Temples in Tukkachchi

The village of Tukkachchi, closely connected with Kulottunga I and Vikrama Chola, is situated on the northern bank of the river Arasalaru, a distributary of the Kaveri. It is off the beaten track, about seven km. from Nachchiyarkoyil in the Kumbakonam taluk of the Tanjavur district. One has to take off from Pudukkudi on the road from Nachchiyarkoyil to Puntottam which runs on the southern bank of the Arasalaru, cross the river and proceed about a kilometre and a half along the northern bank of the river in a north-westerly direction to reach Tukkachchi.

Apatsahayesvara (Vikramasolisvaram) temple

In this village, there is a magnificent but much-neglected temple dedicated to Apatsahayesvara, of which little notice has been taken so far and whose significance in the growth of Chola architecture has not been so far realised. It faces east and consists of a garbhagriha (7.35m. x 5.70m.), an ardhamandapa (7.35m. x 7.72m.) and a snapana mandapa (12.35m. x 15.50m.). The srivimana is a dvi-tala structure, the superstructure being of brick and mortar. The griva and the sikhara are circular in cross-section. Icons of Dakshinamurti, Lingodbhavar and Brahma adorn the niches on the south, west and north walls of the garbhagriha respectively. In the south-western corner, there is a sub-shrine for Ganapati, while in the west is the Subrahmanya sub-shrine. The first prakara extends 65.00 m. in length by 38.50 m. in width. Over the eastern portion of the wall of enclosure, there is a three-tiered (munru-nilai) gopuram coeval with the main temple. There is a second (outer) prakara and a second wall of enclosure with an opening on the eastern wall, over which rises a five-tiered (ai-nilai) gopuram. In the north-eastern corner of the second prakara is the Amman shrine dedicated to Soundara Nayaki.

In this temple and its neighbourhood, there are three Chola inscriptions. The earliest of them (ARE 6 of 1915) is found on a slab set up in a garden in this village and is an inscription of the fourth year of Rajakesarivarman (an error for Parakesarivarman) alias Tribhuvanachakravartin Vikrama Chola deva (a.d. 1122). It records a gift of land free of taxes by the Great Assembly of Vijayarajendra chaturvedimangalam in Tirunaraiyur nadu, a subdivision of Uyyakkonda valanadu to the temple of Ten-Tirukkalatti Mahadevar at Kulottungasola-nallur for the recitation of Tiruppadiyam (Devaram) hymns. It also refers to the thirtieth regnal year of Kulottunga I. The place is named Kulottungasola-nallur and the Lord of the temple T en-Tirukkalafti Mahadevar—of the southern Kalahasti, as distinguished from the celebrated northern Kalahasti, a Saiva centre on the northern borders of ancient Tamil Nadu.

The next Chola inscription is one of the 35th year of Tribhuvanachakravartin Tribhuvana vira deva, which was the title assumed by Kulottunga III after his third victory over the Pandyas (about a.d. 1213). It is engraved on the south wall of the first prakara of the temple (ARE 2 of 1915). It mentions a gift of a lamp to the temple of Vikramasolisvaram Udaiyar at Vikrama-sola-nallur by Arayan Rajarajadevan alias Munaiyadaraiyan of Gidangil (Tindivanam) in Oyma nadu, a district of Jayangonda-sola mandalam.

By this time, Kulottungasola-nallur becomes renamed Vikramasola-nallur and the temple of Ten-Tirukkalatti is rechristened Vikrama-solisvaram.

The third Chola inscription (ARE 10 of 1918), also inscribed on the same south wall of the first prakara of this temple, is one of the 23rd year of Tribhuvanachakravartin Rajarajadeva III (a.d. 1239) in whose time the Chola administration fell to the depths of inefficiency, racked by revolts and defiance of the central power. Rajaraja III was defeated and imprisoned at Sendamangalam by the Pallava ruler Kopperunjinga but was later rescued by the Hoysala Narasimha II (a.d. 1231-32). In this period of disorder is recorded this inscription of the 23rd year of Rajaraja III. From this we learn that the cultivators of the devadcma lands given as gifts to this temple of Vikrama Cholisvaram Udaiyar by Sendamangalam Udaiyar, Chief of Vikrama-sola-nallur alias Irumapundy, for conducting worship and offerings, for supplying unguents and garlands of Sengalunir flowers and for meeting the other requirements of the temple, failed to pay the kadamai when demanded. And the income was found insufficient to meet the requirements of the temple. Seeing their distress, Sirandan alias Muniyadaraiyan, one of the Kaml-kaniyalars (officers leasing out lands and realising their assessment) dissuaded the defaulting tenants from absconding by giving them what was required for their maintenance, and personally attended to the daily requirements of the temple and supplemented its funds so that the fixed scale of expenses might be met; he also set up processional images of Sani and Brihaspati, appointed a person to perform a number of prostrations to the Lord of the temple for the welfare of the King, nominated Nambis to perform homa, and ministered to the wants of Brahmanas and Vellalas who had taken up residence in the village from outside. In return for all these services, the Kaniyalan was given the privilege of entering the temple armed with a bow, of getting one of the (privileges) for himself, of receiving half of the emoluments of the persons who had to carry the God in procession, of getting a house in the temple premises and of letting it out to any person of his choice and to have this order engraved on stone.

