Pallava Architecture, Part I (MASI 17) c2.84

c2.84

An inscription on the west wall of the strong room of the Vēdagirisvara temple at Tirukkalukkunram which was published by the late Mr. Venkayya in Volume III of the Epigraphia Indica, pages 277 to 280, records the interesting fact of a second renewal by the Chōla king Rājakēsarivarman Āditya I of a grant originally made to the temple of Mulasthana by the Pallava king Skandasishya and renewed by Narasimhavarman I. In all probability, the inscription in the Orukal Mandapa is a record of the renewal by Narasimhavarman I of the gift to the Mulasthana temple mentioned in the inscription of Rājakēsarivarman. It is, therefore, possible that the neglected linga enshrined within the Orukal Mandapa represents the original Mulasthana. In any case the Mulasthana temple to which Skandasishya (Skandavarman) made the grant was one of the earliest Hindu temples in Southern India and was situated at Tirukkalukkunram.