Studies in Cola History and Administration c9.31

c9.31

Thus our inscriptions contain references to no fewer than six different shrines in the village, and these include Vaiṣṇava as well as Śaiva deities. The names of these temples are (1) Plāśapurīśvara from which come Nos. 308 and 309 of 1910; (2) Vaṇṇakkaṇār-ambalam where the assembly met once in the 24th year of Rājarāja I (A. D. 1009) for leasing out some land; (3) Śamaparēśvara, the Mahādēva temple which gets some land from the assembly of a neighbouring village and in front of which there was a hall called Rājarājaṇ in which the assembly of the village held a second meeting in the 24th year of the king after whom the hall took its name; (4) Tirumayāṇam-uḍaiya Paramasvāmin also called Mūlasthāṇattu-mahādēva in the inscriptions and represented to-day by the Jñānaparamēśvara temple on whose walls are engraved most of the inscriptions listed earlier in this paper; (5) Agastīśvaram-uḍaiyār temple which received a gift of land in the reign of Parakēsari-varman Rājēndracōḷadēva * and lastly, (6) Tirunārāyaṇa Viṇṇakar containing shrines of (a) Lakṣmīrāghava-dēva † and (b) Kṛṣṇa of the butter-dance (Veṇṇaik-kūttādukinṟa-āḷvār). The presence of so many temples undoubtedly added to the fullness and gaiety of the social life of the place besides contributing to the economic well-being of its inhabitants by the various opportunities for employment it must have offered to them. One inscription tells us for instance of the provision made for the maintenance of persons for playing on the Viṇā (lute) regularly and for reciting the Vedas and the Śrīrudram. The supply of oil and ghee for lamps, of flowers for daily worship and for special occasions, and the provision of all the other requirements of the temples must have furnished constant and secure employment for many persons. Very often endowments took the form of gifts of land to the temples, and the cultivation of these lands at more or less favourable terms of lease under the supervision of the village assembly formed no inconsiderable feature of the economy of rural life. And when new constructions were undertaken or old ones renovated, the people must have had exceptionally good opportunities of employment suited to their abilities and tastes. In all these ways the temple is seen to have been the nucleus round which clustered the daily activities of considerable sections of the people in its neighbourhood.