Temples in Tiruvalangadu

(Tiru) Alangadu, a station on the Southern Railway, lies about 59 km. west of Madras. It is in the Tiruttani taluk of the Chingleput district. It is closely linked in legend and history with the neighbouring village of Palaiyanur, about 1.5 km. east of it. One story associated with these places is that seventy vellalas who had given their word to protect the person of one Palaiyanur Nili’s husband performed self-immolation by drowning when the husband was murdered, apparently despite their vigilance.

Sambandar sings:

‘Vanjap padultiorulti vernal kollum vahai kettu
Anjum Palaiyanur Alangattu Amman

Vataranyesvara (Urdhvatandavesvara) temple

Tiru Alangadu and Chidambaram^[1] are two places associated with the urdhva-tandava of Siva in His dance-contest against Kali. (A Purana describes this legend thus:

‘idat-tal nitti Arputan Kali torkka adiyatu idu’

‘The dance performed by the wonderful Lord

to defeat Kali, by raising aloft His left leg’.) Appar refers to this legend in his local hymns: “Adinar Kali kana Alangattu Adihalare”. Sundarar sings of “Palaiyanur meviya Attan Alangadan”. This celebrated temple thus dates back at least to the 7th century a.d. Yet another of the sixty-three nayanmar, also intimately associated with this place, is Karaikkal Ammaiyar. When her married life came to an unhappy end, she wandered around as a devotee of Siva, assuming a non-human form; after going up to Kailasa in the north, she reached this place on her return and found eternal rest at the feet of the Lord here. In her two Muttutiruppadiyams, she sings the glories of this Lord.

This religious centre is one of the five sabhas associated with the Nataraja cult, being called the Ratna Sabha. The others are; Chidambaram (Kanaka Sabha), Madurai (Rajata Sabha), Tirunel-veli (Tamra Sabha)—respectively the Golden, Silver and Copper Halls—and Tiruk-kurralam (Chitra Sabha).

In local inscriptions, Alangadu is described as located in Palaiyanur nadu, in the Melamalai division of Jayangondasola mandalam.

The principal adjuncts of the temple are: the main shrine and a Nataraja shrine, any original inscriptions on their walls having; become lost to us in the course of later renovations; two walls of\ enclosure, which have to be assigned to the 12th and 13th centuries; and three gopurams. The innermost gopuram contains the earliest extant inscriptions here, namely, one of the days of Rajendra I, giving a fragment of his historical introduction (ARE 483 of 1905). It also contains a few of the days of Rajadhiraja 1 (of his 13th, 26th and 31st years: ARE 485 of 1905), and one of those of Kulottunga I (of his 46th year: ARE 484 of 1905) mentioning a sale of land to the temple of Tiruvalangadu in Neduvilmalai nadu by the Assembly of Rajanarayana chaturvedimangalam. It further contains two inscriptions of the Vijayanagara days (Saka 1363 and 1493 corresponding to a.d. 1440-41 and 1570-71). The prakara walls contain copies of the inscripdons of the days of Nrpatunga Pallava (ARE 460 and 461 of 1905) and original records of the days of the Later Chola rulers from Kulottunga I to Rajaraja III. It thus seems probable that the earlier Pallava main shrine was first renovated and the temple campus itself enlarged in the Later Chola period, beginning with the reign of Kulottunga I himself. All the Chola records, other than those on the innermost gopuram already cited, are found on the prakara walls. The earliest of these is one of the second year of Kulottunga I (‘Rajakesari Rajendra deva’), on the east wall of the second prakara (ARE 14 of 1896). It records the (re)settlement at Tiruvalangadu of 25 families from Sankarappadi and their being entrusted with the duty of looking after 15 lamps in the temple. Another record, on the west wall of the temple, pertains to the 9th regnal year of “Parakesarivarman Tribhuvanachakravartin Parantaka deva”—who was a son (presumably the eldest) and co-ruler for some years of Kulottunga I (ARE 16 of 1896). There are four inscriptions of Vikrama Chola’s days. An inscription of his 5th year, on the east wall of the first prakara of the Nataraja shrine, records a gift of 12 sheep for a lamp by a native of Urruk-kadu alias Alagiya Solanallur in Urrukkattuk kottam (ARE 453 of 1905). One, of his 6th year, records a sale of land by the Assembly of Perumur alias Rajanarayana-chaturvedimangalam in Perumur nadu (ARE 467 of 1905). Another of the same year has the (correct) ‘pumadu punara’ introduction but contains the incorrect ‘Raja-kesarivarman’ title (for ‘Parakesarivarman’); it records a sale of land by the villagers of Valaikulam (ARE 458 of 1905). An inscription of the 7th year mentions a sale of land by the villagers of Polippakkam to a merchant of Tirumayilappil in Puliyur kottam.

