The Colas c25.15

c25.15

Several temples, of the period, and often also the chief icons in them, were called after the ruling kings who established them. The worship accorded to idols called sometimes after living monarchs seems to have been connected with the apotheosis of royal personages after their demise. This practice in the form of the cult of Dēvarāja, 'God-king', was even more widespread in the Indian Archipelago and the contemporary kingdoms of the Indo-Chinese peninsula than in Southern India.²⁰ More closely allied to Śaivism than to any other form of Hinduism, the prevalence in the Cōḷa country of the notions that gave rise to the cult of Dēva-rāja is attested by inscriptions which mention the construction of sepulchral temples over the remains of kings and princes. The Ādityēśvara at Toṇḍamānāḍ erected as a *paḷḷipaḍai* to his father by Parāntaka I,²¹ the Ariñjigai-Īśvara at Mēlpāḍi built by Rājarāja I likewsie to commemorate Ariñjaya who died at Āṟṟūr,²² and the Pañcavanmādēvīśvara in Rāmānāthan Kōyil apparently erected by Rājēndra I²³ are among the most conspicuous examples of this practice. The existence of human bones underneath the sanctum sanctorum in several temples has been revealed in recent times when their renovation was started;²⁴ and the growing disapproval of this practice in later times is shown by the attempt to erase the word '*paḷḷipaḍai*' in the inscription at Rāmanāthankōyil just referred to.²⁵