Temples in Elavanasur (Iraivanaraiyur)

Elavanasur(-kottai) is in the Tirukkoyilur taluk in the South Arcot district. There is an ancient Siva temple dedicated to Ardhanarisvara—named in inscriptions GramardhAnathesvara or Urbhagangondaruliya Nayanar. It is on a hill called Tirumalai perhaps originally part of a fort (kottai = fort). It is not a temple visited or sung by the Tamil Nayanmars; though one inscription of Vikrama Chola’s mentions the provision for the recitation of Manikkavasagar’s hymns, the Tiruchchalal.

Ardhanarisvara temple

An interpretation that would appear to be valid and reasonable has been made of the name Ur Bhagam Kondaruliya nayanar for the deity of this temple. There was one Purana Tirumalai natha who composed the Chidambara in Saka 1430 (a.d. 1508). This Puranam throws light on the above-mentioned name:

“Deivigan, the Malaiyaman Chief, slays the asura Karundan,. who was a brahmin in a previous birth. Because of this, the sin of brahmahatti attaches itself to him. As a measure of expiation, he performs a sacrifice and colonises four neighbouring villages' with 400 brahmins and takes 400 other brahmins to this place. However, he finds that there are 400 more still left to be provided for. When he is unable to solve this problem of housing for these 400, the Lord of the temple appears before him as a brahmin and tells him: ‘Gift away this village now. Give one half to the brahmins and the other half to me alone; then they will be satisfied’. The Chief does so. The brahmin disappears and reveals himself as Lord Siva of the temple. From that incident he came to be known as Ur Bhagam Kondaruliya nayanar—the. Lord who accepted one half of the village”.^[1]

In this light the sanskritised version of the name, Grama-Ardhanarisvara, would seem to be incorrect.

There are inscriptions of Rajaraja I and of Rajendra I, but they are either fragmentary or later copies engraved on the walls of the prakara of the temple; so the temple seems to have undergone renovation during the Later Chola period. The earliest is an inscription of the seventh year of Rajaraja 1 found on a slab built into the floor at the entrance to the temple (ARE 176 of 1906). It refers to the,15th year of Uttama Chola, described as the son of Sembiyan Mahadevi. Venkayya’s inference that the seventh year of Rajaraja I corresponded to the 15th year of Uttama Chola and consequently that the accession of Uttama Chola is to be fixed at a.d. 977 ~8does notseem to be correct. (See V. Rengachary’s Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, I, p. 193, no. 534). His inscription of the 14th year (copy) refers to the deity as Urbhagan-gondaruliya Nayanar (ARE 134 of 1906). There are two of his 19th year and one of his 24th (ARE 143 of 1906). There are inscriptions of his son Rajendra I (fifth or 13th year-copies). The Lord js called Urudaiya Paramasvamin in them.

There are a large number of inscriptions of the Later Cholas. Of these, those of Kulottunga I, about eleven, range from his second to his fortyeighth regnal year. His tenth year recortf gives us Urudaiya Paramasvamin as the name of the central deity (ARE 149 of 1906).

His inscription of the 35th year (ARE 167 of 1906) records that the temple of Urbhagangondaruiina Mahadevac was situated at Iraivanaraiyur alias Sri Sola-Kerala chaturvedimangalam in Palur kottam, a district of Miladu Jananatha valanadu. This is the earliest mention of the alternate name of this village as Sola-Kerala chaturvedimangalam. So it seems that Sola-Kerala was a biruda of Kulottunga I himself. It need not be the name of one of the relations of Rajendra deva II (a.d. 1052-63) as suggested by V. Rangachary (see p. 137—Elavanasur). His inscription of the 48th year records a sale by the local sabha of land which belonged to two absconding accountants who had incurred debts and left the village without discharging them (ARE 164 of 1906).

There are five inscriptions of Vikrama Chola. As stated already the inscription of the 17th year makes a gift of land not only for meeting the daily requirements of the temple but for the recitation every Sunday of Manikkavasagar’s hymn Tiruchchalal.

There are about six inscriptions of the time of Rajaraja II. In a record of his sixth year there figures an influential local chief called Kudal Alappirandan Mogan Rajaraja Kadavarayan who claims to have conquered the four quarters (nalu tikkilum venra)who is the third Later Pallava-chief (in succession) celebrated in an inscription in verse (ARE 74 of 1908, 463 of 1921 and 166 and 170 of 1906. See also my Kopperunjingan in Tamil, pp. 10-35). Two records of his sixth year refer to gifts of taxes by this chief to the temple and the building of the tirumaligai (walls of enclosure?). An inscription of his 13th year is recorded in the second gopuram and so it should have existed even at that time (ARE 163 of 1906). From an inscription of the 17th year, we gather that the village was still called Sri Sola-Kerala chaturvedimangalam.

Two gifts are recorded in the period of Rajadhiraja II. Some records of Sola-Kerala deva and Tribhuvana chakravartin Virarajendra might belong to Kulottunga III. An inscription of the tenth year of Rajaraja III records a gift of 132 cows for a lamp by a person who shot another by mistake in the course of a boar chase. Two gifts are recorded in the 30th year of Pallava Kopperun-jinga (= a.d. 1273). There are a number of Vijayanagara records.

The outer gopuram, a general view of the temple, three kinds of Ganapati, Dakshinamurti, a dvarapala and Durga with the deer mount in the mandapa of the Amman temple are illustrated.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Vide the article of M. Arunachalam entitled “Elavanasur Inscriptions”, pages 89-92 of ‘South Indian Studies’, Society for Archaeological, Historical and Epigraphical Research, Madras