Epigraphia Indica Vol 03

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 20

No. 2.]
RANGANATHA INSCRIPTION OF SUNDARA-PANDYA.
is now partially in ruins. I was told that the stones of several mandapas and of the enclosure of the tank in front of the temple were utilised for building the bridges over the Kollidam (Coleroon) and the Kâvêrî rivers. The south wall of the shrine still bears an inscription of the Hoysala king Vira-Ramanathadêva, in which the temple is called Pôsalisvara (for Poysalésvara), i.e. the Isvara (temple) of the Poysala (king). The name by which the temple goes now, Bhôjisvara, is a corruption of the original Pôsalisvara, and owes its origin to a confusion between the long-forgotten Poysala king and the popularly known king Bhôja. The walls of a neighbouring modern temple of Kâlî, called Sellâyi, contain detached inscribed stones on which some Hoysala birudas are distinctly visible, and which, therefore, appear to have origin. ally belonged to the Poysalêsvara temple. The Poysalêsvara of the Kannanûr inscription is evidently the temple to which the Jambukêsvara inscription refers. Accordingly, there can be no doubt that the modern Kannanûr is the actual site of Vikramapura, the southern residence of Sômésvara.
As regards Vira-Ramanathadeva, he must have been a successor of Sômêsvara, an inscription of whose 23rd year is quoted in an inscription of the 4th year of Râmanatha in the Jambukėsvara temple. His relation to the hitherto known chief line of the Hoysala dynasty is established by an inscription of the Ranganatha temple, which records a gift by Ponnambalamahadevi, who styles herself the uterine sister of Vira-Ramanathadeva and the daughter of the Hoysala king Vira-Sômésvara by the Chalukya princess Dévalamahadevi.3 It thus appears that, while Sômêsvara was succeeded on the throne of Dvarasamudra by Narasimha III., his son by Bijjaladevi, the southern part of his dominions went to Râmanâtha, his son by Dêvaladêvî. An inscription in the Jambukêsvara temple furnishes the name of one of the queens of king Râmanâthadêva. This was Kamalâdevi, the daughter of a certain AriyaPillai. The name of this queen's younger sister was Chikka-Sômaladevi, who appears to have received the Kanarese prefix chikka, 'younger,' in order to distinguish her from the elder Sômaladevi," who was one of the queens of Râmanâtha's father Sômêsvara. The two temples at Srirangam and the above-mentioned temple at Kannanûr contain the following Tamil dates of the reign of Vira-Râmanâthadêva :
No. I.- Inscription on the north wall of the fourth pråkåra of the Ranganatha temple at Srirangam.
Poysala-sri-Vira-Râmanâthadêvarku yându irandavadu Kumbha-nâyaru pûrvvapakshattu saptamiyum Budhan-kilamaiyum perra Bharani-nâ].
"The day of Bharant, which corresponded to Wednesday, the seventh tithi of the first half of the month of Kumbha in the second year (of the reign) of the Poysala śri-Vira-Râmanathadeva."
1 Mr. Sewell's account under "Samayapuram" in his Lists of Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 267, bas to be modified on the strength of the local information which I was enabled to collect.
This name is derived from Ponnambalam, "the Golden Hall" at the Chidambaram temple in the South Arcot district.
मुताभिन
डीसीमेवरील मुदविकसनचन्द्रिकायां देवमहावीय
. श्रीवीररामनाथदेवसहोदरी
श्रीसोमनाथदेवचरणसरसिजसपर्थ्यापर्याप्तस्सा
fa. The last compound refers to the temple at Somanathapura in the Talakadu taluk of the Maisûr district, which is mentioned in two inscriptions of Saka-Samvat 1191 and 1192; see Mr. Rice's Mysore Inscriptions pp. 48 ff. and 323 ff.
* Dr. Fleet's Kanarese Dynasties, p. 69.
Dévar Irámandthadévar arasimdril Ariya-Pillai magalár Kamaládéviyár tangaiyár Śikkachchômaladéviyår.
This queen is mentioned in three ipscriptions of Vira-Sômésvaradova, viz. one of the 6th year in the Ranganatha temple, one of the 25th year in the Jambukéévara temple, and the Bangalore Museum plates of Saka-Samvat 1175 (see p. 8 above, note 5).