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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA TIRUVORRIYUR INSCRIPTION OF CHATURANANA PANDITA Besides the maṭha of Chaturānana-Paṇḍita, there were others called after Rājēndra Chōḷa,[1] Tirujñānasaṁbandha,[2] Nandikēśvara,[3] Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa,[4] and Aṅgarāya[5] at Tiruvorriyūr. The Rājēndra-Chōḷa-maṭha was evidently founded during the king’s time. It was a maṭha for the Māhēśvaras and is referred to in inscriptions Nos. 127, 132 and 135 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection. It was built by the wife of Prabhākara Bhaṭṭa of Merkalāpura in Āryadēśa, who became a resident of Tiruvorriyūr. It is clear that this maṭha must have been founded after the expedition of the king to the Ganges, for Prabhākara Bhaṭṭa and his wife from Āryadēśa, along with scholars and Śivāchāryas like Sarvaśiva Paṇḍita of the Tanjore temple, must have been brought from the north by Rājēndra’s generals on their return from the Gaṅgā-vijaya. The Nandikēśvara-maṭha, reference to which is found in an inscription[6] of the third year of Vijayagaṇḍagōpāla (c. 1238 A.D.), can be identified at the village even now on the north-western corner outside the temple.[7] We may now proceed to discuss the details of the gifts mentioned in the inscription.
It says that for the conduct of the worship of Śiva at Tiruvorriyūr, Chaturānana-Paṇḍita entrusted the endowment to the assembly of Narasiṁhamaṅgala (Narasiṁhamaṅgala-sabhām=ākalpam=agrāhayat). The express mention of a different name Narasiṁhamaṅgala in connection with the Sabhā shows that the Sabhā was not exactly at Tiruvorriyūr. In the Tiruvorriyūr inscriptions8 we find that the administrative affairs at Tiruvorriyūr were carried on by the Sabhā of the village of Maṇali, otherwise called Siṅga or Siṁhavishṇuchaturvēdimaṅgalam. In No. 372 of 1911 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection of the time of Vijayakaṁpa, though not styled as Siṁhavishṇuchaturvēdimaṅgalam, Maṇali figures as transacting through its sabhā important affairs at Tiruvorriyūr. It is clear from the epigraphs that the administrative Sabhā for Tiruvorriyūr was not at that place itself, but at Maṇali or Siṁhavishṇuchaturvēdimaṅgalam which is only two or three miles from Tiruvorriyūr.[9] It seems therefore very probable that the Narasiṁhamaṅgala of our record refers only to Maṇali. If this view is correct, Narasiṁhamaṅgala, which is the name in the earlier record, must be the proper name but which later came to be mentioned also as Siṁhavishṇuchaturvēdimaṅgalam. Siṁhavishṇu and Narasiṁha are not after all different names and the full name of king Siṁhavishṇu might have been Narasiṁhavishṇu.[10] In the introductory portion of the Avantisundarīkathā, the king is mentioned as Siṁhavishṇu and in the Āryā uttered as a blessing by the Gandharva in which there is a vague but relevant ślēsha implied, the name _______________________________________________
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