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OCTOBER, 1912.1
THE CHOLAS AND THE CHALUKYAS
225
"Having reached Tirupati, the ornament of the toot of the hill named after the lord of the serpents (i. e., Sesha-saila or the Tirapati hill) he (Ramanuja) got an agrahara from the king Vitthala, who worshipped his feet, and established three hundred of his famous and principal disciples in it."
This might have happened during the time of Vishnuvardhana's father Ereyanga (about A.D. 1162), who is said to have made conquests in the north.76 The current form of the story of Nimânujn's visit to south-western India (which is elaborately described in GuruparampardpraThiva) seems to be the invention of a later person, most probably of the author of the Yadavagrundhatmya. Therefore about A. D. 1074 Râ mânaja visited Tirunarayanapuram and not Tondanûr, and this was owing to the hostility of Adhirajêndra and not Kulottunga I.
Now, the reason why Adhirajêndra destroyed Chidambaram temple must be explained. In thit village, the Vishņu temple caused some kind of obstruction to the Tiruvidhi festivals of Sva. Moreover only the Vishņu temple had a mukhamandapa and there was no room for building another mandapa for the Siva temple. This gave a greater importance to the Vishnu to aple which was disliked by the orthodox Saivas. Even now this difficulty exists and the Saiyag are trying to remove the Vishnu temple from the premises of the Siva temple. It seems Adhirdjëndra had this in view in destroying the Vishņu shrine of Chidambaram. Not being able to go a ainst the Saivas by reconstructing the Vishņu shrine at the same place, Ramanuja instituted the images at Tirapati as stated in Divyasaricharita and other works. But the intended extension c' the Chidambaram Siva temple did not take place at that time owing to the untimely death of Athiraiendradeva. Kulottunga II, the grandson of Kulottunga I, who ruled from about A. D. 1126 to A. D. 1146,77 had fulfilled the desire of Adhirajêndradeva by constructing a mandapa in the front of the temple. It is this fact that is mentioned in Ollakuttan's Kuláttungachólanuld and Takkayagapparani. Mr. Krishnaswami Ayyangar ascribes the destruction of the Chidamb.iram temple of Vishnu to Kulottunga II. Besides Divyasûricharita and RamanujdryaWivyacharita the following verse quoted by the learned Aiyangar from Prapannämrita statea Wat it was Krimikanths that destroyed the Govindaraja shrine at Chitrakatam.
खिलीकृतं चित्रकूट क्रिमिकण्ठेन यत्पुरा ।
तत्प्रतिष्ठापितुं सभ्यता मेने महागुरुः॥ I translate this verge in the words of Mr. Aiyangar. "He (Mabacharya) wished to restore The temple of Govindaraja at Chidambaram (Chitrakûța), which had been uprooted by the Chola Krimikantha."79 It is impossible to identify Krimi kantha with Kulottunga II, for he survived Rinnaia by nine years; and the statement that Ramanuja returned to Srirangam after the death of Krimikantha is erroneous on this view.
Now, to return to or subject. I hope I have proved that the story narratea in Divyasuricharita shows Adhirajêndra's death to be due to the dislike of his subjects. In this way we can clearly explain the 27th, 28th and 29th verses of canto X of Kalingattupparan:and the espression prakritivirôdhahatasya (of Chồla's son who was killed owing to bis enmity with the subjects) in Vikramankadévacharita.s1 The word 'Chálasûnôh' is used to denote that Ahiracadra died too young to have any children to rule after him. It cannot be called usurpation, therefore, if Kulottanga I, lias Rajendra II, a grandson of the Chola family, ascended the Chola throne after Adhirajendradêve.
76 Epigraphia Camatica, "Inscriptions of Mysore District," 14. * Ibid. pp. 153, 210, 220, 316, 320 and 323.
Ants, Vol. XIX, p. 332.
11 Ancient India, P. 153. T9 Toid, p. 320. $1 Vikramaikade racharita, VI, 25.
