107

CHAPTER IT

CULTURAL ETHNOSRAPHY

X 57.0 Introduction

This chapter analyses 225 names of gods, 68 names of goddesses, 174 names of temples, 400 names of temple women,

474 names of temple staff, 112 names of women of royal families, 49 names of women of ordinary ranks, 726 names of donors, 449 names of officers and 226 names of Brahmins.

All these names are taken from the Cola insoriptions covering the whole span of Cola rule and geographically distributed throughout Tamilnad. Consequently, these names are good representatives of th^ooiety existing during the

CoLa rule. Though the pattern of society presented by these names could be said to be representative of the whole

Tamilnad, it should be pointed out tliat the ethnographical 108 picture is more true of the Ool^a na^u proper than the rest of the area under study, as most of the inscriptions are found to occur in the Kaviri delta,

&OJS .

X 58.0 Grods

The nature of most of the inscriptions being records of donations to temples, the names of the gods to whom the donation is made, are invariably mentioned in every inscription.

In some oases, as for example, in the f^jarajesvaram of lanjavur, the names of almost all the loons could be collected.

The study of these names presents the structure of the pantheon of the religion prevailing throughout the Cola rule and also the effect these names had on the naming habits of the people. The names of these gods are analysed below.

H 58.1 Adigal

Adiga]., a term of respect, is suffixed to the names of eight gods. With the exception of one, the rest of the names Imply 6iva. Th4 earliest inscriptional reference is found in the time of iferttivendra. -adiga} is carried on to the end of the Oola rule. Most of the names suffixed with

-a^igal appear to be names of places, exx. Tiruvo^iyimidigal,

Tlkkali perumanadiga}. The exceptional name, Tiruvaiyodhya perumanadigal, also falls in this class.

X 58.2 Aiyan All the five Aiyans mentioned in our collection are found to occur in the inscriptions of Rajaraja I only. Being a 109 village god, Aiyan could "be seen to have been set in m:s which are not very prominent. The existence of Aiyan indicates th^ontinued presence of ancester worship in villages. Aiyan, the singular form of Aiyar, meaning elders, is very coiiimon in Sangam classics. As in these classics, even now, Aiya, the vocative of Aiyan is the form of addressing respectable persons. Aiyar, the caste name of a sect of

Brahmins, could have^irst developed as a form of respectable address and perhaps got standardised as the suffixal part of the name and started to signify the caste as such.

Since no names of Brahmins are availa|le from the Oola inscriptions with -aiyar, the habit might have started well after the end of or even much later than the Oola rule.

X.5Q>3 Alagiya- and others

All the names of the inscriptions connoting handsomeness, five in number, refer only to Siva, exx, Alagiya ma^avala perumal, Alagiya devar ^udaiyar, Tanjai alagar. Although this name is first referred to in the inscriptions of Rajaraja I the rest of the examples occur in the inscriptions of the Kiilottungas, which indicate the popularity of the name more in the neighbourhood of Ohidambaram than in Tanjavur. g 58.4 ilalam (Poison)

The poison which Siva drank is known in Tamil as alakalam and the name of the poison itself becomes the name of Siva, ex, llala sundara perumal. i 58.5 Ardhanari and others

The conception of male and female consisting of Life represented by the foim Ardhanarlsvara is found to be referred 110 to foior times. Besides Ardhanarisvara, Aiamaiyappa,'father- mother*, two Umas (ardhanari icons) of Rajarajesvaraia are found. Except Ainmaiyappa, which is to be found in JPalaiyanTir, the rest belong to the Eajarajesvarara of San jav^. i 56.6 Arul

Only two names carry the word aru]., grace. Aru^ala peruraal and Arulala nadan . It appears that both these names belngg to the second half of the Cola rule. n 58.7 ^udalyar

The use of this name seemi^o be post-Kulottunga I.

Except its meaning, onejLrho possesses a person (i .e . a devotee), the significance of the teim is not clear. To judge by the example Xj.udaiya alagiya devar, it may be understood that lludaiyar is surely attributed to Siva. The name Slu^aiyar does not seem to be current in Tan;)avur and its neighbourhood, llu^iya4*s total six, 58.8 llvar

In inscriptions, this word is written as ^var and alvar and both the forms appear to be current at the same time.

The older and the correct form appears to be alvar which means, one/ who is deep, or one who is unfathomable.

Probably the latter conception is carried on in all the names of gods spoken of as -alvar. ^ v a r is mentioned eight times. This attribute appears to be common both for Siva and ( Vishn^i. An example for Siva being called alvar is the name Tiruvapn^alai ^ v a r . Since -alvar is mentioned in the inscriptions of Parttivendra, it is clear that the use of this term was well current even in pre-Rajara;ja I period. Ill

Majority of the alvars in inscriptions are Vish^us. exx.

Tiruvarangattu alvar, the alvar of Srirangam. Kulottunga sola vinnagar alvar. At present, ^var signifies only Vishnu. n 58.9 Bala-

The conception of Siva as a young boy IsjfoxxnA in Balasivanar, set at Sirupparaitt-urai, I'his name probably occurs about the time of Rajaraja I.

X 58.10 Bikshadana

The name of Siva in the form of a b eg g ^ is met with twice, one of them from Tan^avur, and the other from Tiruvai^amalai and both of them occurring in the inscriptions of Rajaraja I.

Bikshadana or Bikshada devar > Picca devar. g 58.11 Brahma

The solitary occurrence of this name appears as only the part of an attribute of Bramlsvaramudaiyar, ’the god of the temple of Brahma*. It isjinteresting to note that this name comes from the inscription of Vira Papdya, and not from Cola nadu proper where there is room for almost all the known gods ol the insciiptional times.

> 58.12 Qandesvara

8 Gandesvarars and 8 Adicaindesvars are referred to.

The name Oandesvara, an attribute of Siva, is found to be more common in T anjav^ than in the rest of the kingdom.

Since it is difficult to come across this name before the building or Rajarajesvaram, it may be presumed that the creation of the icons for Oandesvara might have been more common from Rajaraja I. This name is carried on till 112 the middle of the Cola inile whioh is suggested by the mention of Candesvaradevar in the inscriptions of Rajamahendra.

The difference between Oa^^esvara and Idioa^desvara seems to be that the former coiild be taken out of the temple during festivals, while Idioan^esvara being a 'mulavar’ oould not be taken out of the sanotum sanotorum. Oa^desvaras of the TanJavTar temple Eajarajesvaram, so prominent in importance as shown by the inscriptions, now only have a lesser attention than the linga.

X 58.13 Dancing

Kuttaperumal, the great dancer, and Adavallan, one who is an expert in dancing, signify Siva as the dancer in the / Cosmos, Both these names have two occuirences each, Adavallan had a veiy important place in the Rajarajesvaram during

Rajaraja I, to be judged by several varities of measures being named ’Idavallan’ . g 58,14 Direction

Pour names of gods signifying direction are available.

Dakshipameru vi^angar, consort of Umaparamesvari, and

Dakshipamurti, both of them belonging to Rajarajesvaram stand for thejgods of the southern direction. IsanamT^ti and Isanasivar, an attribute of 8iva as the god of the north-eastern direction, like the previous two, occur in the inscriptions of Rajaraja I, Dakshinam^ti has an important place in the South Indian icnography. Th^orship of

Dakshipamurty is common now and it is not uncommon for one to come across people with the name of Dakship^urti. 113 i 58.15 ISmberuman

Pour such names are available. Literary

'my great man', all these four references are found to denote

Siva, All these names ooour only in th^ost-Kulottunga I period. Perhaps this name started as the term of affection or devotion and had come/bo stay as an attribute of Siva.

X 58.16 Pauna

Kiliva^adevar is/the only naiie after any bird, (kili = parrot) This name comes from the temple of the same name at Selam.

X 58.17 Flora

Tiruvannibakar is the only one found to be named after a tree, the vanni. This name comes from a that appears to be a village existing during the time of Rajaraja I. g 58.18 Granapati

The first mention of Gaipapati • in the Gola inscriptions is in that of Gandaraditta and last mention is found in the inscription of Kulottunga I I I , covering almost the whole span of Cola rule. G-ajiapatis total 7. Th^ention of

Idangai vinayagar and Talangai vinayagar in the inscriptions of Rajara;)esvaram clearly suggests the worship o| Ganapati as one of the gods of the Oola pantheon. The Tamil form of the name,PiJlaiyar, for Ganapati strengthens the view that Ganapati introduced into the South . during the Pallava rule/has been made to appea^ as the son of Siva,

M 58«19 Individual qualities 'in a huge pantheon as that of the Colas, there is every possibility fo^^feiny god to get attributed with some qualities lU which mark out on^rom another. Such gods number 23. They

cover the whole of Tamilnad and Ohronologically enclose the

whole range of the Gola rule. exx. Dakshi^miWti, god of

the southern direction^ Adavallar, one who is an expert in

dancing, Mapava5.aperumal, one who is in the married status,

Y^irundalvar, the Jlvar who is present (in a particular

posture). Most of the names of this section have already

been discussed above.

X 58.20 Krishna

On^two names are found. Krishnar, occurring in Uttama’s

inscription and Srikrishjiaperuiiial temple at Itenimangalam.

Though the name Krishna is founc^o be^ot infrequent amoi*iig

men, there are two references only for this god.

X 58.21 Nakkar^

Another name for Siva, which was also very common among

men during the Cola rule, is Nakkan. This name is found to

occur only once among th^lnames of gods. exx. Allur nakkar,

the nakkar offthe ^ Allibr. It is/Lnteresting to note that

the girls dedicated to Bajarajesvaram are called 'nakkan’ which is prefixed to atoiost to all their names.

k 58.22 ITayanar

The use of nayanar seems to be post-Hajaraja I. Pour this names, which carry^Telugu term of respect are, Tirukkalu- kunramudaiya nayanar, Tiruma^jii gangai udaiya nayanar,

Tiruvannamalai udaiya nayanar,and,Vaduseida vara^am udaiya nayanar.

g 58.23 Hayanmar Some nayanmars whose images are kept for worship in the

temples are: Fambi aruranar in the Rajarajesvaram of 115 Ra;jaraja I; Si^tto^ida namlii and 3lra!J.a devar, both of them in the same temple; lirunavukkaraiyar in Bajarajesvaram of Ra;Jaraja I and in Idiraja mangalgta p-uram of Kulottunga II;

Tirunana sarabanda adigal in Rajarajesvaram of Rajaraja I;

TiruvadavT^ar in Tiruvalandiili during Rajara;Ja II; and

Tirukkan^appa devar at Tiruvaiyaru, The total references to these saints number 10, 3?he mention of these names in inscriptions help fixing the age of these nayanmars and consequently the date of their literature.

X 58»24 Perumal

Peruman., meaning a great person, now Invariably signifies

Vishnu only, while in the Cola inscriptions to judge by our data, this word is meant to signify Siva only. There are 11 perumal attributes. Chronologically -perumaij. names occur from the beginning to the end of th ^o la rule, from the time of Parantaka to Ra^ara^a I I I . exx. Kuttaperumaj.,

San^esvara peruml, llala sundara peruma},etc. All these naiies indicate different aspects of Siva as dancer, as one full of fiei-ceness and as one who drank poison, respectively,

X 5B.25 Pillaiyar

This word, a j^respectable term to denote the prince, was applied to Ganapati who was understood by the people as the son of Siva. Of the five Pl^^aiyar names, two from

Rajai^jesvaran are suffixed with -ga^pati as the

Pillaiyar ga^apati. The first mention of Pillaiyar is found in the inscriptions of Uttama sola and the(Lastfln

that of Vikrama sola. Even now, both the foims, Pillaiyar and Oa^apati are common. 116

IL 58.26 Place names

The largest section of the names of goda is this, which enumerates the gods named after places as 38, exx. Allur nakkar, Apnamalai udaiyar, TiruccIrrambalam udaiyar,

Tlkkali perumanadiga^. There is no particular ma;jority for any place. Almost all the examples are solitary cases.

This might siaggest that any god could be mentioned as such by prefixing the ur jSor the temple in which the god is enshrined.

X 58.27 Kings

An interesting feature is the name of kings whose images were kept in the temples as icons. They are Pon maligai tunjiyB devar, Ra;jara;ja devar, Ra3ara;jesvarar and Rajendra vidangar. The first three images were kept in the Ra;jara3esvaram of Tan;javur and the last in the temple at Sola kula cadurvedi- mangalam. There is no recorded evidence of this feature in the pre-Rajaraja I period nor after.

X 58.28 I^an

Kaliyuka r ^ a n and Srlramanadan are the only two names of this god, the first found in the inscriptions of Kanjipuram and the other of Srlrangam.

