07. PERUMBIDUGU MUTTARAIYAR RELATED INSCRIPTIONS :

07. PERUMBIDUGU MUTTARAIYAR RELATED INSCRIPTIONS : Thiruttani and Velanjeri Copper Plates : Some of the important temples in Tanjore- Pudukkottai region are Thirumeyyam, Kudumiyamalai, Malayadipatti, Kunnandar Koil etc. In Thirumeyyam an early inscription is that of a Pallava feudatory Videlvidugu Vilupperadiarasan also known as Sattan Maran. In Kudimiyamalai, an inscription of Aditya, dated in 20 th year (890 A.D.) mentions Perumbidugu Muttarayar's wife Nangai making gifts. The connection of this Perumbidugu Muttarasa with the Pallavas is obvious from the title. In Kunnandar Koil we have an inscription of Pallava Nandi. The Malayadipatti cave temple was excavated by Videlvidugu Muttaraiyan in the reign of Pallava Dantivarman. The Muttaraiyars mentioned in Sendalai Pillar were feudatories of the Pallavas is also known. It is clear that in all these important places in Tanjore- Pudukkottai, the Pallava power and impact were very much effective in the 9 th cent. A.D. It has been shown that these Muttaraiya chieftains were active both in the Kanchipuram and Tanjore-Pudukkottai regions. It would show that the Pallava art of the Tondaimandalam region, very much influenced the Muttaraiya foundations. Also the Irrukkuvel-Ilangovel family were the feudatories under the Pallavas, active in Thiruvorriyur region and Pudukkottai regions as seen by the presence of Videlvidugu Ilangovelan. SOUTH INDIAN INSCRIPTIONS - VOLUME XIII - INSCRIPTIONS OF RAJAKESARIVARMAN - No. 288 - (A.R. No. 314 of 1904.) - Kudumiyamalai, Pudukkottai State, Melaikkoyil Temple - The inscription registers a gift of 7 ï¿ￂ kalanju of gold for a perpetual lamp in the temple of Tirumulattanattu-Perumanadigal at Tirunilakkunram by Nangaiyar-Nangai Dayanidiyar, the wife of (the chief) Perumbidugu-Muttaraiyar on behalf (in memory ?) of Nangai Vikkiramakesariyar, thedaughter of Muttaraiyar Nambi Manatongalar. This is also evidently a record of Aditya I like No. 287 above.No. 288 from Kudimiyamalai mentions two local chiefs by name Perumbidugu- Muttaraiyar and Muttaraiyar Nambi Manatongalar , both evidently close relations of each other. Nangaiyar Nangai Dayanidhiyar , the wife of the former, is said to have made a gift of a lamp to the temple on behalf of Nangai Vikramakesariyar , the daughter of the latter. Perhaps of the same family and having jurisdiction over a tract of Ramanathapuram was Marpidugu Tirukkottiyurkalvan Makalan Anai-udaiyan (No. 299) who figures as a donor to the temple at Tiruppalanam in the 22 nd year of the king's reign. The Muttaraiyar chiefs after being dispossessed of their domain by the Cholas seem to have settled down as their vassals and continued as such under the successive kings. We have seen two chiefs Perumbidugu Muttariyar and Muttariyar Nambi Manatongalar mentioned in a record of Aditya I in the previous Volume (Volume XIII, No. 288). Two more chiefs are met with in the inscriptions of the present collection. No. 61 from Udaiyargudi dated in the 3 rd year of the king records a gift of god for a lamp in the temple by a lady named Panchavan-Mahadevi who is called the araisi of Arayiyan Mahimalayan alias Parantaka-Muttaraiyan. From the other epigraph, dated in the 13 th year of Parakesari (No. 331) , we learn that a certain Araiyan Sankaranarayanana alias Sola-Muttaraiyar built a temple to Sri Kailayattu-Alvar at Govindaputtur with due provision made by endowments of Land for daily and special worship to the god.No. 117 from Palur near Tiruchirappalli is dated in the 5 th year of rajakesarivarman. The mention of a lunar eclipse in the month of Kanya enables us to fix the year as A.D. 954 or 955 in both of which there was a lunar eclipse, one on September 15 and the other on September 4 , and which may correspond to the 5 th year of Gandaraditya. It records an endowment of land to a temple at Tiruppaluvur by Mahimalaya Irukkuvel alias Parantakan Virasolan. The same person is mentioned in No. 23 from Kudimiyamalai near Pudukkottai, dated in the 3 rd year of the king, wherein a cavalier of his by name Sandaiyan figures as a donor of some cows to the temple. Irukkuvel or Ilangovel was a title assumed by the chiefs of Kodumbalur who, like the Muttaraiyars of Tanjore , were subordinates of the Cholas since the time of Aditya I and throughout Parantaka I's reign ( see e.g., Nos. 258 , 316 , 318 and 358 of 1903) , but it is hard to fix up their genealogy with theavalable material. Mahimalaya should have been a member of this dynasty of chiefs. The Sendalai records attribute a victory at Kodumbalur to Perumbidugu Suvaran-Maran ( first half of 8 th century), a Muttaraiyar chief, who is mentioned as having defeated the Pandya-s and the Chera-s. It is not known whether these were two different battles or only two different but contradictory versions of the same war. After the famous battle of Thirup-purambiyam (880 AD), wherein the Chozha-s inflicted a crushing defeat on the Pallava-s and the Pandya-s, the territories of the Muttaraiyar-s and the Irukkuvel-s came under the Chozha-s. The monuments and inscriptions of this period (6 th-9 th centuries AD) relate to the Muttaraiyar-s, the Irukkuvel-s, the Pandya-s and the Pallava-s.The inscriptions in these areas often indicate matrimonial relations among the various kings � the Pandya-s, the Muttaraiyar-s, the Irukkuvel-s, the Pallava-s and the Chozha-s