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Epigraphy


Pandya epigraphs near Tambaram.
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, Friday, March 21, 1975 
Gift Siromoney

Three inscriptions belonging to the times of Sundara Pandya in the thirteenth century A.D. have been discovered on temple walls at Somangalam, about 10 kms. west of Tambaram.
        
        The first inscription found in the Siva temple belongs to the tenth year of Tribhuvana Chakravarthigal Sundara Pandya Devar. Somangalam was then part of Kunrathur Nadu in Puliyurkottam, named after Puliyur, which is near Kodambakkam railway station.

        However, an earlier inscription of Kulothunga I refers to Somangalam as a village in Maaganur Nadu in Sengattukottam. This shows that the boundaries of the "nadu" and the "kottam" changed from time to time.

        The donor was a local chieftain, Panchanadivanan Arunagiri Perumal Nilakangarayan who arranged for monthly worship at the temple on his birthday on Revathi nakshatra.

        The second inscription found at the same place belongs to the twelfth year of Jatavarman Sundara Pandya. The donor was a different Nilakangarayan named Panchanadivainam Nallanaiyan whose birthday was on Uthirattathi nakshatra.
        
        The third Pandya inscription was found in the Vishnu temple. It belongs to the fifteenth year of Jatavarma Sundara Pandya. A woman donor is referred to by the word "saani". The donation of land was for burning an evening lamp.

        When the Cholas became weak during the thirteenth century the Pandyas and the Telugu Chodas became powerful in the Madras area.

        The inscriptions were discovered by members of the Statistics Department of Madras Christian College .

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