The Colas c32.8

c32.8

An inscription of the third year of Vikramacōḷa, A.D. 1121,¹¹ from Tiruvāḍutuṟai, mentions that among persons who were to be fed in a *maṭha* in that place were students of medicine and grammar, learners of Vāgbhaṭa’s *Aṣṭāṅgahṛdaya*, of *Carakasaṁhitā* and of the *Rūpāvatāra*. In the thirteenth regnal year of Kulōttuṅga II twelve *vēlis* of land were set apart for ten Bhaṭṭas versed in Veda and *śāstra*, one Śivācārya, and one *vaidya* (physician) at Peruvēḷūr in S. Arcot; they were all provided with houses to the north and west of the temple; the endowment was made by Rājēndraśōḷa Śambuvarāyan who also provided lands for the Veḷḷāḷa tenants of these Bhaṭṭas and remitted the *pāḍikāval* fees on the *dēvadāna* and *agaram* lands. Another inscription of A.D. 1213 from Tiruvoṟṟiyūr recapitulates the legend of Śiva expounding the fourteen Vyākaraṇa sūtras to Pāṇini, localises the legend in the Vyākaraṇa-dāna-maṇḍapa in the temple of Tiruvoṟṟiyūr, and records an endowment of sixty-five *vēlis* of land towards the maintenance of a school of Vyākaraṇa in the *maṇḍapa* and of the *maṇḍapa* itself in proper repair. From Tiruviḍaikkaḷi in the Tanjore district, we have yet another inscription, dated a.d. 1229, which provides for the free feeding in the local *maṭha* of Brahmin students of the Vēdānta from the Malabar country.¹² An undated inscription which may be assigned to the latter half of the thirteenth century mentions the foundation of a library (*Sarasvatī-bhaṇḍāram*) in the Śrīraṅgam temple by Pālapalli Nīlakaṇṭha Nāyakar who also set up the image of Hayagrīva, Sarasvatī, and Veda-Vyāsa in the *maṇḍapa* housing the library and provided for their daily worship. There were, besides, several endowments for rewarding merit and distinction attained in these scholastic pursuits, like the one at Kāmarasavalli, dated a.d. 998, to those who recited portions of the *Talavakāra-sāma*.¹³ There were also other organisations of a learned character like the *Ghaṭikā* of Vembāṟṟūr¹⁴ of which only the names have come down to us.