Temples in Perambakkam

Cholisvara (Kulottungasolisvaram Udaiya Mahadevar) temple

In the central shrine of the Cholisvara temple at Perambakkam, a village in the Tiruvallur taluk of the Chingleput district, there is an inscription on the second tier of the south wall dkted in the 42nd year of a... kesarivarman alias Chakravartin Kulottunga Chola deva, who should be identified with Kulottunga I, in view of the high regnal year and also the introduction to the king’s prasasti, which begins with the usual expression, pugal madu vilanga. It records the gift of the village of Perumbakkam alias Irattapadi-konda-sola-nallur (after a surname of Rajadhiraja I) in Pasali nadu of Manavir kottam, a subdivision of Jayangondasola mandalam, as devadana, free of taxes, to the deity, Kulottunga Cholisvaram Udaiyar of the village, by the Pagai-yaruttu-konda-solar velaikkarar, evidently the name of a regiment of the Chola army (ARE 68 of 1947-48). A gift of money is made in the 44th year of the same ruler, for burning a lamp before the deity, Kulottunga Solisvaram Udaiya Mahadevar, by one Kuttadi Takkaraisan Telungarayan of the same army unit mentioned above. This record is found on the tiers of the west wall (ARE 69 of 1947-48). On the tiers of the east and the south walls of the central shrine, there are three records of Tribhuvana Chakravartin Tribhuvana Vira deva (Kulottunga III) dated in his 15th, 33rd and 35th years; the first appears to record a donation in money made by a lady to the deity who is still called by the same name; the second records a gift of money for burning a lamp in the temple by a member of the Miyayam of Perumbakkam, and the third registers a gift of lamp by one Sankaranti Pallavaraiyan, again a member of the Miyayam of Perumbakkam to the deity, called in the inscription Kulottunga Cholisvaram Udaiyar (ARE 64, 65, and 66 of 1947-48). There are three inscriptions of a Rajarajadeva, two erf them dated in his 10th year and one in his 13th year, which should be ascribed to Rajaraja III. They respectively mention (i) a gift of money for the expenses of burning a lamp by one Arumbanayaka Pallavaraiyan, one of the of the village, (ii) a grant by the Niyayattar of the village, free of taxes, of three velis of land in Anaikattuputtur to Ariya Tolapillai, son of Kuttaya-vandar, one of the Pauttar-pendugal, after receiving 100 kasus, and (iii) that Irumudi Chola Pallavaraiyan alias Udaiya Pillai, one of the Niyaya-mudalis of the village, donated 3 kasus for the expenses of burning a lamp; in these inscriptions, the deity continues to be called Kulottunga Cholisvaram Udaiya Mahadevar (ARE 73, 75 and 72 of 1947-48).

There is an undated inscription on the tiers of the north wall of the shrine recording “the construction of the prakara wall of the temple by Irul-nikkinan with the consent of the Niyayattar of the village” (ARE 74 of 1947-48).

This temple is a dated one and came into existence in the days of Kulottunga I prior to his 42nd year (a.d. 1112) and was named after the emperor himself. We learn of the administration of the village affairs by a local body called Niyayattars, who evidently had quasi-judicial authority as well. Its members also figure as donors in several endowments to the temple. We have evidence of similar bodies in the Chola administrative set-up at the grass-root level, like the abmganatiar.