58.29 Rishabam

The rishabam as the ’vahanam* of Siva is found in two names, one at the time of Rajaraja I and the other of Kulottunga I. ex. Rishaba vahana devar. g 58.30 Sattan This village god is mentioned only once in the data. 117

This sole ooourrenc^omes from the inscription of Rajaraja I at SanjavT^ as a by-mention rather than as a conscious

effort to tell his name as in the case of the other gods which fill Rajarajesvaram,

U 58.31 Siva ✓ Siva is mentioned sixteen times, eilone or "by some other adjective, exx. Bala sivanar, the young Siva. Kaliya^ia sundarar,which signifies Siva in his married status.

Panjadeha, the five bodied. Paramesvarar, the great god,.

The earliest mention of such type of names start with the cmming of Rajarajesvaram and continues up to the time of

Kulottimga I I I . Most of the Sivas are concentrated only in TanjavTir at the time of Rajaraja I.

X 58«32 Snake

Since Siva is Icnown to wear snake on his head, heyts once referred to as Aravabaranadevar. This type of attribute is spoken of only at the end of the Golauile, in the inscriptions of Kulottunga II I. a 58,33 Subrahmagya

Three references of this god available. These references are not far seperated from each other chronologically or geographically. Two belong to Rajara;ja I and are located

in Tanjavur and the other to Rajendra I, located in

Sola kula manikka cadujrvedimangalam, the modem Mahadanapuram.

The Mahadanapuram god is called in the inscriptions as

Subrama^iya pillaiyar, a clear indication that, 8ubrama^iya,

generally accepted to be the Sanskrit form for Muarugan, was also considered as the son of Siva, a fact j^which is 118

attested to by the suffix -pllj-aiyar. The paternal relation

. of Siva to Ga^pati and Subrahma^a is already fixed by

the time the Oola pantheon oame into being.

X 58,34 Sun

A solitary reference of the god Surya, the sun, is

found in the inscriptions of Rajarajesvaram of Rajaraja I.

X 58.35 Temples

11 names of gods are known by the temples in which they

were enshrined, exx. Kulottunga sola vi^agairalvar, Vanamar-

isvaramudaiyar, Itoduiandaka Isvaramudaiyar. This habit

might have started from the time of Ra;Jaraja I, who talks

about Rajarajesvaramudaiyar, the god of Rajara;jesvaram

built by him. Most of the gods known by their temples belong

to the period of Kulottunga I.

X 58.36 Udaiyar

13 -udaiyars are known. Meaning possessor, -udaiyar

indicates that the god bearing this name is the possessor

of the or the temple of the ur, exx. Ann^alai udaiyar ,

the possessor of the mountain Annamalai. Tirukkalukkunram

udaiya nayanar, the nayanar possessing the hill of the

same name. Tiruvekambamudaiyar, the possessor of the temple

Tiruvekambam. Ra;jarajesvaramudaiyar, the god of Rajai^Jesvaram.

Some times, as in the case of Rajarajesvai^ at Tan^avi^,

the god is called merely as Udaiyar, Udaiyar is sometimes

applied to the king himself. It appears that this was a

term of address and of respect, and was later attributed

to the god of a temple, or that of an The practice of 119 using udaiyar for king and for god is< carried on thro-ughout the Oola rule,

X 58.37 Vldangar

Vidangan is considered to be a lingam naturally foiroed and xmohiselled.^ This lingam is spokervof as Siva in inscriptions, and is mentioned as vidangar in six places, exx. Dakshi^a meru vidangar the consort of Umaparamesvari,

Kalikai vidangar, Karani vidangar, Nilavina vidangar the vidangar who is eternal, Rajendara vidangar, and Tanjai vidangar the consort of Umaparamesvari. Karanai- and

Kalikai- appear to be names of places and vidangars of those places were called so as Tanjai vidangar. Vidangars become more common in the post-Rajaraja I period and continue up to the end of the Cola rule. Pre-Rajaraja I vidangars seem to be rare.

X 58.38 Vishnu

The god Vishnu is mentioned aciff times in the data.

He is mentioned as Narasinga peruman which is the earliest reference, ftom the time of Parantaka , and as Tirunaraya^a- vinnagar^var which is the latest reference from the inscriptions which belong to Kulottunga I. The rest of-ftie references of Vishnu run as Mahavishnu, Singaperuma]. and Vishnu. Of these Mahavishnu and Vishnu are to be found located in the Rajai^jesvaram temple. • . 120

goddesses

It 59.0 Goddesses

The names of the goddesses form a supplement to the names of gods, com'bined with which, present a fairly complete picture of the religious pattern of the Colas.

It 59.1 Ammai

Ammai is deno^tive of mother. This is also a general term for any goddess. The only example, Ammainacoiyar, as some other names that are to he mentioned be^ow, is suggestive of maternity. n 5 9 .2 Beauty Alagarmangaiyar, the beautiful young woman, is the only one named so. This is found in an inscription which might belong to any of the Eulottungas.

X 59.3 IKirga

Durga bliattaraki and Durgaiyar are the only two examples

of this kind. These goddesses were enshrined at Takkolam

in the times of ParttivWra and at Turaiyi^ during the days of Rajaraja I respectively. Called Durgaj^aa* in Tamil,

the worship of this goddess is common even today.

X 59.4 Jeshtai Supposed to be the elder sister of Sridevi, the goddess

of wealth^ Jeshtai is known as the goddess of poverty and

ill luck. She is also called Settai, She is enshrined in

three different ttoples, one belong to the period of

Pajrttivendra and the other two to Rajara;Ja I. Jeshtai is

now commonly understood to be a village goddess and this 121 might be the case with these three goddesses to judge by the not so prominent urs|they oome from .

X 59.5 Kadukal Three names of Kadtdcals ( < Ka^ukals) ebvjhously forest Aadd-fSS eS or villagei^are found to be referred to in the inscriptions « of Uttama and Rajaraja I. It is not clear whether these goddesses still exist nor is their significance properly- understood. a 59.6 Haociyar

The use of this term for goddesses and women seems to have been widely prevalent in the post-Kulottunga I peadod

The' use of this term for goddesses is/^still current, i 59.7 Kali

Kali is mentioned only once. Prom the inscriptions it isvery clear that Kali and Durga are entirely two different goddesses. Mention of Ka^i in Cola inscriptions occurs during Parantaka's rule. While Kali worship is very common even now, and must have been so from ancient times, it is surprising that there is practically little or no reference to Kali in inscriptions. This might be due to the fact that the Cola kings, were devoting their time )imore towards the building of temples of large size to the gods emerging as the result of Aryanization, However, the family of the Golas had a special reverence to Nisumbasudani for whom a temple was built by the founder Vijayalaya,

X 59.8 Nangai

The conception of goddesses as young women might have caused the|use of this word for them. There are four mentions 122

of Nangai, The use of Nangai as the name for any goddess^

seems to be restricted after Rajaraja I, sinc^ll these

four names range between Paranta^ka and Bajaraja I only.

a 59.9 iParamesvarl

Peminine form of Paramesvaran, Paramesvarl, the goddess

Parvatl, is found to ooour in the inscriptions of Rajaraja

only. She is called Umaparamesvarl. Nine different Uma-

paramesvarls each consort of different types of Siva,

are found to have been enshrined a* ERajarajesvaram.

Umaparamesvarl is not mentioned either posterior or prior to

Rajaraja I,

X 59.10 Pidari

[Che largest mention for a goddess goes to Pidari, with 38

references. Except perhaps Alli^, all the Pidaris were to

be found in ^ s fhich were not very large to be prominent

enough. Most of the references are found to occur in an

inscription of Rajara^a I ( II.1,5 ) which preserves the

information on Pidaris, more due to chance, than to any

calculated effort to record the names of these village goddesses. 20 Judge by this inscription, it is certain that, innumerable as the Cola inscriptions are, many names village gods and

goddesses are left unrecorded. That the >Pidari worship was

already established ;already-Hiuring the Cola rule is proved

by the first mention of Pidari in an inscription of Uttama

and that the worship was in vogue till the time of Kulottunga,

by a mention of Pidari in an inscription of Kulottunga I,

Pidari worship is common now in villages. From the inscriptions

it is not clear what was the work of these goddesses. Probably 123 the protection of the villages was entrusted to them.

The etymology of the word is also difficult to trace. It is possible that Pidari < Pida + hari, ’that which removes difficulties».

X 59.11 Piratti

Feminine form of Piran, Piratti was used to mention a goddess or women of the royal household. The earliest inscriptional reference Toelonss to Uttama sola’s reign and thejlatest to

Vikramasola, exx. Nambirattiyar, consort of I«iahameruvidangar of Rajarajesvaram. Pirattii^i consort of Nilavinavidangar.

Pirattis total six.

X 59.12 Place names

Goddesses with place names are comparatively few when compared with the same catagory. They number only four, exx, Sattanur iiangai, Punnaitturai nangai, Vadavayil selvi. Except this

Vadavayil selvi, the rest are found in Ra^raja’s inscriptions.

X 59.13 Rukmlni

A solitars'^ case, Rukmini, consort of Krishna, comes from

Tiruvellarai throiigh an inscription of Uttama, after or before whom, this name is not mentioned. g 59.14 Temple

Another solitary example of a goddesses being named after a temple is Tirukkamakkottam udaiya nacciyar of TiruMca^tappal^l.

Tnis name is mentioned in an inscription of a king who styles himself as 'Konerinmaikon^an'. The ur suggests neamess to

Chidambaram the Tillai, and it may be assumed that this name might be classified as falling under th^ost-Kulottunga I period.

X 59.15 Udaiyal

Only four goddesses bear thet3-tie -udaiyal. Three of them 124 are Pidaris and the other is the one mentioned in the previous section, exx. Pidari alias Kudiraivattamudalyal..

Pidari alias Tiruvaludaiya^. The Pidari udaiyals seem to be in possession of some qualities or places abou'^hioh it is ^dfficult to say any further.

FLBS

X 60.0 Temples

Before summing up thejresults of the analysis of the names of the gods and goddesses, it is necessaiy to take the names of the temples into consideration, as all these three groups fo m a unit. Though ye are not able to know any more than the more nane of the temple as in the|oase of Brahmakuttam of Tanjavur and in some cases, we could know everyQfching about the temple as about the famous Rajarajesvaram, the total picture presented by the names of 174 xemples is very reliable and interesting, as shown by the analysis belowl

X 60.1 Qeri or Seri

This word seri, a place name termination, is applied for only one temple, apparently of pre-Rajaraja period, the Periya talicceri of Tiruvar^. Talicceri could be an erreneous use for Seritta}!.

H 60.2 Gods and goddesses

23 temples are named^after the chief god or goddess of the sanctorum, exx. Aiyan koil, Ittacci Isvarara (

125

1rum named after places, exx. Allur nakkan tali < Allur

nakkan. Mu^lur nakkan ta^i < K u ^ l ^ nakkan. E r i y ^ rmkkan

tali < Eriyur nakkan. Tiruppainnlli udaiyanayanar koll

< Tlrappaiimlli udaiyanayanar. The interdependency of the

names of places, gods, goddesses and temples is found to

have been existing thi*oughout the Cola rule.

The use of the name nakkan In three different temples

of Allur, Eriy^ and MuI^ t^ suggest that ^ w a s a common

god, obviously Siva, to be called so. The use of ’nakkan'

seems to have been very common before Rajaraja I, since,

of these three, the temple of A l l ^ was existing during the

time of Parantaka and the other two are mentioned in the

list of pre-RaJarajesvaram temples mentioned in an inscription

at Rajarajesvaram. The use of this term,nakkan, falls into

less frequent use after Rajaraja I.

Pour temples are named after Erahma. Rajaraja I mentions

two of them, the Drahmakuttam of Tanjavur and the Brahmlsvaram

of Tiruvaarur as existing before the building of Rajarajesvaram

at Tanjavur. The third one, Brahmisvar^ of Perunagar is

mentioned four years earlier than the date of his Rajarajesvaram

inscriptions. The fourth, Brahmlsvaram of Tirukkalukkunram

is mentioned in an inscription of Rajadhiraja I, The post-

Kulottunga I period yields no name of any temple connected

with the name of Brahma,

X 60.3 Griham

This Sanskrit word, meaning a house, is foiond to have

been applie^only once for a temple, apparently of pre-Rajaraja I

period. 126

g 60.4 Isvaram

49 temples are called isvarams. Of these 19 Isvararas

"bear the names of kings or their titles and 3 “the names

of queens. Most of these Isvarams are fiund in the insoriptions

of Rajaraja I in his 29th regnal year, fiot all Isvarams could

be said to have been built by the kings whose names they

bear. Idittlsvaram, Arinjikai Isvaram and Parantaka Isvaram

are found mentioned in Rajaraja’s inscriptions and should be

considered as having been built in the memory of these kings,

rather than by those kings themselves. This view is supported

by the rare occurrence of -Isvaram in the pre-Hajaraja I

insoriptions.

