Temples in Velachcheri

Velachcheri is in the Saidapet taluk of the Chingleput district about two miles (3.2 km.) from the Saidapet-Adayar bridge on the road to Tambaram. It was formerly named Velichcheri in Kottur nadu of Puliyur Kottam in Tondaimandalam. There are here two early Chola temples.

1 The Saptamatrika temple (Kala Bhatari) (Selliyamman)

One is the temple for the Saptamatrikas which lies on the right of the road. There are two inscriptions on the walls of this temple; one of the fourth year of a Parakesarivarman without distinguishing epithets. He may be Arinjaya or Uttama Chola, if not Parantaka I himself. It refers to a gift of land and offerings to the temple of Kala-Bhatari, as the deity is called.

There is another inscription of the 10th year of Par-thivendradhipativarman who may be a contemporary member of the royal family or a local feudatory of the days of Sundara Chola (or Aditya II himself before he was recognised as co-ruler?). A person from Tiruvetpur in Sola nadu (a suburb of modem Puduk-kottai town) bought some lands and after having got them tax free by the mahasabha of Velichcheri, presented them for offerings to the Saptamatrikas of this village. The Matru-Sivas, who were the members in charge of the administration of the affairs of the Saptamatrika temple, received the lands and agreed to maintain the charity.

The Selliyamman temple is an ekatala prasada. The sculptures installed in the sanctum are Ganapati (east), Chamunda, Indrani, Varahi, Vaishnavi, Brahmi, Mahesvari, Kaumari (all in the south in a row) and Virabhadra (west). The garbhagriha alone is intact.

(2) Dandisvara temple (Tirkkarrali Mahadevar temple) (the Siva temple)

The deity of the Siva temple in the same village is called Tirukkarrali Mahadeva in the temple of tandisvaram at Velichcheri. The modem name Dandi-svaram should be a corruption of Tandisvaram. There are two inscriptions of the 5th and the 7th years of Ma-duraikonda Rajakesari who may be Sundara Chola. The Government Epigraphist assigns the inscription of the 5th regnal year of Madiraikonda Rajakesaripan-mar (a.r. no. 315 of 1911) to Gandaraditya (see SII. Ill, pt. Ill, no. 114, pp. 250-251). Both of them are gifts for lamps to the temple. The one of his 7th year mentions that two persons from Sonadu purchased land from the Assembly of Velichcheri and presented it to the temple of Tirut-tandisvarattu Mahadevar for a lamp and offerings to the shrine of Ganapati consecrated by them within the temple. It is mentioned that the Mahasabha met in the brahmasthana of the village and effected the transaction. It was declared that the Siva brahmans of the Tiruvunnaligai (temple-stores?) were to be responsible for the actual conduct of the charity and the Ganaperumakkal (Managing Committee of the village) and the ruling king were to be its protectors.

An inscription of the 9th year of a Rajakesarivarman who may be Sundara Chola records a gift of 90 sheep for a lamp by one of the members of the governing body of the village.

This is an ekatalaprasada. It is built of stone ().

The original temple consisted of the garbhagriha and the ardhamandapa. The latter has two dvarapalas at its entrance (Pis. 129-134).

The plinth has plain mouldings and it is U feet high. The pilaster including the podigai is five feet high.

The garbhagriha is a square 13£ feet (3.7 m.) side externally. Inside, it measures feet(1.96 m.) east to west.

There are five devakoshtas adorned with Ganapati (s) and Durga (n) on the walls of the ardhamandapa and Dakshinamurti (s), Lingodb-havar (w) and Brahma (n) on the walls of the garbhagriha.

The griva has koshtas, and there are Dakshinamurti (s), Vishnu (w), Brahma (n) and Siva (e). The sikhara is square but it is now stuccoed over during the recent renovation.

Both the Saptamatrika and Siva temples were in existence in the 10th century.

As in Alambakkam, here is an independent Saptamatrika temple of the early Chola age. The worship of the Saptamatrikas and the existence of separate shrines for them were prevalent in South India as late as the reign of Kulottunga I. At Kolar in the Mysore State, there is a temple of Kolaramma, named in the local inscription the Pidari of Kuvalalam. An inscription of the second regnal year of Ko-Rajakesari Rajendra Choladeva identical with Kulottunga Chola I (=a.d. 1072: with Tirumanni-vilangum historical introduction) mentions that a Chola royal officer named Virasikha-mani Muvendavelar conducted an enquiry into the affairs of the temple and found that the income from the devadana lands of the temple fixed in gold (madai) had not been utilised for temple services; and on the recommendation of a local committee of enquiry made allotments for offerings to various deities in the temple out of the income, now fixed in kind, of 2,843 and odd kalams of paddy in lieu of the payment in gold. The deities mentioned are Chamundesvari of the Mulasthana (the main deity, the Pidari), Virabhadra-devar, Brahmani, Isvari, Vaishnavi, Indrani and Ganapati (of the Saptamatrika group); also other deities, viz, Kshetrapaladeva, Suryadeva (Parivara devatas); also Mahasasta (Ayyanar), Yogini and Yogesvara (for whom intoxicating drinks—nam—were to be provided).^[1]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The inscription is incomplete and so does not give us a full picture. Out of the 28 lines of the inscription, a few syllables at the end of each of the lines 1 to 7 and more at the end of line 8 are lost (A.R. no, 131 of 1893; SII, III, pt. II, no. 66).