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No. 47]
TIRUVORRIYUR INSCRIPTION OF CHATURANANA PANDITA
Besides the matha of Chaturanana-Pandita, there were others called after Rajendra Chōla,1 Tirujñānasambandha, Nandikēśvara, Kulottunga-Chōla, and Angaraya at Tiruvorryür. The Rajendra-Chola-matha was evidently founded during the king's time. It was a matha for the Mähesvaras 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 Prabhakara Bhaṭṭa of Merkalapura in Aryadeśa, who became a resident of Tiruvorriyür. It is clear that this matha must have been founded after the expedition of the king to the Ganges, for Prabhakara Bhatta and his wife from Aryadesa, along with scholars and Sivacharyas like Sarvasiva Pandita of the Tanjore temple, must have been brought from the north by Rajendra's generals on their return from the Gangā-vijaya.
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The Nandikesvara-matha, reference to which is found in an inscription of the third year of Vijayagandagopala (c.1238 A.D.), can be identified at the village even now on the north-western corner outside the temple."
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 Siva at Tiruvoṛriyur, Chaturanana-Paṇḍita entrusted the endowment to the assembly of Narasimhamangala (Narasimhamangala-sabhām= akalpam-agrahayat). The express mention of a different name Narasimhamangala in connection with the Sabha shows that the Sabha was not exactly at Tiruvorriyür. In the Tiruvorriyur inscriptions we find that the administrative affairs at Tiruvorriyür were carried on by the Sabha of the village of Manali, otherwise called Singa or Simha vishnuchaturvedimangalam. In No. 372 of 1911 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection of the time of Vijayakampa, though not styled as Simhavishnuchaturvedimangalam, Manali figures as transacting through its sabha important affairs at Tiruvorriyür. It is clear from the epigraphs that the administrative Sabha for Tiruvorriyur was not at that place itself, but at Manali or Simhavishnuchaturvedimangalam which is only two or three miles from Tiruvorriyur. It seems therefore very probable that the Narasimhamangala of our record refers only to Manali. If this view is correct, Narasimhamangala, which is the name in the earlier record, must be the proper name but which later came to be mentioned also as Simhavishnuchaturvedimangalam. Simhavishnu and Narasimha are not after all different names and the full name of king Simhavishnu might have been Narasimhavishnu.10 In the introductory portion of the Avantisundarikatha, the king is mentioned as Simhavishnu and in the Arya uttered as a blessing by the Gandharva in which there is a vague but relevant élesha implied, the name
1 Nos. 127, 132 and 135 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.
2 No. 238 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection. 15th year of Vijayagandagopala (c. A.D. 1250: See Madras Epigraphical Report 1890, May, p. 2.)
No. 239 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.
Madras Epigraphical Report 1913, p. 86. Fifty Saivas were fed here every day.
5 No. 205 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection of the time of Harihara II of Vijayanagara. No. 239 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.
In the Tiruvortiyur-Puranam (Canto 3, verse 8) we find that Nandikesvara performed penance to see the dance of Siva at Tiruvorriyur on the banks of a tirtha (tank) to the northwest of the temple. The neighbourhood of the place now shows that there must have been a tank and other structures here.
Nos. 102, 112, 128, 142, 156, 211, 228 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.
In fact, the expression Tiruvotriyur-purattu-Manali in Inscriptions warrants our holding Manali as having been a part of Tiruvorriyür. We may in this connection compare Palalyanur and Tiruvalangaḍu (near Arkonam); though the former village is about a mile from the latter place, the temple at the latter place is said to be situated at Palaiyanûr (No. 459 of 1995 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection).
10 See also Memoirs, Arch. Survey of India, No. 26; and S. I. I., Vol. XII, No. 17.
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