South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c8.s1.29

c8.s1.29

Like their predecessor Kulottunga III, Rājarāja and his successor Rājendra III were Śaivas by conviction, and often exhibited their personal devotion to their religious persuasion in many ways. Notwithstanding the attempt at the destruction of some of the Śaiva monasteries in the twenty-second year of ‘Periyadēvar’ Kulottunga already adverted to, four of these non-Brahman Śaiva maṭhas received considerable patronage under Rājarāja and his successor. The Śaiva teacher Īśānadēva of the lineage of the Māligaimaḍam at Tiruviḍaimarudūr near Kumbhakonam, settled at the time at Nālūr, received a gift of land from a lady disciple who made the gift in carrying out the wishes of her husband at his death.¹ The Tirugñāna Sambandha-maḍam on the south-side of Tiruvagattīśvaram Uḍaiyar temple at Muniyūr in the Tanjore district is referred to in another epigraph.² A third establishment of the kind is the Tirumurai Tēvārachchelvan Maḍam at Tirukkaḷumalam (Shiyāḷi) and comes in for a grant from the inhabitants of Muniyūr.³ The fourth institution was the Tavapperumāḷ Tirumaḍam in the first circuit round the temple (Tirumaḍaivalāgam) of Manattuḷ Nāyanār at Valivalam again in the Tanjore district. This was presided over by Somanāthadēva Mudaliar with the sacerdotal title Ediroppilādar (the unparalleled holy one) of the lineage of Tiruch-chattimuttam.⁴ There are two records of Rājendra registering gifts to this institution, according to one of which the lessees agreed to pay all the taxes due on the lands themselves, and made this condition also applicable ‘to those who purchased the land from them, to those who acquired them as strīdana (woman's property), and to those who inherited them by other means.'