The Colas c34.26

c34.26

The *Tiruviḷaiyāḍal Purāṇam* of Perumbarṟap-puliyūr Nambi is the earliest Tamil version we possess of the legends centring round Madura and describing the sixty-four miraculous sports of Śiva. The author was a Brahmin born at Śelli-nagar, now Panaiyūr, near Kari-valamvanda-nallūr in the Tinnevelly district. He composed his work at the request of the contemporary Pāṇḍya king and was richly rewarded by him for his effort. His spiritual *guru* was a certain Vināyaka who belonged to Māḷigaimaḍam in Cidambaram, and the name of Cidambaram (Perumbarṟapuliyūr) seems to be prefixed to his own name either to indicate the fact that he had his initiation there, or more generally to mark his devotion to Naṭarāja, the presiding deity of the place. It has been pointed out that in A.D. 1227 a member of our author's family, Ānandatāṇḍavanambi or his wife, erected a *gōpura* in Madura. This may be taken to furnish a rough indication of the age of our author also; but the exact chronological relation between him and Ānandatāṇḍavanambi cannot yet be settled.³⁶