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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA sabhā. Pērambalam, it may be noted, was, according to the Periyapurāṇam, in the outer portion next to Ponmāḷigai (golden palace) with high walls, and one had to pass through a gate called Tiruvaṇukkan-tiruvāyil to reach Śirrambalam where the god Naṭarāja is said to perform his sacred dance.[1] The Tiruvālaṅgāḍu grant tells us that Parāntaka I, by the munificence of his wealth, made the residence called Dabhrasabhā of Purāri consist of gold, i.e., by covering it with gold. During the reign of Kulōttuṅga I, the chief Naralōkavīran is again said to have covered the roof of Śirrambalam with gold.[2] The same chief is also stated to have covered Pērambalam[3]with copper. To VIkrama-Chōḷa[4] is attributed the gilding of Śirrambalam. Kulōttuṅga-śōlan-Ulā,[5] a quasi-historical poem composed by Oṭṭakkūttan, in honour of Kulōttuṅga II, and Periyapurāṇam speak to the fact that he (Kulōttuṅga II) gilded the Pērambalam. Perhaps he did so by removing the copper covering put up by Naralōkavīran. The fact that Rājakēsarivarman Kulōttuṅga II gilded the Pērambalam is affirmed by some of the inscriptions of the king.[6] The mention of Pērambalam-pon-mēynda-perumāḷ-nallūr, in Inscription No. III shows that already in or before the 3rd year of his reign, the king had accomplished this meritorious task, and if this act had been undertaken and accomplished just after hearing the Periyapurāṇam of Śēkkilār, which is very natural, the work must have been written in or before A.D. 1135.
The fact that the village of Pērambalam-pon-mēynda-perumāḷ-nallūr had been in existence in A. D. 1135─having shown that it must have been founded sometime prior to that date─the use of the suffix Perumāḷ, which is generally employed in inscriptions to denote a prince, instead of Kulōttuṅgaśōla which was the name assumed after actual accession, might be taken to show that the founding of the village must be earlier than A.D. 1134, corresponding to the 2nd year of the reign of Kulōttuṅga II of which date we have several inscriptions of his and upto which year Vikrama-Chōḷa’s inscriptions are found. Thus the Periyapurāṇam was probably composed in the year A. D. 1133-4. A word may now be said about Nannan-Verpu where the chief Vēṇāvuḍaiyān is said to have engraved vāgai, kuraṅgu and viśaiyam. The action of the chief is similar to the claims of the early Chōḷa and Pāṇḍya kings in carving their royal emblems on the mount Mēru. Nannan-Vērpu means the ‘hill of Nannan’. Ancient Tamil works speak of two Vēḷ chiefs bearing the name Nannan who stood in the relation of father and son.[7] While the elder was infamous and cruel and turned away bards and showed no sympathy for art or literature, the other is celebrated as a just ruler and as a patron of learning.[8] The elder is said to have taken the country of a certain Chēra named Kaḷaṅkāykkaṇṇi-nārmuḍi-Chēral and held sway over it until it was recovered by the owner by defeating the aggressor in a battle fought at Perundurai;[9] the younger is said to have been the commander-in-chief of the very Chēra king and to have been called Udiyan.[10] He _______________________________
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