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YASASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
the custom of founding such memorial temples dedicated to Śiva was also prevalent in the Deccan in the tenth century. Parantaka I is known to have covered with gold the Siva temple at Cidambaram. In fact Parantaka's reign was a great epoch in the history of South Indian temple architecture, and the work of temple-building begun by Aditya was continued vigorously during the best part of his reign.'1
South Indian Saivism may be said to have reached its apogee during the reign of Rajaraja I (985-1014 A. D.). The great literary reorganisation of Tamil Saivism took place in his time. The hymns and devotional poems of the Saiva saints were collected and arranged in eleven sections, or Tirumurai, by Nambi Andar Nambi, a Brahmin priest of Tirunaraiyur in the Tanjore district, under the patronage of Rajaraja Abhaya Kulasekhara Cola, identified with Rajaraja I.' The encouragement of Nambi Andar Nambi in his great undertaking was not the only service rendered by Rajaraja I to the cause of Saivism. It was he who built the celebrated Siva temple at Tanjore, the Rajarajesvara, perhaps the most magnificent creation of the South Indian building art, with the vimāna, or tower, rising over the sanctum to a height of nearly 200 feet on a square base of about a hundred feet.' Rajaraja who invaded and conquered Ceylon seems to have built a stone temple to Siva at Polonnaruwa, the new capital of the island, founded after the destruction of the ancient capital Anuradhapura by the invading armies. It is a small but beautiful structure, and one of the few Hindu monuments in Ceylon, which are still in a good state of preservation.' The Siva temple at Dadapuram in the South Arcot district bears an inscription of Rajaraja, and is another well-preserved example of the early Cola style of the tenth century A. D.3 It may also be noted that an inscription of the twenty-fourth year of the reign of Rajaraja I records a sale of land, tax-free, for the pavitrarohana ceremony in honour of Mahadeva of the Candramaulisvara temple by certain residents of Merpadi alias Rajasrayapuram. Pavitrarohana or Pavitraropana is an important Saiva rite described in detail in Isanasivagurudevapaddhati (Kriyapada, chap. XXI).
Rajaraja I was succeeded by his son Rajendra I who reigned till 1044 A. D. The latter is said to have imported Saivas from the banks of the Ganges and settled them in Kañcipura and in the Cola country. The great Siva temple built by him in his new capital Gangaikondacolapuram still stands amidst the ruins of the city in the Trichinopoly district. emphasis on vimanas of stupendous height is the outstanding feature of the early Cola style at Tanjore and Gangaikonda-colapuram.
The
It is not necessary for our purpose to pursue further the course of Saivism in South India. The finishing touch to the devotional literature
1 Sastri: The Colas, Vol. I, Chap. VII.
2
Tamilian Antiquary No. 3, 1909, p. 2.
3 Jouveau-Dubreuil: Dravidian Architecture, p. 37.
4 Sastri (op. cit), p. 512.
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