Temples in Kendatti

Kendatti hill is near Holeranalli in the Kolar district of Karnataka State. There is a Siva temple on the hill; the temple is now called that of Chandramallesvara; but its original name was Somisvaram udaiya mahadevar koyil.

Chandramallesvara temple

On the basement of this temple, there is an inscription in Grantha and Tamil characters which belongs to the period of Rajaraja II. It contains the usual prasasti beginning with pu maru-viya polil elum. Dated in the seventh year of the reign of this king, who is described as “the lord of the seven cities,” this record mentions that Rajendrasola Pallavaradittan alias Mukkarasar Ka(n)duvetti, lord of Kanchipura, caused to be built for the god Somisvaram udaiya Mahadevar a temple on the hill called Virasri-tirumalai at Surur situated in Kuvalala nadu of Nigarili-solamandalam and granted Purakuttai as a devadana for the god Mahadeva and the temple-servants; and ordered that Udaiya fihatta should be the owner of this property (Epi. Car., Kolar, no. 75).

We are aware that after the Cholas were pushed back from this region, the Gangas, who had traditionally ruled this region, came back to power, but now as feudatories of the Hoysalas; while under the Cholas, their chiefs bore the combined name of Chola-Ganga. Even under the Hoysalas this tradition evidently continued. We have two inscriptions of these Chola-Gangas in this temple, one relating to Vedumaara Baana alias Uttama Sola Ganga, the lord of the city of Kuvalala, a descendant of the Ganga family, Kaveri-vallabha and the lord of Nandigiri, who remitted the land-tax and a few other taxes in the devadana of the god Somisvaram udaiya Nayanar of Surur. The inscription is in Tamil and is dated in about a.d. 1280. The other record is of his son, Vikkirama Gangan, in which he says that he, and two brothers, one Talaisiyarayan, one of his ministers, and Gangaadaraayan alias Viman, his younger brother, the three together granted some lands for. offerings of rice for the god Somisvaram Udaiya Nayanar. They also granted some tax-free temple property to Ponna Bhatta, a Siva-brahmana of the Harita gotra. We learn that there were other deities in the temple, like Sri Kailasam Udaiya nayanar and Vimisvaram udaiyar. This record is dated in a.d. 1320 (Epi. Car., Kolar, no 77).

Thus, this temple came into existence during the reign of Rajaraja II and the claim of Vikrama Chola of having restored Chola rule over this region, which had been wrested from the Cholas in the last days of Kulottunga I, seems to be valid; this region appears to have continued as a part of the Chola empire at least till Rajaraja II’s rule if not even later. The temple dates back to a.d. 1153.