The practice of naming Isvarams by one’s own name seems to have been originated by Rajaraja I, His Isvarams bear his titles, as do his cadurvedlmangalams and valana^us. and ^ * Solendra simha Isvaram,^Avanikesari Isvaram are examples for Isvarams bearing his titles, Sundara pandya Isvaram is the only example of an isvaram

from iPa^^ya na^u. This isvaram bears the name of the king

Sundara and is found't^o have been built near Madurai.

Mahadevi Isvaram, L^kamahadevi Isvaram and Panjavan mabiadevi

Isvaram were probably built by these queens of Rajaraja I

or by Rajaraja I himself in their names.

Five Isvarams are found^o have been named after enshrined goddesses. They are, Grupavati Isvaram, Ittacci Isvaram Malllsvaram of iyiratta^i, Sandiramalli Isvaram and Tigai- piratti isvaram. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to find out the'^portance and the history of these goddesses 127

for want of further information. The names of these goddesses

suggest the possibility of the eaistence of other such

goddesses of independent existence not connected either w ith ’ the village goddesses or with those in the oonten5>orary pantheon.

Six Isvarams are after Siva or his other names, exx. Gandra-

sekara Isvaram, Sri kailasamudaiyar Isvaram and Srlkara^ilsuram.

Only one temple hears the name of Rama. ex. Srlkodandarama

Isvaram. This exception suggests that in the Cola days 'Isvaram* was synonjnaous with Siva temple at first as opposed

to Vi:nnagaram, and later started connoting temple in general.

In this same category might he included Parasuiamlsvaram

of VUcrama sola's inscriptions.

g 60.5 Kings and their titles

25 temples are named after kings and their titles, exx.

Arinjikai Isvaram after king Arinjaya, Arumoli Isvaram after

the pre-coronation name of Rajaraja I, Gandaraditta Isvaram

after the king of the same name, ParantaJca Isvaram after

Par^taka, Rajarajesvaram after Rajara;ja I, Sri kulottunga virinagar after Kulottunga I, Sundara pa:gi^ya Isvaram after

Sundara Pa^dya and vlrasola v i^a g a r after Ylrasola. The only non-Oola name given for atenple is Yikrama Vijaya Isvaram,

As this name is mentioned in an inscription of Rajaraja I, found in Jananadapuram, which'^^^as the same as Mamallapuram,

it should be concluded that this temple belongs to th^ero^cL j.of any one of the Vikramaditya of the Pallava dynasty, ( Almost all the titles of the (kings borne by the temples appear to belong to Rajaraja I. exx. Arikulakesari isvaram,

Avaninarayana vinjjiagar, Solendra simha Isvaram etc. Samanta 128 naraya^a seems to be an exception to this, since the name of the king is mentioned as KonerinmaUcond^ and the regnal year is mentioned as 35*^ It may be said that these titles of Rajaraja I (untill the contrary is proved)indicates that the temples Arumoli Isvaram of Tiruvaribr, Arxtlojlakesari-

Isvaram of Niyamam, Avanikesari Isvaram of Andali and Paluvur

Avaniya madarpuram of Paluvur and Avanin«braya:jia vippagar of

Ambar could have been built by Rajaraja I himself after his accession and before the building of Rajara;jesvaram. Otherwise this should be taken to mean that these temples were already in existance even before Rajaraja I and on his accession, these temples were made to bear his names.

Another example of adding a Cola name to the one which was oui»nt during the Pallava days, is, Kailasamudaiyar alias Rajarajesvaram in Rajaraja cadurvedimangalam. This example could also be shown as one for the de-P&llavanization of names ( as in the case of the Sanskrit names of territorial units ). One is easily le<^into a stispiaion that at least some of the names of ^ s , gods or temples found in Toicidaimandalam with the names of the 091a kings or their titles could have been the result of Colanization of Pallava names, She name of a temple, Jayank9^dasollsvaram in Rajaraja cadurvedimangalam, the modem Mannarkudi carries an inscription of ^arakrama Pa^dya's 8th year, inscribedjduring his ndirthern advances. It isinteresting to n?lote that the Cola najpe has been left unhindered by the Pandjia.

X 60.6 Koil

18 temples are mentioned as ’k o ils'. (koil=temple) 129

With three or four exceptions, all the temples with -koil,

fall into two oatsgories. First, those with the names of

gods, and second, those temples with topographical names.

Examples for the first kind: Alli^ nakkan koil, Aiyan koil,

G-apapatiyar koil, and Pi^ari koil. Examples for the second

kind: Purridangondar koil,'the temple of the god who has

enshrined himself over an ant hill* and !Tan;jai mamanikoil.

Two temples are called merely’srlkoil's and form the

context it is clear whether these temples enshrine Siva

or Vishnu or any other goddess or god, noi is it clear to which king or kings these two could be attributed.

One peculiar example, Koiltali of Uagapattinam, uses

both the words koil and tali, A possible explanation for

this rare phenomenanis that originally the temple could

have been called koil, and addition or erection of some

structure which itself was called tali, had led to the use of

koil and tali together. The tali suffixes are usually found

to occur in the names of temples mostly built by the Oolas.

Judging the names of temples with -koil endings as a whole,

it appears that they were chronologically older to those

having -tali or -Isvaram terminations, Koil, being a Tamil word, was perhaps associated with the memory of the antiquity

of the temples which were old when compared with the other

types of temples with different endings.

g 60.7 Kottam

Ka5_i kottam and Kumarakkottam of Itelmal and Tirukkll kottam of Tirukkudam^kil• are the only ^ kottams • mentioned. All these • 130 three are pre-Rajaraja I. Though kottam means a temple, it is noteworthy that this word is applied to only three temples out of about 175* It is possible, that kojtanx, signifying a temple, was mostly restricted to SCo^idaimaijidalam dialeotioally,

>60.8 fall i

Palli, whioh also means temple, has only one mention, and that too in the e r a ^ phase of the Oola rule. Mila^udaiyar

Pai!J.i in Tirunagesvaram in an Inscription of Iditya I seems to suggest that the god of that palli was named aftei the place Miladu, g 60,9 Place names

24 temples are named after the urs in whioh they were sitiiated or after some other places.

A llur nakkan koil, Grangaikondas3dlsvaram, lyiaduraikoil,

Tanjai mameuiikkoil, T irutti 5 .dlsvarajii are the temples whioh even at the first sight indicate that they were situated in

A ll^ , Grangaikon§.asola puram, Madurai, Tanja-viur, T iruttiji^i

(Tindivanan) respectively.

There are other few temples, whioh bear the names of some

T^s, but were really situated in some other urs. E r i y ^ n a t ^ tali and Eriymr nakkan ta^.! were located in 'XanjavT^. Mu^l\br nakkan ta^i w^s located in Palaiyaru, A possible explanation is that these urs could have formed the suburbs of these towns and the temples having been found in those suburbs were fcKoAt. called after localities.It is difficult to speak with certainty wBiother those suburbs continued to exist when the inscriptions were engraved. If not, this only tends to prove. 131 that these subiirbs were m-^h older even to the memory of the people living during the Cola times in these towns.

There are some others which are named after places falling outside the range of the Colas. One such temple is called

'Gurukshetram* set in Uttarameru cadurvedimangalam. The age of this temple is cLifficult to determine, since the name of this king of this particular inscription is merely called

Rajakesari. Three other temples, all of 'them bearing the same name, Srllj:ailayam, situated in Uttarameru cadurvedimangalaij ,

Ma^imangalam and Seyyur respectively. Probably this might be due to the infliSienoe of the god Sri kailasanadar, enshrined in the temple of his name at Kan;jlpuram. Excepting Seyyiu:, the nearness of Kanjlpuram to the other two towns, could have had some effect in coining this name for these temples.

Supporting this view is the name of another temple, Srlkailasam- udaiyar isvaram of Rajaraja cadurvedimangalam, probably belonging to the days of Rajaraja I.

Another temple at Ma^imangalam was called ‘Srimad dvarapatl alias Sri k^akkodi vi^.psgar', Named after Dvaraka, this temple, dedicated to Vishpu, as indicated by the suffix

-vin^garam is found to have been existing in the time of

Rajadhiraja I, and the only example for a temple to be named after Dvaraka.

The name Tanjai m^anikkoil, suggests the presence of another Fiama^iikk^fcl in some other place, which is perhaps not recorded in the insariptions found with us. The cairiage of Tanjai- with this mamanikkail Invariably at every mention tempts the idea of the presence i5f some other Ma^nikkoil. 132

One, what appears to be a tppographical name, is

Naduvil tali of Nagapattinam. Haduvil might be the suburb of the Pattinam or the ^ might have been in the exact noenter . of the pattinam.

X 60.10 Sadukkam

Literally meaning square, this word could be applied to any temple with enclosure. Karayanar saduldcam is the sole reference, referred to by Par^taka,

1 60.11 Tall

Ta^i (Tondaiman^alam.

Periyatali, Karrali and iyirattali are some examples for -tali. a 60.12 Yionggar

Vin^agar is supposed to be a Tamilised form of Yish^iu griha, 18 Vippagars are spoken of indicating that those temples were dedicated to Vishpu or his aspects. Chronologically the Vi^agarams are found to have been in existence from

Parantaka to Kulottunga I, and geographically, as it appears, all over Tamilnad.

Vi^agarams named after kings or their titles nxmber 5»

Compared to Isvarams, which are generally temples of Siva,

Vinnagarams are relatively few. They are, Avanlnai^yapa vinnagar, Ra;janarayana v i^a g a r, Samanta narayapa vinnagar, 133 Srlkulottunga vi^^iagar and vlrasola vi^i^gar.

One non-royal name is Sri pudi vinpagar, Tftis name, taken into consideration with the non-royal names of Isvarams, suggests that some non-royal personalities might have caused the construotion of this vipnagaram. in The name Pudi is suggestive oi^ aristooraoy,^ X 60.13 vlrattanam Prohably a Tamilised form of Vira s^anam, -vlra-^anam is found to be borne by three temples. Two Tiruvirattanams and one vlrattanam is mentioned, all the three of them being located within Cola nadu proper. Though the examples are very few, the chronological span of vlrattanam is very long from Uttama to Kulottunga I.

H 60.14 Oddments The names of a few temples do not fall under any of these classes and are odd mentions. Some of the moststriking are given here. Brahmakuttam might be Brahmakudam, meaning, a hall for Brahma. Sanglsvar^, the Isvaram of sangu, the conuh, is indicative that this temple was a Vishnu temple. Urudravali-

Isvaram, the Isvaram of the Rudravali is the only known temple for Vali, a character in Ramaya^a. This temple is found to have been located in Narasinga mangalam, a apparently not very well known, even during the Tolejoi

Rajaraja I.

61.0 Review of gods, goddesses and temples

The presence of indigenous and Aryanised elements side by side could be felt by a long list of temples existing previous to the building o:|^ Ra;)ai^jesvaram. Many of these 134 temples are enshrined with deities bearing the names of places. These topographical names are indicative of the presence of non-canonical and independent deities.

It could be clearly seen that the prominence of Siva increases steadily in the canonical pantheon which was powerful enough to subdue the adm inistration and obtains a great success through the hands of Rajara;ja I. Siva is dominant by the end of his rule and the supremacy of Saivism has never been shaken till the last days of the Cola rule.

Every aspect of Siva is deified and icons erected in various temples all over the kingdom throughout the peiiod of Cola hegemony. The steady increase of the names of Siva and his aspects culminates in the T illai temple of the Kulottungas and Siva becomes the supreme deity.

Though the mention of Vishnu’s names continue to increase after Rajaraja, the proportion is unequal with the ever increasing names and temples of Siva. The mention of local deities becomes less and less frequent and even during the rule of Kulottunga I, it could be observed that even the nayanmars were iconised and canonised. The names of Siva and his aspects are so supreme, that the women attacshed to

Rajai^jeavaram often not only bear canonised names, but also: are creditably entitled with »nakkan», a name of Siva.

The lis t of goddesses shows that the non-canonical, independent and village goddesses number considerably more than the canonical ones. The operation of this majority throughout the Cola rule showi that, inspite of Aryanization and canonization of the pantheon, the non-canonical goddesses 135 continued to influence the mind of the people. The installation of more than ten Umaparamesvarls in one temple is an example of the efforts at establishing canonised goddesses. Names like Umayapi^ari, Tastu pidari, P iratti the consort of

Nilavina vidangar and others are the results of identifying local goddesses with Parvatl, consort of Siva. Though this attempt was not a failure, non-oanonioal goddesses could not be easily shadowed. Parvatl, or any other canonical goddess could hardly gain the prominence which Siva had.

The conception of m aternity, as represented by many place names, are personified in the form of local and independent goddesses like Va^avayil selvi and Punnaitturai nangai, and local goddesse® like Pidaris and Kaduga!J.a, remain dominant ii^pite of slow and steady infiltration of the canonised goddesses like Durga and Umaparamesvari.

