The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c23.111

v1.c23.111

One of the first measures of the new Raja of Ramnad, as he is called in some inscriptions, was to make a gift of five villages to the temple of Ramanatha and Parvatavardhani at Rameswaram for worship and offerings, on November 20th, 1606⁵. Then in a copper-plate, dated July 8th, 1607, Dalavay Setupati Kattadeva records another gift of eight villages near Pamban to the same temple for the regular performance of the puja and of offerings ¹. Some days after, on the 17th of the same month, he gave a plot of land in the island of Rameswaram to a servant of the Ramanathaswami’s temple ². Then in the year 1607, he made a gift of lands to the people ‘of the five countries’ who served as priests and cooks in the Rameswaram temple ³. These grants prove the care of the newly-appointed Setupati for the performance of the Hindu rites on that famous spot, of which he had been nominated the guardian.