Appendix 2: Tiruvanakkoyil

The village of Tiruvanakkoyil in Chingleput district and the adjacent one of Kalattur were perhaps once part of the village called Karigai-Kulattur (or -Kalattur) in Tondai-mandalam, hometown of the famous Tiruch chirrambalam udaiyan alias Pallavarayan, minister and general to both Rajaraja II and Rajadhiraja II. (Presumably in fond memory of his native soil, this Chief founded a village which included the present-day Pallava-rayanpettai and named it Rajarajan-Kalattur (or -Kulattur).) There is a temple here known as the Tiruvalisvara temple but known in inscriptions as Tiruvalakkoyil—of which the present name of the village appears to be a corruption.

Tiruvausvara (Tiru Valak Kotil Udaiya Nayanar) temple

The earliest inscription in this temple is on the south wall of the central shrine and pertains to the 27th year of Kuiottunga I (ARE 357 of 1911). It registers a gift of four cows for a lamp by a native of Arrur in IJrrukkattuk kottam, and also names two Kata-mukhi priests—Gomadatta Jnanasri Pandita and Sailasri Pandita. An inscription of the 10th year of Vikrama Chola on the same wall registers a gift of land situated in Siru-tandalam to Lord Chandrasekharar (a bronze image?) at Tiruvalakkoyil by a number of people—among them being one from Koduvur and another from Pattinam. An inscription of the 12th year (293rd day) of ‘Konerinmai-kondan’ Kulottunga II (ARE 359 of 1911), found on the west wall, registers a royal order making a gift of some lands in the village of Arumbakkam, a suburb of Ulaiur alias Rajarajanallur in Kalattur kottam, to be clubbed together under the name of Anapaya nallur, for maintenance of worship in the temple of Tiruvalakkoyil udaiya Mahadevar. (A similar order was issued at Kalattur: ARE 346 of 1911, as we shall sec in Appendix 3). A similar royal order was issued on the 293rd day of the same year to a Chief, Tondaiman, to grant certain lancfc in the village of Nenmeli in Valla nadu, to be clubbed together under the name of ‘Kulottungasolan Tiru nirruch chola Nallur’ for maintaining worship in the temple. The royal secretary in both instances was one Anapaya Muvendavelan. As we know, Anapayan and Tiru nirruch cholan were both surnames of Kulottunga II.

On the east wall, there is an inscription of the 26th year of Rajaraja III, registering a gift of land by one Karikalasola Tamiladaraiyan for burning a lamp on the hill north of the temple of Tiruvalakkoyil udaiya Nayanar (ARE 365 of 1911).

There are three inscriptions bearing the 3rd, 10th and 12th ‘regnal’ years of a Chieftain calling himself ‘Sakala-bhuvanachakravartin Rajanarayana Sambhuvarayan’, who assumed independence in the aftermath of the Chola empire. The twelfth year inscription records that the tiru madai vilagam and surrounding lands were given as a sarva-manya grant to the sthanattar of the temple for maintaining worship and for repairs. This Chief was co-regent for a time (till a.d. 1339) with his father, Venru-man-konda Sambhuvarayan, who faced the furious onslaught of Malik Kafur’s hordes: the son’s own ‘reign’ lasted during a.d. 1337 to 1360, the last known record of his being of the 19th year (ARE for 1935, Part II, p. 55) at Arakandanallur. An inscription of his seventh year reveals that he was one of the valiant few who fought to defend the Hindu religious institutions of South India against the vandalism of the invading hordes. His inscriptions are found at Virinchi-puram, Mamallapuram, Siddhalingamadam, Tirumalai (near Polur) and Arakandanallur (wefeAREfor 1921, Part II, p. 112).