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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
Part - I Miscellaneous Inscriptions From the Tamil Country IV.- Inscriptions at Manimangalam No. 27 to 28 Rajgopala-Perumal temple No. 29 outside of the east wall of the inner prakara No. 30 north wall of the mandapa No. 31 to 33 south, west wall of the mandapa No. 34 to 35 outside of the east wall of the inner prakara No. 36 to 39 south, east wall of the mandapa in the perumal temple No. 40 to 41 east wall of the Dharmesvara temple Manimangalam,[1] which I visited in 1892, is a village at the eastern extremity of the Conjeeveram taluka of the Chingleput district, about 6 miles west of Vandalur, a station on the South-Indian Railway. It is mentioned already in the Kuram plates and in the Udayendiram plates of Pallavamalla as the site of one of the battles in which the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I. defeated the Western Chalukya king Pulikesain II.[2] Manimangalam contains three temples of Vishnu and two temples of Siva. The three former now bear the names Rajagopala-Perumal, Vaikuntha-Perumal[3] and Krishnasvamin, and the two latter are now called Dharmesvara and Kailasanathasvamin. I am publishing below fourteen inscriptions of the Rajagopala-Perumal temple (Nos. 27 to 40) and one of the Dharmesvara temple (No. 41). These records belong to the time of the Chola kings Rajakesarivarman (No. 27), Rajadhiraja (No. 28), Rajendra (No. 29), Virarajendra I. (No. 30), Kulottunga-Chola I. (Nos. 31 and 32), Vikrama-Chola (No. 33), Kulottunga-Chola II. (No. 34), Rajaraja II. (No. 35), Kulottunga-Chola III. (Nos. 36 and 37) and Rajaraja III. (Nos. 38 to 41).
In the Chola inscriptions the name of the village is Manimangalam (Nos. 27, 28, 30 to 41) and, in Sanskrit verses, Ratnagrahara[4] (Nos. 27 and 40) or Ratnagrama (No. 27). In the time of rajakesarivarman it was surnamed Lokamahadevi-chaturvedimangalam (No. 27), n that of Rajadhiraja, Rajendra and Virarajendra I. Rajachulamani-chaturvedimangalam (Nos. 28 to 30), and in that of the remaining kings Pandiyanai-irumadi-ven-kanda-Sola-chaturvedimangalam[5] (Nos. 31 to 36 and 38). In three inscriptions of the 18th year of Rajaraja III. We find the fresh surname Gramasikhamani-chaturvedimangalam (Nos. 39 to 41). The village was included in Jayankonda-Chola-mandalam[6] (Nos. 28 to 30, 32 to 39, and 41). Down to the time of Virarajendra I. it belonged to Maganur-nadu[7] (Nos. 28 to 30), a subdivision of the district of Sengattukottam[8] (Nos. 27 to 30). The later Chola inscriptions assign it to Kunrattur-nadu[9] (Nos. 31 to 39 and 41), a subdivision of the district of Puliyur-kottam[10] (Nos. 39 and 41), which was surnamed Kulottunga-Chola-valanadu (Nos. 31 to 36, 38, 39 and 41) after Kulottunga-Chola I. The ancient name of the Rajagopala-Perumal temple was Srimad-Dvarapati (Nos. 28 to 30) or Srimad-Dvarapurideva (No. 27), i.e., âthe lord of the prosperous city of Dvara,â the residence of Krishna in Gujarat. The Tamil equivalent of Srimad-Dvarapati is Vanduvarapati (Nos. 31 and 33 to 39). Other names of the temple were Sri-Kamakkodi-Vinnagar[11] (No. 32) and Tiruvaykkulam (Nos. 33 and 36). [1] No. 320 on the Madras Survey Map of the Conjeeveram taluka. [2] See above, Vol. I. p. 144 f. and Vol. II. p. 363, note 1. [3] The ancient name of this temple was Tiruvayappadi ; see below, p. 84, note 5. [4] Ratna is synonymous with mani, the first portion of the name Manimangalam. [5] I.e., âthe Brahmana settlement (called after) the Chola who twice saw the back of (i.e., defeated) the Pandya.â Instead of ven-kanda, two inscriptions (Nos. 31 and 38) read ven-konda, and two others (Nos. 33 and 35) men-konda. [6] See above, p. 2 and note 3. [7] Maganur was a hamlet on the west of Manimangalam ; see No. 27, text line 3, and No. 33, text line 21. [8] Compare Ep. Ind. Vol. IV. P. 6, note 4. Sengadu is a village in the Conjeeveram taluka (No. 250 on the Madras Survey Map). [9] Kunrattur is probably the modern Kunnattur, No. 248 on the Madras Survey Map of the Saidapet taluka. [10] Compare Ep. Ind. Vol. IV. P. 8, note 1. Puliyur is a village close to Madras. No. 174 on the Madras Survey Map of the Saidapet taluka. [11] On Vinnagar or Vinnagaram, âa Vishnu temple,â see Ep. Ind. Vol. V. p. 47, note 4.
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