Annual Reports

INTRODUCTION

number of inscriptions copied. But none of them contains any reference to the saint. Nevertheless, the place has yielded some interesting inscriptions. One of them (No. 295) refers to the levy of a certain sum from the residents of Iḷaiyāṅguḍi towards the blackmail to be paid to the Hoysaḷa general Mahāpradhāni BhōgaDaṇḍanāyaka for immunity against his plundering raids. It is dated in the 20th regnal year of Māravarman Sundara Pāṇḍya I, corresponding to 1236 A.C. Another inscription from the same place dated in the 11th year of the reign of Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāṇḍya (No. 291) discloses the fact that in the previous year there was a famine in the village and that in order to relieve the distress, the residents sold some jewels belonging to the god, Rājēndrachōḷīśvara. In the next year, when normal conditions returned, they restored the ornaments to the deity through the munificence of a certain Śīkāli-vēndan who donated 110 paṇam for the purpose. In return for the gift, the villagers agreed to burn a perpetual lamp in the temple. Another instance of the munificence of a Pāṇḍya subordinate is found in a record of the reign of Māravarman Kulaśēkhara I (c. 1268-1312 A.C.), engraved on the walls of the Vēṇugōpālasvāmin temple at Iḷaiyāṅguḍi (No. 306). The inscription states that Vāṇādarāyan Kāliṅgarāyan, son of Gaṅgaikoṇḍa Sūryadēvan, constructed a number of temple and maṭhas, instituted many charitable endowments and religious services in temples and established several agrahāras at different holy places in the Tamil country, viz., Perumbarrappuliyūr, Śrīraṅgam, Tiruvānaikkā, Tiruviḍaimarudūr, Madurai, Tenkarai, Tirukkānappēr, Tuvvūr, Maṇali, Śrīvallamaṅgalam, Tirunelvēli Brahmadēśam, Sēravanmahādēvī, Śrīvallipputtūr, Tiruttaṅgālūr, Vallār-ārraṅgarai, Tirukkuruṅguḍi, Vaḷḷiyūr, Tiruvanantapuram and Iḷaiyāṅguḍi. The donations were made not only to secure religious merit for himself but also for his overland, Kulaśēkharadēva, and his son, prince Vīra-Pāṇḍya, and for his own parents, brothers and wife.

  At Kayalpaṭṭaṇam in the Tiruchchendur taluk, a number of Arabic and Tamil inscriptions were copied. They are mostly tomb-stone inscriptions recording the death and burial of some persons of local importance. They bear dates in the Hijra era and belong to the 16th century A.C. However, the place has yielded one Pāṇḍya inscription (No. 390) of the reign of Kulaśēkhara (13th-14th century A.C.), which is of importance inasmuch as it establishes the antiquity of the place. The record which has been secured from a Muhammadan graveyard called Karpuḍaiyārpaḷḷi is unfortunately damaged. It registers a gift of two achchu for burning a perpetual lamp, evidently in a temple at Kāyalpaṭṭaṇam.

  From Paṇambūru in the South Kanara District, comes an inscription (No. 227) which refers itself to the reign of the Āḷupa king Baṁkidēva who bore the title Pāṇḍyachakravarti. It is dated Śaka 1227, Viśvāvasu, (1305 A.C.). The epigraph, which is in Kannaḍa, registers a gift of land at the village of Hanumbūru which was a brahmadēya endowment to the Śaiva teacher Nāgaśivaśaivāchārya, for offerings to the god Nagarēśvara Gaṇapati. Baṁkidēva is known from other inscriptions copied in the same area (vide An. Rep. on S. I. Epigraphy, 1901, part ii, para. 8, and 1931, part ii, para. 28).