Without a single exception, all the inscriptions we have collected and analysed come from the temples of canonised gods (not goddesses) only. The rulers seem to have been drawn into the developing pantheon by the calculated forces of religious revival rather than towards the local gods, who though powerful happen to be recotded in the inscriptions only as a by-mention. Though we find that temples were built S' for other goddesses and gods before Rajaraja I, the post-

Rajaraja I temples fall into only two classes, those of Siva and Vishnu. Rajarajesvaram begins to give concrete shape to the Cola pantheon and the T illai or Ohidambaram temple completes the work. The histoiy of the temples of the Colas show a steady advance in this direction from Ra;jaraja I, 136

This analysis shows that Rajarajesvaram is an important

turning point in the history of gods, go; .:esrm and temples

of Tamilnad.

TEMPLE WOMEN

62*0 Temple women

The names of about four hundred women inscribed in an inscription at T&njavur (II,III. 66), is veiy helpful in determining the naming habits prevailing at the time of Rajaraja I,

But for this inscription we would have been compelled to judge the naming hafcrits of women only by the few names of queens and |>rinoesses, and the results of such a discussion would not have fitted with reality. All these women are dedicated touche services of the temple, which maintained them by providing quarters and daily rations. Their names show * some interesting features such as the continued existence of snake worship and of the )habit of being named after places.

After a detailed analysis of their names we shall sum up the results gained by this rare type of inscription.

^ 62,1 Animals

The only animal after which the women are named is the elephant. Three of them are naiaed Kunjaramalli and only one

1‘unganai which is a Tamil name, naming women after elephant is also prevailing now. ex. Kunjayiioa^., t 62.2 Beauty

The conception of beauty itself is given as a name. Alagu - 137 beauty, is found in Alagi, A^al alagl, Porkoiltillai alagi and Tiruvalagu, Another example of this group is Munji, the face, obviously, the beautiful face. Sanskrit names of this group common along with the lamil form of Alagi are Kami, Kamamogi, Kamakkodi and K ^ u t t ir i etc. Sittiravalli and Sundari also could be indued in this group. Of these names, Alagi can be net with in rare oases in villages even now. Sundari is sti^l very common.

H 62,3 Birth

More than ten names, meaning »the wealth borne' can be collected. They are Perramai, Perratiru etc. Naming children a thus must haVe been^very ancient custom still current in the time of Ra;Jara3a I.

X 62.4 Caste

Only two names are after caste. Setti and Somakon.

The settis were and are the merchants, -kon indicates that this girl belonged to a caste of milkvenders. Though these castes still continue to exist, no girls are named after these or any other castes.

It may be pointed out here that it is almostjimpossible to determine the castes to which all these women belong.

There are many obstacles in making any attempt. Neither their history nor their past is known. The significant reason is that none of them have any second name. This leads us to conclude that these temple women formed, a class by themselves, possibly coming from thejinstitution of Devadasis, which accounts for the absence of their second names. Even the suggestion that all of them might have been descendeiit,^ of those who belonged to the institution of devadasis 138

night be wrong. Some women name^ after the king Rajaraja I

might have "been his daughters by his favourites and

dedicated to th^emple during his life time. This oould

have happened in the case of the kings who ruled earlier

to Rajaraja , to ;judge by the name of Arinji and Ka^daraooi.

With some amount of ceirbainty, we may admit that 1hese

womon, once taken into the services of the temple, formed

the members of the institution of the temple women. Some

of -Chen might be the daughters of the women already in the

services of the temple, while soxie others might have been

freshly dedicated.

To judge by the names of women presented in this inscription

it is certain that this institution had become well set

much earlier than Rajaraja I and that all these women

formed a caste by themselves.

i 62«5 Celestial gift

Five r^ames can be placed under this group. Amudam <

Amirda, Ara amudu the unsatiable amirda, Karpagadani and

Karpakamanikkai.i are thet examples. The last two are after

^-the celestial tree. These names amirdam and karpakam are

noijuncommon now. Hames after the conception of celestial

gifts could have gained currency oxp.y after familiarity

with the stories of 3anskrit mythologies. Yet, this type

of names form about only one per cent of the total names.

i 62.6 Dancing

A few names connected with the sense of dancing are

found. Adal alagi the dancing beauty, Adavalla^ the expert

in dancing, Kuttadi the dancer, Tirukkuravai the exponent 139 of the kuravai dance. All the names are in Tamil. Such names

whether in Tamil or Sanskrit are not common in Tamilnad now.

X 62.7 Devotion

This concept is^found in ma^hy names in the form of the

Tamil stiffix -a^iga^.. One name is exclusively Adiga^.,

Adigal, meaning a devotee, when suffixed to names, indicates

to whom the devotion is attributed, Konadi - the king*s devotee.

Madeva^igal - the adigal. o :^ a d W . Sometimes -adigal have been

used as honorific suffixes which should be distinguished from

adigal which are proper names.

it 62.8 Earth

Some names aire after Earth and all of them are in Sanskrit,

exx. Pugalokamanikkam the Jewel of the earth, Pumi < Bhm i,

and Tarani < Dhaarani.

H 62.9 Food and drink

Pal, milk and Pakkari, food with milk are two names of

this type.

a 62.10 glower The only name after any flower is Pitti. Pitti is a kind of Jasm ine, also some times called Pioci.

H 62.11 God

About six names are after gods. Ambalakkutti < Ambalakkuttan

the dancer in Oosmos, which is the name for Siva. Devadi,

the devotee of god. Kanavadi < Ga^iapati. Nandiyeruman is an attribute of Siva. Naraya^i < Narayapa, Vishnu. The name

Naraya^i is now common among the Brahmin women.

62.12 G-oddesses Kaduga} (< Kadukal), Nangali ( < nam kali), S^u n^i, 140

Sattam ( < Salrtan ) and Ulaiai are the names of the goddesses

named after, Bscept Utaai and S^up.di, the rest appear to

be village goddesses, Sajaujidi could have been brought into

use in Tan;javur by Kannada influence. Only Umai < Unia is

very common as it was during the days of Rajaraja I. Our

list shows many names of the goddess Uma in her various

aspects.

> 62.15 Gk)ld

About a dozen names are after gold or its attributes

and all these names are in Tamil, exx. Attanapon, plenty

of gold. Sembon, pure gold. In ^porkesi, a bet1;er interpretation would be ‘ jewel wearing haired' than ’goldem haired*, -kesi

is a Sanskrit suffix. Naming girls after go^ is still in vogue.

k 62.14 Gi^ce

Grod's grace is used for only one name, Abaiyam. This name is found only in Mayavaram taluk. The> chief god^in

the Mayavaram temple is called Abaityanadar. •

X 62.15 Grave Vcq. il. o~ X. KegTal-l is the only one example, and that too appears

to have been uni

be the name of a place where the bearing this name

came from.

62.16 Jewel

In this group, the most common name or the common part

of the name is -ma^i or m^ikkam. Iravikulami^ikkam,

Karumanikkam, Karpakamanikkam, Kulamaniklpam, Maduramanikkam

etc. form the examples. Mani and Manikkam is now very common 141 among both men and women. Malaiccilam bii, the chim ing anklet, and slrudaikkalal, the perfectly made or adm irable anlclet, are the only names after any jewel in the real sense. It is of significance that no other jewel is found as a name among the foior hm dred women and it is difficult to explain this feature, either in context with the Sangam period or In the m odem times.

H 62»17 K e r a l a Seramangai is the only name indicating Kerala origin and might not be prevalent in Cola nadu during Rajaraja»s tim es. Probably she was brought from Kerala as it was the cnstom to offer women as tributes to the em peror,^ i 62.18 K i n g s

A bout tw e n ty nsttftee a f e fo u n d named a f t e r th e C ola Icings

or their titles. They are: Arikulakesari, after the king

Arikulakesari. A rinji < Arinjaya. Arumoli < Arumolideva.

Kandai^cci < Oandaraditya. Rajarajx < Rajaiaja. Rajakesari <

Rajakesari. TJttamadani and Uttama sundari < Uttama sola. The only non-Oola name is Malayaman. The m ention of this name induces us to guess that either this woman must be related to the Malayamans or m ight have been named after them probably because the ancient Malayam^anfam ily was still in existence. These names have interesting grammatical features like the usuage of m asculine term inations. The m ention of pre- Rajai^ja names such as Malayaman, proves that the habit of naming women after kings must have been a well set and

o l d h a b i t . U2 X 62.19 Kingship and dynastio names

General terms denoting kingship and names of the ruling dynasty appear to have been as common as the names of the kings, exx. Araiyam < Airaiyan, the king. Konadi, the devotee of the kings* Solam < Solan. Solamadevi, Solasulamani,

Solakulasundari, Sundarasoli, vlrasoli and other s ^ h names are examples for the carriage, of the dynastio name Sola-,

Neuterizing the masculine terminations,isi demonstrated by names like Araiyam and Solam, rather than femininising them. n 62.20 Lakshml Sldevi < Srldevl. This name m ight have been more common than what it appears to be if we are to take into consideration many names beginning w ith tiru- , sldevi is the only example available deno^ve of the name of . iakshm i.

X 62.21 l^sculine names Thoiogh it was not uncommon to use neuter endings -for wom en's names, the use of m asculine names appear a feature common during the Cola period and is of interest to the linguist. In some cases, this feature is due to naming a woman with m asculine names without de-m asculinising the ending, exx. Malayaman, Paranderum an, Nandiyerum an, Porkumaran and Somakon. Nandiyeruman and Paranderuman are attributes of Siva. The name of Nambi, common for men is found to be used with attributes of women, exx. Nambinangat,, Nambiyamai ( < Nambiyammai ). The name of a man + woman is uncommon now, though in the extreme south the name of a woman + man is is still common, ex. Ammaiyappan.

> 62.22 Moon Only two names are available after moon and both of them 143 are of Sanskrit origin, exx. Sandiram and Sandiras^ari. It is very difficult to say whether it was arsommon praotioe to name women after moon in the Sangam period and "before Ra^araja's tim es. The name Sandira < Chandra is very common at present, Sandirasekari however, could be taken to "be a fem inine form of Sandiiasekaran, a name for Siva.

X 62.23 UumerEd KUmerals taking the place of names is .un-Tamilian and whatever names are found in our data could be attributed to Kannada influence. Thei only name we have in our list of women is Arayiram (6000).

X 62.24 P a r t s of t h e body Soyyapadam, the red feet, an attribute of fem inine beauty is found in the names of three women. In this section falls Supangai, named after Supangu, supposed to be an essentiality of beauty of the breasts. The m ention of supangu is common

'% n literature.

X 62.25 Place names Most typical of naming habits in Tam ilnad, both in ancient times and even now, is the habit of naming men and women after places. The largest number of the temple women are named after places. Usually, one’s own native p^ace is taken as a name. Often, the places which have become religiously important, or some places of ancient fame are also to be found as names of women . Five girls are named as Aiya£u and three as Tiruvaiyaru. Tiruvaiyaru, the A iy e ^ of the early nayanmars and inscriptions, 144 is situated seven miles away from Thanjavur.

Two are named after Arangam, the modem Srirangam near

T iruo hirappalli.

After Amatt^, probably Tiruvamatt^, one name is fo-und.

Po-ur names after Arur, the modem Tiruvar^ (Tiruvalur) in Thanjavur district,are available. It shotild be noted tbiat no girl is named Tiruvarur, with the prefix tiru- as in the case of Tiruvaiyaru. This leads us to oonolude that Arilr and not Tiruvariir was the form prevailing at the time for the w in Rajaraja’s times.

Kandiyur, set between Tanjavur and Tiruvaiyaru is found in the names of two women.

} Karuvur, not located, is found in the names of two women.

This Karuvm- must be sought after near about Tanjavur only, since most of the girls have been transferred from the places within the neighbourhood of Tanjavur on^y. Karaikal, Karambiyam, Karopam(Tirukkaro9am) are found in the names of three girls respectively. Two names are after

Karayil (T irukarayil).

Maraikkadu, the modem Vedaranyam on the East coast of

Thanjavi^ District is found in the names of two women and one with the prefix tiru- is also found, testifying that had the place^already gained this prefix by the time of Rajaraja I.

Hallur, not looatable, has two names after it.

Uiccal which*appears to be a place name, has one girl after it.

Q r r iy ^ is found in the name of the three girls. It is certain that this Qrriyiur is different from the one near

Madras, since, the source specifically says that all the women were brought from the temples in Solama^^alam, 145 the Goia na^u proper.

The name Oklobri suggests that she belongs to Okkur, a very ancient town.Probably this was the place where the

Sangam poetess okln^ Masattiyar lived.

Paluv^ is a very common name for Tmany villages in

Thanjavir District.

Sengulam, liruccorrutturai, Tirumalai, Tiruppuva:pam,

Tiruvalangadu, Tiruvanaikka, Tiruvengadam, Tiruve^maval, and

Tittaicceri, have one occurrence each.Tiruvalangadu is located on the railway track between Arkonam and Madras.

