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EPIGRAPHY & NUMISMATICS
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kōṭṭai and the archaic epigraphs show its importance in antiquity in the age of the Chēra kings. Till about 931 A.D. it was the capital of the Nolambas.
74. (Kanarese). On the four faces of a pillar built into the floor of the mantapa in front of the Mallikarjuna temple. A record of king Mahendrādhirāja-Nolamba in S. 815, Paridhāvin. Records a grant to a Jain basadi by a certain Nidhiyaṇṇa and Chandiyanna. The former received from the king the village of Mulapalli which he made over to Kanakasēna Siddhanta Bhaṭāra, pupil of Vinayasena Siddhanta Bhaṭṭāra of the Pogariyagana with the Senānvaya, Mūlasanga etc. for the repairs of the basti.
75-76. Do. A record of the Pallava king grants to the same basaḍi.
81. Do. On four sides of a broken pillar lying in the Mariyamman temple in the fort. A record of the Pallava Mahendra Nolamba, dated in S. 800, Vilambin, apparently making grant to a Jain temple. [It was the Mahendra who conquered Mahabali Bāņa Raya about A.D. 890 and gave his name Mahendramangalam to Adhamankōṭṭai.]
XLIII
Pp. 1254-55. Tanjore Dist. Kumbakonam tāluk.
varman.
142. Tirunageśvaram (Aṇakkuḍi): Tamil. On a pillar lying in a mantapa at the end of the street in front of the Naganathasvāmi temple. A record in the second year of the Chōla king RājakēsariRecords gift of vārāvaikal (?) collected by the perunagarattar of Kumāramārttaṇḍapuram (hamlet of Tirunagēsvararam) for the renovation of the Gopura and the tiruchchurrailai called Kumaramarttandam in the Miladudaiyar palli (temple) of that village, which is stated to have been situated in Tinkarai-Tiraimur-nāḍu. [The Chōla king was evidently Aditya I. The name Milaḍudaiyār palli, again, suggests a Jain shrine. This, together with the Jain images round the shrine of the goddess in the Nāganathasvāmi temple, shows that this place must have been an early Jain centre. Again Milāḍudaiyār is another name for saint Meypporulnayanar and if we suppose that the palli was a school or matha built in his honour, the present epigraph can be said to give a clue to his date, i.e., that he was prior to Aditya I,
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