The Colas c33.16

c33.16

It may be noted that the recitation in the temples of the sacred hymns in Tamil emphasises the rank assigned to them by the side of the Sanskritic Vedas, both by the Śaivas and the Vaiṣṇavas. That the Vedas were chanted day by day in the temples at the time of worship by Brahmins specially appointed for the purpose becomes clear not only from the practice obtaining even now in the larger temples, but from a number of contemporary inscriptions of the Cōḷa period.²³ Of such records one or two may be noted as being of special interest. In the fourteenth year of a Rājakēsari,²⁴ an endowment was created in Paṇḍāravāḍai for awarding a prize once a year in a recitation contest to be held on the night of the Ārdrā festival, the competitors being required to recite a prescribed portion of *Jaiminīya Sāma Veda*. On the occasion of festivals, more men were employed to recite Vedas before the deity than on ordinary days, and such occasional services were also often endowed.²⁵ Other instances of recitations, more popular in character and intended for the instruction and edification of devotees are mentioned in the inscriptions; such are the *Śrīpurāṇa* of Āluḍaiyanambi and the *Śiva-dharma*,²⁶ and the *Sōma-siddhānta*. The nature of these works is by no means clear at present, though the last appears, from a reference to it in the *Prabōdhacandrōdaya*, to have propounded the doctrine of the Kāpālika school of Śaivism.²⁷