Tiruvanaika is the modem Tiruvanaikovil near Tiruofeirappa4.5.i and Tiruvengadam is the modem Tiruppati.

Venkadu, now known as Tiruvepkadu in Thanjavur District, yields five women, who do not bear the prefi^tiru- probably because, the town had not yet been prefixed with tiru- when these women were named with the name of this tW.

The impoirtance of Tillai the modem Chidambaram was already established in Rajarajas time and this is attested by many names in our lis ti. Tillai forms the content of five names of women, variously called . exx. Tillai alagi, Tillalkkutti and T illain irain d ^, respectively neaning, the beauty of Tillai, the dancer of Sillai and one possessed by Tillai,

One place which falls outside the range of Oola history is Kailas which has one woman named aft$r it, jjidicating that this society had just started to name women after places found in Sanskrit mythology and hagiology, which in turn proves the influence of the literature over the mind of the people, 145

All the names of plaoes^fter which the women are named yields the following information.

1. All the places 'bear names in Tamil and all of them are situated within Tanilnad.

2. Naming women after places appeax^to have been the most common and thev;omen bearing place names number more than any other group.

3. The habit of coining names after places must have been very ancient. Only selected ancient places were chosen for names. It should noted here, for this reason, Tanjavur, though very prominent, does not figure in any name.

4. Prom the context of these names it appears that one’s own native town was the commonest place name one could select.

5. This custom was not lost in spite of the long span of

Aiyanization of Tamilnad beginning with the Sangam times and accelerated by the Pallavas.

> 62.26 Prefixes

Prefixes in the real sense are relatively few, and only three can be called so. Sinna- and Periya- distinguish sisters of the same name as yoTo^er and elder respectively.

The presence of this pair of prefixes in more than one context suggests that it was a custom for sisters to be named alike. This custom still exists in villages.

Tiru- has become an established prefi^^y the beginning of the Oola role in the names of persons as well as of places. It is important that in Tamil, especially in inscriptions, U 7

tini- is always used in the sense of J'prosperity’ and not 'Lakshial».

k ^2.27 Qualities

Sufficient examples are available for names after human

or femiii^e qualities. Anandi, Atiiaani, Asarapanjari,

Mana'barani, Uttamadani are names of Sanskrit origin.

ITames partly Sanskrit are Ekavlri, vlrasikhamapi. The rest

of the names are in 2amil. Uagai^ttal the urban lady,

Pugali the famous, and sliru^aiy^ the famous are of this kind, i 62.28 Queens

H^^evadigal, nlnavan madevi, Panjavanmadevi, Sembijranmadevi,

Tennavan madevi, TiribuvanamadWi and YillavanmadWi are the names of (lueens given to women. I'aking the names of kings along with these, it can be determined that the naming of women after royal personages was a habit well established by the time of Rajax^ija I. i 62,29 Rama

Pour women are named I r ^ i , the feminine form of Rama,

X 62.30 Reality

There is only one name, MuttaiJ., meaning the eldest,

siiggestive of her position as the eldest ohild of the family.

This attributive might have tuiTaed into a name, X 62.31 Semskrit Some pure Sanskrit names are also fcrnd. They have been

very well Tamilised in their spoken form. Dara^iivarahi,

Kun;jaramalli, Madanavalli, Maduravasagi, llayanavalli and

Olokamata (Loka- ) are of this kind. Such names form less

than 4 per oent of the total names. In this oatagoiy the J 148

name Devi oan be inoluded since it is not certain whether

Devi (< Devi) signified any goddess.

> 62.32 Siva»s attributes

The worship of Siva which had gained a greater currency

than that of Vishnu by the time of Kajuraja I, is reflected

in raany names of women suggestive of Siva's attributes, exx.

Bccumapidai, the begging bowl of Siva. Bduo'tapadam, the lifeted foot of dancing Siva. Ka:^am, the neck of Siva.

Ka^ipam < Kandam is also the same name. I'la^dai, the bowl ( of

Siva ). Naldcam < Walckan, another name for Siva. (Five women are named Uakkaiii, perhaps due to the popiilarity of this name. wlra:Eii pavala kunru, the red mountain smeared with ashes.

This appears a rather unusttal name for Siva, being highly personified, Paraml < Paraman, and Picci < Picoan are the femlninised forms of these names of Siva. So is SivadWi,

< Sivadeva. Par^deruimn is another name of Siva. Hone of these names are in existence now. We get a very clear picture of the names of Siva, which can be possibly given to any women as mentioned in Silappadikaram (vettuva varl).

The wide use of the naraes of ^iva in this work only tends to asseii: that Siva worship was very common by the end of the Sangam period,

H 62.33 Snakes and Poison Aravam, Kariya aravam, the black snake, Sarpadevi and

Slriya aravam are the names of snakes, indicative of the cobra.

B«ept Sarpadevi, the other names are in Tamil, naming women after snake, particularly after cobra is common now as it has been always. 149 Taking into consideration the names after Ma:pikkaia,

Aravam etc,, ITanju, the poison is none other than that of

the cobi«i. After poison, only two names are available.

Nan3Tk*i and HansT^i, these two examples which we hold as

indicative of poison, could also be interpreted in other ways also. It is possible that these two could be named after places called Nanji^ and Nangur. Even then it is

certain that those places are named after nanju, the poison.

X 62.34 Statues

Pavai and Viraiyaooilai are the two names signifyihg

statues.

X 62.35 Sun

Iravlkulama^ikkaja, the jewel of the Sun family, an attribute to the Cola dynasty, is the only name after the sun.

Now iravi- is not used, though surya- is sometimes used as

in S^^akuB^ri. Surya- is very common among the Jaffna Tamils.

> 62.36 Temples

Another type of naming habit,i analogjious to naming women after places, is the application of the names of temples

to women. Though the examples of this group are few, it

is clear, that temple-names among women were very common

during the time of Ra;Jara3a and earlier, exx. I^angoil, the young temple or the new temple. Karrai^i, the stone temple.

Koll, the temple. Porkoil tillai saagi, the beauty of the

golden temple at Tillai. Naming women after sacred places

rather than after temples is common among women now. exx.

Palaniammal, Annamalai. 150

X 62.37 Titles

RajsQcesari and Rajasul^ani, the titles of the king, are found to be given for two. Another name, merely Pa1;-fam, meaning title is borne by one woman. Pattam is common even now. ex. Pattamm^. t 62.38 Vegetation

Almost all the names under this heading have fallen into disuse. It appears that these have been very common in the pre-Gol8|period, as it was a custom to nane women after plants or any other vegetation even in the Sangam days.7

Carriage of floral names is a common feature all over the land.

Exx. A1 (Ficus bengalensis) . Et-J;i (Strychnos nux-vomica) .

Innilavandi (Calamus rotang) . Murungai (Moringa petrygosperma) .

Orupanai the palmyrrah. V ^ b u the neem. Strangely enough in Rajaraja>s times, the names of fi.owers are less common than those of plants and trees. i 62.39 Youth

The conception of youth is found in Ilanga, IJ.angoil,

Innilavanji, Fittanangai (rendered in inscription as irittangai) and Nittasimdari. Ilam is youth, -ka, -koil and -van;)! are groves, temple and creeptr respectively. It is difficult to say whether the conception of youth in the form of ilam is still maintained among the; modem names.

X 62.40 conclusion We can now sum up the information gained from all these inscriptional names of women.

Though the names are from the Cola na^u proper, with a few exceptions which are from the northern part of Tamilnad, 151 such as QrriyT^ and Tiruvalanga^u, it oan te said that these

names are fairly representative of Tamilnad at the time of

Rajarajall. Unfortunately no name has oome from P^^ya

territory for correlation*

Naming women after plaoes, snakes and looal goddesses

seems to "be indigenous. A n*w, but Tamilian custom which has ve4y well developed, but not continued very much after the

Colas, is naming women with the attributes of Siva. These two aspects indicate that the culture was essentially indigenous with influence from the north in the field of religion rather than in other fields.

Prior to Rajaraja I, the bulk of the names of women we get is from Sangam literature, seperated by more than six or seven centuries. The names of the women of the Sangam period and that of the Colas, when put together, rather than solving problems, create them, since the intervening Pallava records are almost barren in the names of women but for those of queens,

WOMEN OP ROYAI AND ARISTOCRATIC RANKS

a 63.0 Queens and aristocratic women 0\3r data yields about a hundred names of queens and women of the royal families. In many respects they differ markedly

in their naming habits from these of the four humdred women we have been talking about. With the proper gropping of the names, we can get a clear idea about the naming habits of

thw royal families and women of aristocratic ranks. 152 6 <63.1 Adlgal

Slla-ppadikaram is perhaps the first work to use 'adigal'.

It appears that the first currenty of the word was restricted

to the community of the Jains and later on it spread towards

a ntder use. Adigal was coined to denote the persons who worshipped the feet of god and gradually the word came to mean Q •a devotee’ . There are clear references that-adigal was in

very common use as a form of addressing respectable persons.

By the time Periyapuranam was written, -a^iga^- was of;bter used as the part of the names of men and women, especially

of the highranklng.

Pour names, Adigal kandan m^ambavaiyar, Madevadigsilar alias Sembiyan madevi and M\ikkokkllana^igal (two such names)

incorporate ii^themselves this honorific -adigal-. The earliest

inscriptional occurrence, Adigal kandan marambavaiyar, is found in the inscriptions of Aditya I, and the latest,

Mukkokkilanadigal in the inscriptions of Ra;Jaraja II. This long span shows that it was in the accepted currency among

the women of royal household. The -adigal in madevadiga^, a temple woraein of Rajarajesvaram, indicates that she was probably named after the queens and the habit of using -adiga^.

to name non-royal persons might not have been strong enough.

X 65.2 ilvar This title is carried by four ladies. Alakiya mapiavalani mandai ^ v a r , Ainmangai alvar, Alvar parandakan k\mdavaiyar

and Madurandaki alvar. The cause and steps by which -alvar

used to be attributed to women of the royal household is not 153 clear. The earliest mention of women with -alvar is to "be

found in Ra;Jara;Ja»s inscription, the most prominent among

them being Kundavai, the elder sister of Ra;jaraja I. The

rest of the three names are from the first Kulottunga's

inscriptions, X 63.3 Bapa names It appears that Banas, the chieftains of Perum'banappadi

nadu, did not have any extra territorial origin, thoiigh the

name Bapa sounds un-Damilian. This could be easily explained,

as, the use of Ba^- for itopa- is the result of historian’s

erroneous use or their habit of SanskritTamil names when writing history in English. Another reason which helped

the preference fo Ba^ia over i^^a-was the voicing of -p- >

-b- aw in Perumpapa > Perumbapa. In inscriptions, the form

Perumbapa- is more common than -papa, suggesting at the

same time that the Perumbanas should be distinguished from

Sirupapas, probably connected genealogically with the * 9 Perumbapas themselves.*^

There are two names of women connected with the Ba^a Aya

dynasty. SrlbapapperundWi alias Arinjikai piratti,

Kundawaiyar alias Vana mahadevi. These two are mentioned in

inscriptions of the later half of the Cola rule, (vapa <

bapa >. i 63.4 Dynasty There are about a dozen names, taken from the names of the

royal dynasties, to which the bearers belonged. Apart from

the two names mentioned in the above section, the rest arei

Kadamba madevi of Kadamba dynasty, Sembiyan madevi of Cola 154 dynasty, Sola Icula sundara vicoadlri al^rar of the Oola dynasty. Qsoept Sembiyan madevi, the rest of the women were princesses of the ruling dynasty and married into families of the chieftains sub]|ect to Cola power, which explains the carriage of dynastic names along with their own.

^ 63.5 Fairy

Kaman lyakkanar, mentioned in the inscriptions of Parantaka I ic the only one of the kind. lyakki is fairy, -ar, the epicene plural termination is the only element in this name that suggests respect given to high[ranking ladies.

63.6 Goddesses

In contrast to the names of the templ-e women, which contain innumerable names after gods, there is practically none^among these ladies'nameiafter any god. Only one example is available, as named after a goddess. Vadavayil selvi alias Gandrakula- madeviyar, mentioned in an inscription of Kulottunga ( I ?).

Probably sh-e was named after the goddess Vadavayil selvi at Uttaramerur. i 63.7 Kings

There are many names of ladies named after kings and the habit of being named after king appears to have been the custom among royal women. Axinjikai pirattiyar < king

Arinjaya; Budi adicoa pidari < perhaps Aditya; Madurandaki-

^ v a r < king Madurandaka. Some of the names are carried on to more than one generation such as Pudi adicca pidari and

Arumoli. Arumoli, the name borne by Rajara;ja I before his ooronation of KialottungQ 155 ooronation, was in vogue even before, and also, up to the time of Kulottunga I.