There are four inscriptions of the days of Rajadhiraja II. One, of his 10th year (ARE 469 of 1905), records a gift of gold for two lamps to the shrine of the Goddess Periyanachchiyar of the Tirukkamakkottam in this temple. (This shrine must have come into existence in the days of Kulottunga I himself). An inscription of the 11th year (ARE 466 of 1905) records a gift of land in the village of Kottur or Ilambayankottur alias Chola-vidyadhara chaturvedimangalam in Kanrur nadu, a sub-division of Manavir kottam—a neighbouring village located near Kuvam. The renewal of the Pandyan Succession War, involving the invasion of Sri Lanka by the Cholas supporting the cause of a rival claimant to the Sri Lanka throne, and the success in this war of Vedavanam udaiyan Ammaiyappan alias Pallavaraiyan of Palaiyanur, are mentioned in an inscription of the 12th year (ARE 465 of 1905). The king rewarded him with a gift of ten velis of land in ‘Rajarajan Palaiyanur’. An inscription of the 13th year (with the ‘pugal sulnda pumadu’ introduction) records a gift of two lamps by the above Pallavaraiyan mentioned with the prefix ‘Palaiyanur-udaiyan’ to his name.

There are four inscriptions which could be attributed to the days of Kulottunga III. One, on the east wall of the first prakara (Nataraja shrine), is fragmentary (ARE 452 of 1905). One, of his 23rd year, records the sale of the village of Muduvur (ARE 456 of 1905). One, of the 32nd year (ARE 477 of 1905), records a gift of 70 kasus for offerings. It mentions two villages, Valluvan-pakkam in Olugaiyur nadu, and Perumur alias Rajanarayana chaturvedimangalam (also see ARE 467 of 1905, 6th year of Vikrama Chola) in Neduvinmalai Perumur nadu. Another of the same year, giving him the title of Tribhuvana Vira deva, records a gift of a lamp to the temple of ‘Tiruvarangil nimimda-rulina Nayanar’ at Tiruvalangadu—perhaps a reference to the urdhva-tandava of Siva (ARE 482 of 1905). The donor is named as Arulnilaivisagan Trailokyamallan Vatsarajan of Arumbakkam who had rendered the Mahabharata into elegant Tamil. We thus come to know of yet another translation, not available now, of the great epic.

There are three inscriptions of the days of Rajaraja III. One, of his 8th year, records a gift of 16 cows for a lamp (ARE 463 of 1905). One, of the 12th year, records a sale of land by the villagers of Palaiyanur, a devadana village of this temple. The third registers a gift of four cows for a lamp.

There is an inscription of the 29th year of Vijaya Gandagopala, the Telugu-Choda chief. There are a number of inscriptions of the Vijayanagara kings (Saka dates 1349, 1373 and 1484).

In the Annual Report for South Indian Epigraphy (ARE) for 1905, it is recorded that during the visit to this temple of the late Epigraphist, K.V. Subrahmanya Aiyar, the temple authorities produced a set of thirty-one copper-plates discovered in an underground chamber of the temple along with a number of copper images. Ten of these plates are inscribed in Sanskrit and the rest in Tamil, and the text has been published. A portion of the tenth plate of the Sanskrit part had been left blank, and was in later times used for engraving a Tamil record of twenty-one lines (in comparatively modern characters), conveying information about a donation to the shrine of the Goddess in the temple. Among the ‘bronzes’ unearthed here is the famous Nataraja of the period of Rajendra I, now adorning the Art Gallery of the Madras Government Museum (see my Middle Chola Temples, pl. 338). Rodin’s enthusiastic admiration for this masterpiece is well-known and altogether deserved. These immortal works of art have made their unknown creators as well as patrons immortal.

Tiruvalangadu has thus received the homage over the centuries of saints, kings and the people of the land.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

At Chidambaram, the defeated Kali is held to have been banished for ever to the outskirts of the town. But no pilgrimage to the Nataraja shrine is considered complete without one to the Kali shrine as well.