Studies in Cola History and Administration c10.12

c10.12

The oldest name of the village known to us is Uttaramēru-caturvēdimaṅgalam. The form of the name suggests that, as Mr. Venkayya pointed out, the first member of this name must be the title, like Prabhumēru and Abhimānamēru, of some king whose identity still remains unknown. In the inscriptions of Vijayakampavarman, of somewhat uncertain date, and in the Rājakēsari and Parakēsari inscriptions some of which may be earlier than Parāntaka I, the place is generally described in the following terms: "Kaliyūr-kōṭṭattu tan-kūṟṟuttaramēru-caturvēdimaṅgalam," that is 'Uttaramēru - caturvēdimaṅgalam of its own division (kūṟu) in the Kaliyūrkōṭṭam.' From the time of Rājēndracōḷa I Parakēsari, the son and successor of Rājarāja, the place came to be called also Rājēndracōḷa-caturvēdimaṅgalam, and its earlier name was abridged into Uttaramēru or Uttaramēlūr, the latter form giving rise to Uttiramallūr, which is the most common form to-day.* Very much later, about the middle of the thirteenth century, in the time of the ill-starred Rājarāja III, the village carried for a time the name of Gaṇḍagōpāla-caturvēdimaṅgalam, after an aggressive Telugu-Cōḍa chieftain of the time.