He reappointed the persons who had given up cultivation of the lands in previous years and was able to obtain an income of 2000 kalams of paddy for the temple.

The temple is named Vikrama-solisvaram and the place is called Vikramasola-nallur, in this inscription.

There is a post-Chola inscription to the left of the entrance of the inner gopuram of the temple (ARE 4 of 1918), which records the gift of the image of Pallakku-sokkar to the temple of Vikrama-solisvara-tambiran at Tukkaiatchi—a name nearest to the modern one of Tukkachchi—by an agent of the minister of Kottaniraya Maharaja whose identity and dates are unknown. Does it belong to the post-Vijayanagara period?

Another inscription in modern characters on the outer gopuram (ARE 5 of 1975) states that the measuring rod for dry lands was fixed at 16| units during the time of Samanta Nayaka Ayyan.

The temple, which perhaps existed even earlier in some form, was known as that ofTen-tirukkalatti Mahadevar and the locality was known as Southern Kalahasti; the present name for the village of Tukkachchi or Tukkaiatchi would appear to be a corruption of Ten-Tirukkalatti (Ten-Tirukkalahasti). The place should have assumed some importance even in the days of Kulottunga I, as the temple here is said to be located in Kulottunga-sola-nallur. Even in the early years of Vikrama Chola, perhaps, this temple existed, as deducible from his fourth year inscription. He erected the temple as a new complex, as an all-stone structure (except for the superstructure of the srivimana) and the deity was named Vikramasolisvara, after him.

This temple is of great significance in the evolution of Chola art and architecture during the Later Chola period. Apart from that, its importance lies in the fact that it is perhaps the only big temple built during the days of Vikrama Chola. His contribution to temple-building activity, as observed earlier, was mainly in the form of expanding existing temples—adding new prak'aras and walls of enclosure and raising multi-pillared halls, a tradition which he and his general Naralokaviran set up in the first three decades of the twelfth century.

At Tukkachchi, Vikrama was not handicapped by any compulsions of existing structures dictating a plan to accommodate buildings already there. Planned as a total unit of building and executed as an entirely new composite structure, the Vikrama-solisvaram temple accommodated the chariot hall, in juxtaposition to the other three chambers. This ratha mandapa faces south, while the temple itself faces east. The ratha has two wheels and is ‘drawn’ by two horses. The mandapa accommodates an Amman shrine at the northern end. The entire edifice is on a high plinth which it shares with the other three chambers. On the eastern and northern sides, the hall is closed up by walls, except for an opening in the east to allow a direct view from the gopuram gate to the sanctum. In the south, the hall has a decorative facade having a multi-pillared covered landing, equivalent to an This mandapa is reached by a flight of steps from the eastern side, and the steps are flanked by a low sinuous balustrade, which on its outer face dons a straining elephant with two riders. The pillars supporting the agra-mandapa blaze a new trail in pillar carving. Round and square pillars with plain surfaces of the earlier period give place to square pillars which are segmented on each face into a number of box and open panels depicting a variety of themes, gods and demigods, animals and flora and so forth. On the outer face of the walls on the south, east and west of this hall, there are niches housing various deities.

The snapana mandapa which is an elongated chamber linkin g the hall-on-wheels with the garbhagriha and the ardhamandapa, also has a number of niches, four on each side, on the northern and southern outer faces, some of which are empty, while others house some fine sculptures, like Nataraja and Ardhanari, which are typical of the Later Chola period, in their features.

Vikrama Chola’s contributions to temple-building activities are considerable, but the temples built by, and named after, him are only a few. The Tukkachchi temple is a grand edifice built in his time and named after him. There is another temple built in his time, also called Vikrama-solisvaram, at Madarvelur in the Sirkali taluk of the Tanjavur district.

The Amritaghatesvara temple at Melakkadambur built by Kulottunga I was the proto-type for the Vikramasolisvaram at Tukkachchi which in turn formed the model for the Airavatesvara temple built by Rajaraja II at Darasuram and the Tribhuvanesvara temple built by Kulottunga III at Tribhuvanam.

The precursor of the ratha-vimana type of temple architecture is however the temple of Balesvara built in about a.d. 1090 by Chamundesvara Halegondi.^[1]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

It is a pity I could not visit this temple (see SII.IX, 197,33—38; also Yazdani, p. 426).