowments pertaining to the recitation of Tiruvaymoli are recorded in the same inscriptions, of Tirumoli in 501, of Tiruppavai in 502 and of Iyarpa in 512.

This temple had also been honored by its connection with Tallappakkam Tirumalaiyanga Nos. 469 and 470, son of Annamayangar who is well-known as a great musician.  The latter’s compositions engraved on  copper-plates are now preserved ion the archives of the Tirumalai Devasthanam. 

In 1500 A.D., Kandadai Madhavayyangar, the disciple of Kandadai Ramanujayyangar constructed a temple to the north of Nanmugan-gopuram installed therein the images of Vitthalesvara and Madhurakavialvar and also recording the grant of land to the above temple referred to the boundary of the temple of Tiruppan-alvar. 

The Tirukkuralappan, Shrine, i.e. shrine for Vamana is stated in No. 461 engraved on the west wall of shrine wall of same, to have been endowed with a garbhagriha, ardha-manadapa, mahamandapa, nrityamandapa, gopura and  a four pillared mandapa by Srirangadevarajan, the disciple of Tatacharya in 1546 A.D.  

An interesting reference to an endowment providing for the worship of Jaya and Vijaya, the dvarapalakas is obtained in a fragmentary inscription, which is not dated (No. 348).

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