Temples in Krishnapatnam

Krishnapatnam is now a small village close to the seacoast, about 22 km. by road from Nellore in a south-easterly direction, and is accessible from the Nellore-Muttukuyij. road. It can also be approached from the Venkatachelam railway station, which lies between Gudur and Nellore. It is in the Nellore taluk of the Nellore district. It was once a flourishing sea-port, which served the international merchant-guild that built up extensive commerce with the far-eastern and south-eastern Asian empires of those days.

There is a temple in the village dedicated to Siddhesvara.

Siddhesvara temple

The original name given to the temple by its builders was Manuma-Siddhisvaram, from which the (present) name of Siddhesvara for the deity is derived.

On a slab fixed to the left of the entrance to this temple, there is an inscription which belongs to the days of ‘Virarajendra’ (i.e., Rajendra III) which records that the uravar of Kollitturai alias Gandagopalap-pattinam and the Padinenbhumi samasta para-desis gathered in the Desimyakan tirukkavanam in the temple of Chandattiraip-pillaiyar and arranged for the contribution from certain levies from among themselves towards the various offerings to god Manumasiddhisvaram-udaiya Nayanar (named after Manmasiddhi II alias Vira Gandagopala). The levies included among others those charged on marakkalam, and kalavam, terms that denote marine vessels. The inscription contains some post-scripts, of which one, of the 15th regnal year, refers to a grant of land made according to the orders of Nayanar Manumasiddhara-sar (II), the T elugu-Choda chief.

Another inscription, also found on a slab built into the wall to the right of the entrance into the temple (ARE 78 of 1963-64), relates to the second year of the reign of Tribhuvana-chakravartigal Irumadi Tirukkalattidevar; it is in Tamil and is dated in Saka 1201 (= a.d. 1279). It records that the Ainjuvanna vanigar and Padinenbhumi^samasta-paradesigal of the nadu, the rngaram and the Malaimandalam, all of Kollitturai alias Gandagopala-pattinam, met in full strength at the Ainnurruvar-tirukkavanam^[1] and agreed to assign the income from a levy on all commodities that passed through the port at the rate of 1/4 per cent of their value, for worship and food offerings to the god Manuma-siddhisvaram Udaiyar and repairs and maintenance of buildings (see Appendix to this Section).

Reading these two inscriptions together would indicate that considerable maritime activity took place through this sea-port called Kollitturai, which was given an alternate name after the Telugu-Choda Chief Gandagopala; and the commercial community comprising the various trading societies or companies met and transacted business and codified rules of business and regulations of port administration.

The temple called Manumasiddhisvaram in the inscriptions was founded in the name of Manumasiddharaisar II, the Pottapi-Chola Chief, who ‘came to the throne’ in a.d. 1250. The temple has evidently undergone renovation at a subsequent stage; however, there is a mandapa in front of the central shrine, with pillars containing figures of deities such as Indra, Agni, Vayu and Varuna with their respective iconographic weapons. It is apparently this mandapa which is referred to (in ARE 78 of 1963-64) as the Ainnurruvan tirukkavanam, wherein the Assembly is stated to have met to conduct its deliberations. One can infer from the identity of the names of the merchant-guild and of the hall that this body was concerned with the construction of the hall.

Thus the temple and the hall in front could be attributed to the second half of the 13th century. This inference is confirmed by the stylistic characteristics of the mandapa. The central shrine has undergone subsequent renovation.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

For a discussion of Ainnumvar, see my Middle Chela Temples, pp. 119—20.