The Colas c26.6.2

c26.6.2

In Śucīndram, this body was functioning under the control of the local Mahāsabhā (assembly) from the time of Parāntaka I to that of Rājarāja I; subsequently they threw up the management of the temple and restored it to the Mahāsabhā; and having done this, they dissolved themselves.⁵ We see here a body, constituted for a specific purpose, going out of existence when it is no longer able to function properly; and its duties thenceforth devolve on the Mahāsabhā. The Mūlaparuḍaiyār of Tiruk-kuḍa-mūkkil are stated to be in charge of the affairs of the temple of Tirunāgēśvaram.⁶ The priests attached to temples organised themselves into groups with many picturesque names. The generic name for these priestly groups of Śaivas was Śivabrāhmaṇas; those of Vaiṣṇavas were called Vaikhānassas. Among the specific names of particular groups, the following may be given as examples: Aga-nāḻigai-Śiva-brāhmaṇar;⁷ pati-pāda-mūlattar,⁸ tiruvuṇṇāḻigaik-kaṇapperumakkaḷ,⁹ tiru-vuṇṇāḻigai-sabhai.¹⁰ The Pan-māhēśvarar and the Śrīvaiṣṇavas whose protection is invoked at the end of almost every inscription recording a gift to the temples were the congregations of these sects, sometimes said to be spread over eighteen districts (*viṣayam* or *nāḍu*) which are nowhere named.¹¹ Śātta-gaṇam, Kumāra-gaṇam, Kṛṣṇa-gaṇam, Kāḷi-gaṇam and other such groups were in the position of managers and trustees of single shrines from which they took their names.