» 63.8 m a n

A A A Thereof our naraec with -kilan-. Kilana^i, Mulckokkllana^igal

(two names), U^aiyapirattiy^ kilanadigal, Kilan means • one who owns*. Prom the context, Kllanadi would mean 'a devotee of the king* synonymous with ‘queen’ . Miikkokkila-nadi means, the queen of the emperor of the three worlds. The name

Mukkokkila^di kal, the honorific suffix, is borne by the queens of Vikramasola and Rajai^ja I I . The earliest mention of Kilanadiga^ could be foiand in the name of Udaiya pirattiyar kilanadisa^., in an inscription of Aditya II, This name seems to have been^abeyance for some time and reappears after the coming of the Kulottunga I, prefixed with mukko-. X 63.9 Madevi Kadevi < Mah^evl, and Madeva^igal are the largely used suffixal terminations for the names of queens, However, this termination was restricted to only the senior members of the royal household, . Panjavan raahadevi, queen of Rajara;ja I;

Sembiyan madeviyar, mother of Uttama sola; Sola mahadWiyar, consort of Rajaraja Ij and Tiliavan mahadeviyar, queen of

Parttivendra are the ladies with -madevi, The|3onsorts of some sub;Jeot kings also have the title -mahadeviyar. exx.

Numganadevi, consort of Madurandaka pottappi solan. Pudi madevadigal, wife of Kannara deva, More than any other titles of queens, Madevi and Mahadevi are spread over clironologically the entire span of Oola rule, and beyond doubt, this title has been inherited from the Pallavas. 156 X 63*10 Masculine names

The “presence of masculine names is perhaps due to taking

the names of the kings and some times suffixing them with

feminine terminations. Some dynastic names can be included

in this group, exx. Vanamahadeviyarj Madurandakiyalvar <

Itedur^daka; Pirandakan madevadikal^ < Par^dakaj and Teiva malaiyapperuman devl < Malayappeanaman devan. Some doubtfia

cases are Panjavan mahadevi, Singan niinmadigal e$c. Bearing masculine names among royal women appear to have "been very

common throughout the Oola period. Perhaps this custom could

belraced back to the Sangam days where sometimes only the

termination helps to distinguish the sex of the personal nanes. ex. P^an and Pudi.

^ 63.11 Hangal

This is the only name common with those we met in the list

of the names of the temple women. All these naiLes are fouAd to have been borne by either princesses of the ruling family

or the queens of subject kings, exx. Kundavai nangai, daughter of Rajaraja I; Nangai kaixalippii^ttiyar, wife of

Tennavan ilango velar the prince of the Kodumbalur line;

Arumoli nangaiyar and Arumoli nangai. However, the last

two were the consorts of Parttivendra and vlrara;]endra

respectively, and form examples of queens bearing -nangai,

Nangai names are spread all over the time of Golslrule.

X 6313^2. Nacciyar Beyond doubt -nacciyar has been introduced into currency

after the accessiAn of Kulottunga I, since all the occurrences

could be found in inscriptions of and posterior to Kulottunga I.

Nacciyar is the feminine counterpart of Nayanar, a term of 157 respectable address. It can be safely concluded that

naoo|:yar is a borrowing from Telugu, caiised by the coming

of the Eastem Oalukya princesses along with Kulottunga I.

The use of Hacciyar still prevails in Tirunelveli District

as a reiment of the Nayak rule, and is used by servants

to address the lady of the house. X 63.13 ijfumeral The only name after a nmeral, irayirandevi airatianar,

consort of Rajadiraja I might be of Kannada origin, or the

q.ueen might have come from iCamataka.

X 63.14 Pii^tti

This is the feminine form of Piran, god. Pii4tti was the

forra of address used for the senior most ladies of the royal

household. Udaiya pirattiyar alias Sembiyan Biadeviyar, q.ueen

mother of Uttama sola, and, Nangai kaarrali pirattiyar , wife

of Tennavan i^angovelar are tiio examples. There is no evidence

of any king being named piran. Piran would signify god,

Siva in particular. The use of -pii^tti appears to have beE-s)

very much lessened after the times of Rajaraja I.

H 63.15 Pl^ari This is the feminine form of Pidaian, god, particularly Siva,

-pidari is found as the part of only one name, though the name, Pudi adicca pidari or Budi adxcca pidari occurs more

than once in the list. The use of this name has almost died

out in the post-Rajaraja I period. 63.16 Supremacy Throneeption of supremacy is found in about a dozen

names, which almost invariably are the name^f the queens

of the Golalpmperors. 158

AvaniJtauiududalya^, BuvanamulucLudaiyal, Dara^imuludu^a iyal,

TirCbuvanamulududaiya^ and Ulakamulududaiya^ all mean

•possesser of the world*. Th^onception of ooining this

type of names began from the time of Kulottunga I and this

habit was regularly followed by his successors. There is another name, also ..laore or less signifying the same idea,

Lohamaliadevi, queen of Rajarajail. It would not be correct to include thisjname among those signifying supremacy, since, this name ^vas not the result of aponscious effort to signify that the queen bearing that name was an empress,

X 63.17 Siva

There are two names which can be said to be after the attributes of Siva, Alakiyamapava^-ani mandai al^mr and

Kandtin olokamarasi. Alakiya ma^avBlan is a name for Siva and the first name is but the feminie form of Alakiyama^iavi^-an.

Kandan signifies 'the necked, i ,e . the blue neck of Siva*.

The only occurrence of Kandan is in Kasdan olokamarasi in the inscriptions of Parantaka. t

WOMBK OP ORDINARY RAMS

X 64.0 Women of ordinary ranks

Relatively few when compared with the names of the temple women and women of the royal household, 49 names of women of ordinary ranks are available. Most of the navies of women of this section figure in the inscriptions either as donors, or the relatives of donors or in some other capacity. 159 X 64.1 Amiiial

Two names, Ammai periyacci and Ariyaramai, bear ammai- and

-ammai respectively. As a term of respect to any woman, this , , A A lO word, is even now common as amraa and ammai, i 64.2 Aoci

Meaning mother, aoci is to be found even now among villagers.

The origin of this word or name seems to be as follows. Yai or ai is the word for mother in Sangam texts. Suffixed to the feminine demonstrative -ti, this word becomes yaitti or aitti and in spoken speech, aitti > acci. The word nacci +ar

> nacoiyar appears to be the same as na + acci.^^ Aitti or

Aicci or Acci is clearly a very old term for mother. Even now an eMerly village woman could be calledj^ - acci. In inscriptions however this is the only reference.

X 64.3 Groddesses Kali nangai, Kilakkadaiyanin»al, Kudiyan kadukaj., who are all village goddesses, are named after by three women.

These names|sugsest the existence of the habit of naming women with the names of the village goddesses, at those times even as it is now.

X 64 .4 Grods

Kai^yil edutta padam, the lifted foot of Siva, Uaraya^- nangai, Perumal nacci and Uyyavandal are the names of gods given to these women. Of these the name Wai^ya:|^i is^he only one still in currency. The habit of naming women after goddesses and gods appear to be very common throughout the

Cola rule. This feature seems to be more prevailing among 160 the women of the temple andtthe women of ordinary iwiks

as opposed to women of royal household,

X 64.5 Kin/^

Contrary to what is found among the names of the royal women, naming after kings, is found to be a habit not

strong enough among the women of ordinary ranks. oMly one

example is available. Madurandaki, the example betrays some

doubt about its ordinary rank and appears to be oonneoted with the royal house.

H 64.^ Maiigai

Mangai, a common term for a young woman, is found as the part of a name Mangai muveli, the later part of whioh seems to be the name of a place, a 64.7Ma3ouline naiaes

live names of women bear masculine form, either in complete or in part. exx. Xa^dan nacca devi, Kudiyan kaduka^.,

Nakkan vennaval, Vikrama kesari ponni. The masculine bearing of the name is more comon during the riame of Rajaraja I.

X 64.8 Moon

3andira devi is the only name available after the moon.

Or, this may be the -name of some moon goddess, not recorded in the inscriptions. Bven among the names of the goddesses

Sandiravalli is the only goddess named after the moon.

K 64.9 Other oddments Vellatti kodai is the only narae whioh suggests the caste of tillers. Vellatti appears to be the feminine fona of

Vellalan. A combination of the name of a temple and that of flower is Malartali. This is a unique name for any kind of rank. 161

64»1Q Estimation of analysis

The names of the women of the temple have already been

analysed and commented upon. It is very difficult to build

any dependable hypothesis on the names of women of ordinary

ranks, as most of the names are odd references and insufficient

for a satisfactory analysis. However, it appears that the naming pattern of the women of ordinary ranks is not far

different from that of the naming pattern of the temple women.

The naming pattern among the princesses of the royal household

is different and remains set throughout the rule of the dynasty. Names of canonized goddesses are almost absent.

Masculine names^ particularly those of the kings are veiy common. Different titles suggestive of different ranks within the household itself and the names of the families to which the women originally belonged to or into which they were married, comprise most of the names, ex. Adiga^ kap^an maramba\ffliiyar has three different aspects in her name.

Adigal- indicates that she isjbi high ranking woman and we find her as the queen of Bandipottaraiyar of the Pallava dynasty, -ka^dan- appears as her maiden name, -marambavaiyar is clearly the family name. Marambavaiyar < Maran pavaiyar means the pavai of Maran, the daughter of the chief called

Maran. It seems that it was not a custom for women of the royal household to be named after places and it is difficult to ascribe any reason for this feature. 162

MEH

K 65.0 Masculine names Apparently meaningless for the first look, 1875 names

of men whioh form the largest class of o-ur data, when

classified, split and analysed, turn out information of

absorbing interest and value. These names present the picture

of al^east a portion, if not the whole structure, of the

society existing during the Cola period. These names normally fall into four groupsi the temple staff,officers of administration donors and Brahmins. It should be pointed out that, we are not able to get the names of the persons of other professions mainly due to the fact that all the names occurring in the

inscriptions are of persons connected with the temples in some capacity or another, and the inscriptions, as records of donations to the temples, naturally could not include the names whioh fall o ut^i^e their range. So the ethnographical picture dr®m out by these names, comprehensive as it may seem, is reallj* not representative of the eAtire society.

Comparison and study of the names found in the contemporary literature is suspended, mainly because, it is difficult to fix the exact period in most of the cases, concerning the literary woiks.

The history of the temples, their complexes, their administration and the people who operated the institution

of the temple is best understood by the studj’^ of the names 163 of thejbemple staff, larger temples yield many names and

snail temples only a few depending upon the religious or the political importance of the temples.

The names of the officers collected by usjtJtre usually of those important persons connected with the central administration.

These officers are mentioned in theinsoriptions either as supervieers of the donations and taxes or as donors or "both,

The list of donors consist of persons who do not belong either to these two groups and most of them just go as very ordinary persons. The names of donorsnumber the ghighest for any section of the names of men collected and reflect the importance of the role played by the temple in the every dy affiars of the people.

The names of Brahmins are mostly those of priests,and a few, are of donors and officers.

The names have been classified alphabetically and analysed according to each meaning-ful part of every name. Per example,

AiSnurruvan eduttapadam is classified as ainnurruvan- on^ the one hand, and on the other as -eduttapadam. When all eduttapadams and all ainnurruvans are totalled and analysed, every other half of each name automatically comes under analysis in the process and the result is sianiiied up.^^

Wo noxx turn to analyse the names in alphabetidal order.

X 65.1 Accuda This name occurs only onoe in the whole collection, Acoudan rajarajan alias To^daiman is the chief secretary of Virara;jendra I.

His position as an officer, depends, perhaps upon his noble birth as suggested by »To^daiisan», the man of To^i^ai(nadu) 164 or the ruler of Tondai na^u. The Ton^aim ans, who were onoe the rulers of londainadu are reduced to the state of subjects, yet their inheritance had given them high positions of office ^ other under their Cola lords. I’he only^reference to the name Accuda is found in the Pallava inscriptions.^^ The Pallava mention of this name which probably was to be found in the Pallava territory proper, and the alternative name of Tondaiman, borne by

Accudan I^jaiajan, lead us to conclude that Accudan was geographically restricted to Tondainadu only. 65.2 K Adigal

The significance of this name, which was one of the forms of address has already been explained.

Among the temple staff, five bear adiga^ as a part of their names, exx. Adiga^. se1;ti, ^body-guard of Rajarajesvaram, llaminandi adiga^, a temple manager, and, i^lan tiruvanjiyattadigal.

-adiga^ seems to have been used in these names in three different ways. The firsl^erson, a setti, of the merchant caste bears adigal as the name proper and carries the name of the caste,sejti, to which he belongs. The -adgal of

Naminandi seems to be a term of respect, or, signifies elderliness,

Naminandi adigal is a name well known in the history of Tamil literature. However, it is difficult to determine whether this person is the same one famous in the history of Literature.

