Middle Chola Temples

by S. R. Balasubrahmanyam | 1975 | 141,178 words

This volume of Chola Temples covers Rajaraja I to Kulottunga I in the timeframe A.D. 985-1070. The Cholas of Southern India left a remarkable stamp in the history of Indian architecture and sculpture. Besides that, the Chola dynasty was a successful ruling dynasty even conquering overseas regions....

Appendix on Rajarajesvaram: Later History

CHOLA

1. Rajendradeva II (a.d. 1052-1064)

SII, II, 67:: fourth year: gift of a daily allowance of paddy to a troupe of actors to perforin a drama Rajarajesvara-natakam during the Vaikasi festival. Order engraved two years later.

2. Kulottunga I (a.d. 1070-1120)

(a) SII, II, 58:: an incomplete inscription relating to a gift by Arumolinangaiyar...Maha-deviyar, the consort of Vira Rajendradeva.

(b) SII, II, 22:: 35th year, 64th day: inscription of Tribhuvana Chakravartin Konerin-maikondan (Kulottunga I): the foundation of an agaram called Samantanarayana chaturvedi-mangalam and a Vishnu temple of Vinnagar Emperuman, both named after the donor, a Pallava feudatory of the Chola king, in the region of the Vadavar river, round about Karuntat-tankudi.

3. Vikrama Chola (a.d. 1118-35)

SII, II, 68:: fourth year: grant of an allowance to a person who measured paddy at the temple and in the villages belonging to it.

4. Rajaraja HI (a.d. 1216-59)

SII, II, 96:: third year: registers a political compact by three chiefs of Chola-desa to be faithful to the overlord and to stand by one another in times of need.

PANDYA

5. Tribhuvana Chakravartin Konerinmaikondan

SII, II, 61:: second year, 334th day: the Pandya king built the Amman temple of Ulagamulu-dum Udaiya Nachchiyar (now called the Brihannayaki Amman shrine) and gifted a village of 11 velis of land to it.

6. Tribhuvana Chakravartin Konerinmaikondan

SII, II, 21:: sixth year, seventh day: certain devadana iraiyili lands in six villages, which had been wrongly sold in the third and fourth years of this king, were restored to this temple.

VIJAYANAGARA

7. Devaraja II

SII, II, 71:: Saka 1368 (a.d. 1446-47): gift of gold and silver ornaments to the main deity and Kshetrapala-devar by the emperor’s military officer, towards the success of his dig-vijayam.

8. Tirumalai-deva

SII, II, 23:: Saka 1377 (a.d. 1455-56): royal order exempting a number of villages from taxes.

TANJAVUR NAYAKS

9. SII, II, 62: the residents of Puliyur built a mandapa of Murti Amman, evidendy named after the queen of Sevappa Nayaka. Here the Rajarajesvaram is called Periya Udaiya Nayanar temple for the first time (whence the modern name of Brihad-isvaram and Peruvudaiyar-Koyil).

10. Achyutappa Nayak (a.d. 1572-1614)

Inscription of the Saka year 1490 (a.d. 1578-79): order exempting goldsmiths from taxes.

MARATHA

11. Raja Serfoji II

Inscription of the Saka year 1723 (a.d. 1801-02): the king gave a gift of jewles to the main deity; he had a Marathi inscription engraved, giving the history of the Marathas from the days of the founder to his days; he made elaborate repairs to the shrines of Ganapati of the sub-shrine (parivaralaya), Subrahmanyar, Amman, Sabhapati, Dakshinamurti and Chandesvara. He also built some new mandapas and repaired the flooring of the prakara, the madils, and the temple kitchen.

MODERN DAYS

12. The temple is being repaired by the Archaeological Survey of India. A statue of Rajaraja I was recendy installed outside the temple precincts by the Tamil Nadu Government. A permanent Chola Art Exposition has been recently opened in the temple precincts by the Archaeological Survey of India.

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