The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c15.59

c15.59

of the central shrine with gold and built, in front of it, a dining hall, which he equipped with golden vessels. In the month of Caitra he celebrated the "procession festival" of the God. For the "festival of God's sporting with Lakṣmi" he built a golden ship. The last verse of the inscription states that the king built three golden domes over the image of Hemācchādana-Rāja-Hari, over that of Garuḍa, and over the hall which contained the couch of Viṣṇu. The following miscellaneous gifts to Ranganātha are enumerated in the inscription:— A garland of emeralds, a crown of jewels, a golden image of Śēṣa, a golden arch, a pearl garland, a canopy of pearls, different kinds of golden fruits, a golden car, a golden trough, a golden image of Garuḍa, a golden under-garment, a golden aureola, a golden pedestal, ornaments of jewels, a golden armour, golden vessels and a golden throne. The first of the gifts which are here enumerated, appears to have suggested the surname *Marakataprthvībhṛt*, i.e., the emerald king which is applied to Sundara Pāndya in *verse 13.* And this garland of emeralds was seized from the Kāṭhaka (Kādava) king Kōpperunjinga (*verse 4*). Occasionally there are recorded in the inscriptions of this reign gifts to *pallīs*¹ and other religious institutions outside the pale of orthodox Hinduism, and this, taken along with the king's liberal and impartial patronage of the shrines of Śiva and Viṣṇu, may be accepted as some indication of peace in the religious life of the country.