Palan < Balan carries what seems to be the name of the adigal of Tiruvandi. It is not uncommon to come across ^ ^ • 14- the wo^d -adigal for god, as shown by Tevaram hymns.

Po-ur officers bear the name of adigaij.. exx. Adiga^ naklcan, 165 A^igal vlrasolan, Adittam tlruvoCTlyuradigal and Setti- tiruvadigal. Adiga^.- is the proper name for the lirst two persons. Tiruvoteijab: adigal, perhaps the name of the god of the ur I’iruvorriyT^, is suffixed to Adittam < Adittan, whioh appears to be the persons' real nane. Adittan bears another name, whioh is the name of the family of the I^-angovelars', with an alias as Adittan tiiuvorrijn^digal alias vlrasola - ilangove^;' Prefixed with tiru-, -adiga^. is carried by Sejti as a part of his(name.

I'hree among the Brahmins are foimd to be mentioned as adigal. Of these two are informative* Kandadai ponnaiya - kramavitta somayajiyar ambalattadigal and Pudi tiruvorriyuradigal, of Ka^ya^pa gotra, Ambalattadigal is an attribute of Siva and TiruvoiTijruradigaiJ. is the ' name of the god of Tiruvorriyur.

This ambalattadigal seems to be an officer, a kramavittan

( < Skt, Kramavid ) of Uttirameruiu:. Pu^i oould be found as a very common name for men of the Sangam days onwards and will be treated in detail later.

An estimatioj) of adigaij. is necessary now, A^iga^ i^found to be applied as a name proper, as an honofific suffix and as the name of some god whioh is in turn borne by persons.

Geographically, a^iga^., was distributed all over the Tamilnad, and chronologically, from the days of Silappadikaram to the end of the Cola rule up to which our material runs. The application of adigal was not restrictedlto a ny class or caste and seems that it oould be borne by all including Brahmins.

In modem times adigal is almost dead as a pa^rt of the name and the discontinuance seems to have started with thejoeaen 166

coming of the Nayak rule in South India. k 65.3 Agora Agora (< 3kt. Aghora, not fierce) is always fo-undtto be an adjective and all agora- ocoiin-ences are invariably Agorasivans.

Pour temple stiff andjone Brahmin bear this name. It is oertained

that this name Agora sivan was coined as a title or aa an

honorary name for the singers of hjinns at Rajarajesvaram and this could be very easily derternined by the alternative names 15 of these fcur persons with aliases. Consider tug the total absence of this name before -c^ajaraja I, Agora sivan should be taken as the official designation of the singers of hyims, just as Purva sivans, Hetra sivans and Dharma sivans for hymn singers and Nakkan for Uancing girls,

The coinage of this new name Agora sivan did have its effedt in due course. It has been accepted as proper name for men, as suggested by the name of a Brahmin, Agorasivan, a priest of Tiruvalanjtili, not far from Tanjav^b:, living as contemporary of Hajaraja I I .

Although many other -sivans are mentioned in inscriptions,

Agora sivan could not have a long life . The last we hear of it is as the name of this priest. This appears to be the case too with other siTOns just mentioned in this section, and these names are good examples|of short life of the names created suddenly and led into the society more by official use than by the spontaneous evolving from the people. Compared with these officially coined names, it is surprising to witness the steadfastness of the names like Jr»udan, Sattan and Sendani n 65.4 Aiyan The significance of this Aiyan, a non-Aryan god, has 167 been already explained when analysing the names of gods.

Pour Aiyans are found, three of them donors, including two of Brahmins and one from among the officers. It is significant that this old name and that too of an old god is not found among the temple s t a f f .‘

Kakkalur paradayan nakkan aiyan and Attiraiyan nakkan aiyan are the names of the two Brahmins, donors, of Bharadvaja and Aitreya gotras respectively. It i^interesting to note Aiyan that the name^is found to be applied among Brahmins.

Perhaps this could be explained by the fact that these two gotras are among thd^oldest that started existing in Tamilnad.

Aiyan peruman is the other example from donors. The peruman might be an attribute of Aiyan himself or ^iva, possibly the second, when compared with two other names with -nakkan and aiyan-. Though not widely current, -nakkan was in use as a name among the men of Sangam days.^^ The combination of nakkan and aiyan seems to have been made well before Rajaraja I and arouses a suspicion that these two names, signifying two different gods are coined in such a way as to give an impression of denoting one and the same god. In other words,

-nakkan aiyan- portrays the process or the effect of identifying

Aiyan the ancestral god with Siva, or Siva with Aiyan^ji in th^process of Aryanization in the field of religion,

Thejsolitary aiyan from the officers is Ka4,uttalai nagamaiyan, a treasury officer of Uttama. His father’s name, Singamaiyan, also bears -aiyan. But for the availability of his father's name, we would be tempted to conclude that the -aiyan could have been suffixed out of respect for his high official position. 168

The carriage of aiyan by the son and the father suggests

thaljit was a family name. It is (difficult to say whether

in this case -aiyan is the proto-type of modern -aiyar,

for want of information about the gotra of Uagamaiyan.

-aiyan still continues to be usedjas a part of modern

names in I’amilnad, and is not restricted to any part of

this area, as it was in the case of the inscriptional tj

times,

X 65'. 5 Alagu

S*- Two of the temple staff, one from the donord|pnd two from among the officers bear alaga-, Alagu- is not found

to occur as a name among the people of the Sangam days, noV is loiown to have been recorded in thd^llava inscriptions.

Alagiya solabrammamarayar and Alahiya sola kadigai maiayan are the two temple staff with alagiya- . Alagiya sola

sambuvaraiyan alias Sola piilai from among the donors and

Alagiya pallavan edirili sola sambuvaraiyan of the Sengeni family and A^agarayan (Alagarayan?) from among the officers are the other examples for tha bearing of alagu-.

It can be seen that with th^exception of one, all the

other namesjinvariatjly bear -sol- after alagiya-. 'sola*

suggests that sdagiya sola- could be the Tamil rendering

of the name of the Cola king sundara sola. Probably this

name was given only to the high ranking and the arostocrates,

as suggested by the titles *marayar' and ’rayan'. Thoiigh

only three examples are available with aiagiya sola-, it

could be surmised that this name was chronologically running

over the whole of the Oola rule. However, It seems to have been 169 restricted only to Cola na^u proper. Althoiigh alagijra-

or -alagiya is not -unooiiuaon now in Tamilnad, it is doubtful whether -sola was oontinuedto be borne after the end of the Oola d3masty. The absence of any family or title names for A4.agaiyarayan

indicates that Alagiya- or-a:ayan or both of them together

should not be taken to be representative of nobility, but an imitation of the type of the names above discussed. X 65.6 Ambalam Ambalam is Cosmos and in religious literature it has been considered as a place where Siva is supposed to be dancing eternally. Sometimes, the Uosmos was called the

•Perambalam' the g*eat Ambalam, which is to be distinguished from Siixambalam the small Cosmos, another name for the famous Chidambaram temple wherein the Nataraja or the dancing ✓ T_7 Siva is enshrined. ' A total of 13 names are available with -ambalam-. Ambalavan pattarkal alias V^asivan, Araiyan ambala kuttan alias Omkara sivan, Araiyan ambala nadan alias Sembiyan vadya marayan, Pattalagan ambalattadi alias Manotma sivan,

Ra;jadittan ambalattadi alias Siklia sivan and Sattan ambalam are some examples. Ambalam is found to be borne either as such or with other names, like, Ambala van, one of arabalam;

Ambalattadi, the dancer in ambalam; and Ambalana^an, the native of the cojmtry of ambalam.

All these six persons are members of the orchestra of the Rajarajesvaram and except Sattan ambalam, the rest of them are singers of hymns, and possess alternate names. The 170 names Omkara, V ^ a , Manotma and Sikha sivans, as will "be

f seen later, were those given to these persons after they

started to serve in the temple as singers. »Ambalam>, then,

should be taken to have been very well current even before

the building of Rajarajesvaram, example from the The solitary^list of Brahmins is Kandadai ponnaiya kramavitta

somayasiyar ambalattadigal, suggests the rarity of this name

among the Brahmins throughout the Oolalirule. In this case,

-adiga^ might be a title of respeot, or might also be the

paii; of the name. Being a kramavittan, an officers’ designation,

and a somayajiyar, the designation of the conductor of Soma yaga,

the earliar possibilijsy stands more admittable. This name, found in an inscription of Parttivendra, gives a recorded proof of the prevalence of this name in the pre-Rajaiaja I period.

Pove ambalam-names are found to come from the donors,

exx. Arumbakilan ai^iyan ponnambala kuttan alias Top.daimanar and Ammatti sirrambalavan and Ambalattadi tirunavukkaraiyan.

The donors* names suggest that ’ambalam* could be borne by any person of any rank and any profession, and not necessarily those connected with the temple service. The first and the third examples Cited here tell that high and the ordinary ranks could bear ’anbalam This is supported by the name

of a senior officer of the tax department, Perijm^ anbalatfadi alias Udaya martanda muvendave^an, the only one with ’ambalam' from the official level.

Our data shows that ‘ambalam* was common throughout the

Cola rule. Probably this name is to be found mire frequent

in Cola nadu, considering the importance of the Tillai temple,

than in other Tamil areas. 171 References to the 'Dance in Cosmos' is not tmoommon

in Sangam literature. The dancer is the proto-type o f the

canonical Siva, ^ The word »am.balam' has not been used in

th^classics, but seems to have gained currency during the

Pallava period, to conclude by the prevalence of 'ambalam* well prior to Rajaraja 1.^9 The conception of the ’Dance', perhaps a reDinant memory of some accounts of the dance of victory at important battles in very remote times^*^ was carried over to the younger generation at the usual rate till the religious revival revised and enlarged the importance and accounts of the dance, which finally culminated in the concrete shape of the famous Hataraja icon of the Colas.

The Importance of the Adavallan of Rajarajeavaram, so strikingly prtoinent in the inscriptions of the temple, combined with the coinage and currency of the ambalam-names is a clear portarayal of the motive forces of the increasing the importance of Siva, And this importance is to be carried on up to the end of the Cola rule. The prominence of Siva

is represented mostly in icons in Ra;jarajesvaram, but by the time of Kulottungas, the Tillai temple was considered to be the ’ambalam' itself. Ponnambalom, the golden ambalam and Ci^ambalam, the small ( i .e . earthly as opposed to celestial or cosmic ) ambalam are names which present the importance in whi«h the conception of Cosmic Dance was

held by the Cola rule.

X 65.7 Angadi

This is a very deceptive name. Angadi in Tamil means a

bazaar or a market place. The unusuality of this name makes 172 it to be straoturally analysed and iramedlately the result is clear. Angadi < anga + adi, the dancer in the arena, which could be attributed to none other than Siva. The proto-type of this naine could be seen in the Kalittokai words *pa^du arangam adungal».^

One from the teiaple staff, Paradayan naMcan angadi and one from the officers, Accan angadi are th^onl^y names with

-angadi. This name is not found in the inscriptions of Rajaraja I, but is recorded in the sixth year of Rajendra I, his son and successor, suggesting that this name was taken for use by the end of Rajaraja’s rule, during when it seems to have been a set fashion to be named after the various aspects of Siva.

The first is a Brahmin of Bharadvtja gotra. Both he and the officer carry nakkan- and accan-, names for Siva, -angadi however, is not found tcjb^^arried after Rajendi-a I, probably because, it n ^ t the same as am'balattadi, the elder and established foim, with which it lest in competition of being selected by the people,

X 6|3»8 Arangan

Two names and that too on3.y from the temple staff are available. Arangan is the name of the modem Srirangam or the Tiruvarangam, laiown for its temple of Yishy-nu from the A PO time of 3llappadjkaraiii itself.

Arangan anaildcavan and Aro.ngan Tiruno^a.^i, priests from

Allur, carry this vaishnavite names. The proximity of Alli^ from Arangan, about three or four miles away coi.Tld indicate their affinity to the temple of Vish:f!in’jjor nativity from that

/irangam island. Another possibility is that these names neeil not 173 be considered as Valshnavite, but ;Just as place names, taking into consideration that -anaikkavan is a saivite name, and that the temple in which these priests were serving is a«

\ Siva templei iDhis name arangan, not veiy prominent during the Cola days had gained a wide currency after the Nay^s who were staunch vaishpavites. ^ 65.9 Arasan Perhaps < Skt. Raja, arasan- is borne by five, all of them donors. The earliest occurrence of this name from our data is from the inscription of Rajadhira;)a I and arasan appears to be more in vogue during the Kulottungas than during the post-Rajaraja I period. It improbable that this might be none other than arayan > arasan, as in Tamil -y- > -s-.

Arasan seems to have been borne by any person any rank, exx. Arasan, a merchant of the setti caste. Arasamraya^n alias elisai mohan alias Jananada kacciyarayan, an officer or a person of some importance, living in Tiruvadi, the same as Tiruvaiyaru.

