Middle Chola Temples
by S. R. Balasubrahmanyam | 1975 | 141,178 words
This volume of Chola Temples covers Rajaraja I to Kulottunga I in the timeframe A.D. 985-1070. The Cholas of Southern India left a remarkable stamp in the history of Indian architecture and sculpture. Besides that, the Chola dynasty was a successful ruling dynasty even conquering overseas regions....
Temples in Vinnamangalam
Vinnamangalam, situated in the Arani taluk in North Arcot district has a Vishnu temple on a nearby hill and a big tank close by it. Four inscriptions are found in this place. One is a mutilated inscription of the seventh year of a Ko-Parakesaripanmar, found on a hero-stone planted in the bed of the above tank. The place is called Vinnamangalam in this inscription also, which seems ascribable to Parantaka I (ARE 24 of 1899; SII, VI, 460).
Virrirunda Perumal Koyil
Two of the inscriptions are found on the walls of the temple. One of them, on the south wall, is of the seventh year of Rajendra deva II (ARE 21 of 1899; SII, VI, 457); it gives the name of the place as Vinnamangalam alias Vikramachola chaturvedimanga-lam in Aiyampulugur (-pugalur?) nadu in Perumbanappadi (vala-?) nadu of Jayangondasola mandalam, and the name of the temple as Tirumerkoyil alias Tiru Virrirunda Perumal koyil alias Nanadesi Vinnagar. We may infer that.the alternate name of the place was after Rajendra I and that the temple was possibly rebuilt of stone by a nanadesi, presumably a member of the famous merchant-guild called Nanadesi Tisai Ainnunuvar.
The other inscription is of the fifth year of Vira Rajendra, and is on the west wall (ARE 22 of 1899; SII, VI, 458). It refers to the place in substantially the same terms as the preceding inscription, but the temple is referred to as Malai Tirumerkoyil alias Viranarayana Vinnagar Alvar Srikoyil. Perhaps this is a revival of an older name for the deity in honour of Parantaka I. If so, our identification of Parakesarivarman in the hero-stone inscription as Parantaka I gets reinforced, and the original temple might be a foundation of the days of Parantaka I, rebuilt later on by the nanadesi.
The last inscription in the place is found on a slab set up in the north-east corner of the big tank, and is of the days of Vira Posala (Hoysala) Ramanatha deva of the thirteenth century; it relates to regulation of fishing rights in the big tank.
We may thus ascribe the original temple to the days of Parantaka I and its reconstruction by a nanadesi to the.eleventh century, possibly in the days of Rajendra deva II himself.