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NEW LIGHT ON EPIGRAPHS FROM CHITTAMUR
A. Ekambaranathan
The Sambhuvarayas were feudatories of the Colas, ruling over an area comprising the modern districts of Chittor, North Arcot, South Arcot and Chingleput, During the reign of Rajadhiraja II, a civil war broke out in the Pandya country and the timely intervention of Sengeniammaippan on the orders of the Cola emperor, restored Kulasekbara on the Pandya throne. Later on, Kulasekhara with the support of the Ceylon king Parakramabahu, rose in revolt against the Colas, hence Rajadhiraja sent a powerful army under the same Sambhuvaraya chief and captured the Pandyan territory. It was this victory over the Pandya earned the chieftain the title "Pandyanadukondan'. The inscription from Chittamur echose the same political episode wherein he is styled as Pandyanadukondan Sengeni Mummalaraya.
The epigraphic records from Chittamur throw some new light on the religious history of this region and supplement to our knowledge of the Cola conquest of the Pandyan territory. Hitberto, it was believed that Jainism had its origin at Chittamur only in the late medieval period, but the foregoing study would push back the antiquity of Jainism to the 9th century A.D. The magnificient sculptures of Neminatha, Adinatha, Parsvanatha and Bahubali, carved on the boulder in the Malaipatha temple, exhibiting typical early Cola style of art of the 9th century A.D. corraborates the date arrived at from epigraphs.
The patronage extended by the Colas and their feudatories, particularly the Sambhuvarayas, to the Jain sect is obvious from these records. Inspite of their adherence to Saivism, liberal grants had been made to jain institutions and the Chittamurd temple received its due share from them. The queen of Aditya had taken special interest to revive an endowment which was discontinued for reasons unknown. Cola queens making rich endowments to jain temples was an important feature that was continued even in the later period.
Chittamur had attracted devotees even from far off places like Puttambur like Puttamburd in Pudukkottai as early as the 9th century A.D. Matiyan Arintigai of Puttambur, a place nearly 300
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