X 6 5 .1 0 Aravabarapan Gfwo names, both of them Brahmins are available from the post-Rajara;)a I and pre-Kulottunga I period. Aravabara^ battan of Tirukka^ar and Aravabarapan of Kau6ika gotra, also from Tirukkalar.s»d Arav^baranan o# name is none other than the god Aravab^rana (arava abara^an, snake wearer, an attribute of Siva) of Tirukkalar.

< 6 5 . 1 1 Arayan, Aralyan and like form s -araiyan,-araiyan- and araiyem- number more than 80. Perhaps Araiyan or Arayan < iraja. This term in all cases did not 174 signify ’king’ , whloh seems to have been the original sense of the word. The earliest insoriptional reference is to be found in an inscription of Ga:ndaraditta.

Araiyan, without any significance of importance is found to be the name for 14 persons, exx. Araiyan, Araiyan *illai nayakan and Araiyan kanrappan. 13 of the temple staff have araiyan- as a part of their name. A olose examination tends to reveal that the araiyan- part of the name seems to have been posterior to the other parts of the names of each person. Some of the names, for example, -ntnranarayanan, -picoan, -manali lingan and

-sundarasolan could s.tand as independent names and are complete

by themselves. Taken into consideration with -marayan, which will be ansiysed later, araiyan seems to be th^title or recognition of efff^ncy of the particular profession in which the name-bearers are engaged, -vadyamarayan, ’king of instruments, orone wh4 is in charge of instrument players* and -vlpai adittan, ’ the s;m of vinai i .e . one who is p2X)fioient in vinai* are two types of names indicative of the skill and profession of the persons concerned. In this light, araiyan- is better unde4*stood to have been given to those persons who have got an expert knowledge. Araiyan- can then be considered a step below marayan. All the araiyans who are temple staff could be understood to be persons chosen for their knowledge of their work. With only one or two exceptions, all araiyaBS are singers of hymns in Ra;jai«jesvarara and without exceptions all of them are members of the Rajara^esvaram staff. 13 of the officers bear araiyan-. It is difficult to determine 175 any common feature or any common basis on which all these officers are named araiyan-. The alternative names like

Mahipala kulakala peraraiyan, Kulottunga sola karalai^jan and virarajendra Jayamuri n a d ^ ^n of Araiyan nagaraiyan,

Araiyan madur^dakan and Araiyan rajarajan respectively, suggest that these alternative names appear to have been given after the titles of kings and consequently, it is to be surmised that their names were those borne by them before they became officials.

65.11.1 Malavaraiyan

Six M^avaraiyars, all of them officers are mentioned in inscriptions ranging from Rajaraja I to Kulottunga III,

The Fialavaraiyars were natives of Palaiyaru, the abode of the Colas, before they rose into prominence, Palaiyaru contained the subiarb Malaba^i, The -padi, 'cantonment’ indicates that the Maravars were of the wings of the Cola army. Except one, Malavaraiyan simdarasolan, none of the

Malavaraiyars carry any second name. Since when the Malavars began to be known as M^avaraiyars is difficult to determine, except that the suffixing of -rayar or araiyar seems to have been established by the end of the reign of the first Rajaraja.

65.11.2 Muttaraiyan

All the four Muttaraiyans are donors. These Muttaraiyans seem to be the descendants of the Muttaraiya chiefs ruling

Tanjav^ before Vijayalaya seized it and made it his capital.

Two are ^ust mentioned as Muttaraiyans, one from Tirupparaitturai and the other from Tiruppasi^. The other two, Painnaka muttaraiyan

^appirandan araisa nawiyanan alias Kulottunga sola kacciyarayan 176

and Painnaka muttaraiyan alappirandan efsai mohan alias

Kulottunga sola kadavarayan living at Kudalur. Bo-th of them,

probably brothers, as both hail from the sane place and

live at the same time, are no doubt representatives of the

same Tanjavi^ Muttaraiyar family, which continues to flourish

even up to the tiiae of ICulottunga II, not as independent chiefs,

but as vassals or officers of the latter. Kulottunga sola- bome by these two are certain indications of their officialdom. 65. 11.3 Pallavaraiyan 7 -pallavaraiyans come from th^colleotion of the officers.

Their officialdom and the title ‘araiyan* ccorabine to itfhow them as persons of royal or very high position. This is shown by the post they hold in the Oola administrative system, exx.

Abhimana meru pallavaraiyan, officer of the king (tirumandiravolai),

Kulottunga sola pallavaraiyan, treasury officer. 2fee ■pallavaraiyan seems to be a title that has come to stay from the days of

Rajendra I onwards. There is nothing in this list of pallavaraiyans to 5hovJ that they had any relation with the Pallava dynasty.

Why did the Colas use -pallava- as a title for their officers is not clear.

Three donors are called -pallavaraiyars. exx. Tillai ambala pallavaraiyan and Tiruocirrambala pallavaraiyan. The name of the Tillai temple and -pallavaraiyan, when taken together imply that -pallavaraiyan was borne not as a title, but as a name.

There are other -araiyans and none of them seems to be important except the-va^avadaraiyans. X 65.11.4 Talavadaraiyan 177 Six, three from donors and three from officers are called -valavadaraij'-ars. Ra^jakaratlra valavadaraiyan alias

I’iraiyan madurandakan, Rajanara.yana valavadaraij'-an and Rajaraja valavadaraiyan come under the post-Rajaraja I class, Rajaraja valavadaraiyan alias Tiraiyan madeva^igaij. kaiko^dan, Tiraiyan va:j.8vadaraiyan sivakadi kanga devan and Uttama sola valavadaraj^an alias Uyyavandan are those who figiire in the inscriptions as donors.

The earliest valavadaraiyan is mentioned in the inscriptions of Rajara;ja II, almost falling near the post-Kialottunga I period. The sudden emergence of this class of names oasts serious doubts about the antiq[uity of the name when compared with the families like Muttaraiyars and Malavaraiyars.

Ya^avadaraiyan is nothing but va!J.ava ai^iyan with -d- as intervocalic. All the valavadaraiyan names carry invariably the titles of the kings, an indication tliat these names could not be earlier than thep.ife time of the kings whose titles they bear. The alternative names of some of them,

Tirail^ian madurandakan, Tiraiyan madeva^igal kaikko^idan and Uyyavandin could be their real names. If this is so, then the absence of alternate naraes for other valavadaraiyars has to be explained, that either their alternate names were not recorded or they have ceased to be known by their real names. Though Tiraiyan- suggests some affinity with To^daima^dalam, these two Tiraiyans come from ^Seyjrur, well within the Cola nadu proper. Tentatively it can be concluded that the va^avadaraiyans were of the newly created nobility and apparently powerfxil. 178

65.11*5 Estimation

An examination of all the araiyans f\imish the following information: that araiyan was used as a proper name, as a title of profioienoy and as a part of newly created titles suoh as Pallavaraiyan or Valavadaraiyan, and as the name for some important and ancient families like that of ]^luttaraiyars and Malavaraiyars. Clhronologically, araiyan seems to have started to be ciirrent from the time of the iPallavas, to judge by the name of Tironavuldcaralyar, contemporary of

Mahendravarman, and is very well established by the end of the Cola rule.

X 65.12 Ardhanari

Aiyaran pennorbagan alias Hridaya sivan is named after an attribute of Siva. Pepnorbagan, ’one who is partly woman* is the Tamil form of this term. Probably a native of Tiruvaiyaru, this pe^qjiorbagan is on the staff of the singers of hymns at

Rajarajesvaram.

H 65.13 Aooan < S’£t. Aksha, an attribute of Siva, due to his third eye, this word isjfound lamilized as Accan In the inscriptions and

04. as Attan in religious literature.

7 names of Accan atid one from the temple staff and one from the Brahmins are available, Accan is found to occur in the inscriptions of Ra;Jaraja I only and neither earlier noi? afterwards, This creates a strong impression that Accan- was a coinage for the members of the Rajarajesvaram. The parts of the names following accan- which are complete injthemselves and the carriage of alternate officCni names make this clea^. exx, Accan kirttl bi^hapan alias Arinjikal k^rapperaraiyan 179 and Accan tirunavxikkaraiyan alias Hetra sivan. Wowcvev ^ * A Ai^iiotigh this aooan- did not s-urvive even Rajaraja I,

mostly due to the faot that it was one among the many^liltot

were created abru]>tly and artifioally whioh all had more or

less the same history.

i 65.14 Adavallan

A Tamil attribute of Siva, 'one who is an Expert in dancing’

is mentioned thrice among the temple staff and tw

the donors, exx. Aooan adavallan, a velaikkaran of Rajarajesvaram.

Adavallan alias Purvasivan alias Pattarga^iayakka piooan of

Tirukka;j.ar temple. This name is found to range between Ra^araja I

and Kulottunga I. It appears that Adavallan was already in

vogue even before Rajaraja I and very conmon among the people,

particularly among those who were connected with the temple

affairs. j; 65.15 Aludaiyan A solitary occurrence, this is found to be the name of

the priest of the Tirukkalukkunram temple, mentioned in an

inscription of Sundara pan^ya. This name, periiaps an attribute

of Siva comes from outside the Oola na^u proper. The fall of

this name outside the normal range is explained by the faot

that this is a post-Kulottunga I name and theinterests of the

} Kulottungas were more is*»rea*ed in the northern half of

Tamilnad and not in old Tanjavur or Palaiyaru. 65.16 Alvan Often in the inscriptions it is mis-spelt as alvan. Alvan,

'one who is deep' i .e . omniscient, is an attribute of either

Siva or Vish^iu. Altogether four names, two from Brahmins, one

from the temple staff and one from the donors are mentioned. 180

TiruvailclaLLattu ^ v a n , bearing the name of the same god, « is a vishpavite Brahmin of a temple committee in the days of

Rajaraja II. A l^n munima hade van, a sivabrahma^n, and

Slyaru deva nammi alvan of Seyyib- also a sivabrahmapan, bear this name. A donor from Tirumalapa^i is called just

Alvan.

Mvan appears to be post-Rajaraja I and could be seen tcjhave been bom f by the worshippers of both Siva and Vishnu in the Nayak period. The term *nayanmar and alvar» could be determined in this light as post-Kulottunga I, as, firstly, the term distinguishes between the saivate and the vaishpavite saints; and secondly, tells that 'nayanmar' is not pre-Kulottunga I.

A 65.17 ^dan

None other than the temple staff possess this name. It seems that it would be errortieous to take A^dan as su«h, though the word means*the ruler* and would apply to any god. All the bearers of this name, are carrying Siva’s names such as

Nakkan, Tiliai nayagan etc. In thisjlight, Andan should be best interpreted as < andan, ‘one of Cosmos*. A^^an is a common term for Siva in the Tevaram.

H 65.18 Andai

This is a very ancient name and is^ound to be referred to only once in the inscription, adan + tandai > a n d a i .

The earliest reference to thiajname could be found in the list of the names of the poets of the Sangam texts, 27

^ d a iy a r velan venkadan alias Rajendra vaii^gara solar, who figures in the inscriptions as a donor and probably of the army, as suggested by -vairagara-, a battlefield, is 181

the only one still carryins a dying name. The rarity of suoh

Sangam names could "be explained in two waysi either, due

to the change in the naming pattern caused tiy Aryanisation

and Sanskritization of the land, or, due to the names of

considerable portions of people being not recorded in the

inscriptions having no need to do so, Andai- is found in the

inscriptions of vlrarajendra and suggests that Andai couldhave

had cu3rrency during Rajaraja I or even much earlier.

g 65.19 Avudaiyan A solitary mention. A Brahmin priest, Avudaiyan tiruccirram'balam-

udaiyan of Kausika gotra is the bearer of this name, signifying

Siva as the ’possessor of the b u ll', his vahana. The only

mention of avudaiyan and that too almost at the end of the

Oola rule may be spoken of as post-Kulottunga I. This avudai-

is very common as a name in Tiirunelveli proper and the neighbourhood.

g 65.20 Battan

-battan or -bhattan denotes the priesthood of the person

bearing this name. Most of the Brahmins are bhattars, though

sometimes bhatta- is mentioned as a part of the name and

sometimes not. exx. Aru^ala bhattan. Andan mamuni alias

Tillai nayaga bhattan.

t 65.21 Batt^agan Perhaps an attribute of Siva, this name is found to be

chronologically restricted and ranges between Uttama and

Rajara;ja I only. Pour temple staff and two officers bear

this name. The two officers' names, Paranjodi pattalakan

and Uttiramandiri pattalakan are mentioned in the inscriptions 182 of Uttama. All the other names fall under the period of

Rajaraja I and are borne by the temple staff of Rajaiajesvaram.

The origin and the reawon for the shorijduration of this name ia-not clear.

H 65.22 Bhaylra

< Bahirava, Bhayira is mentioned only once in the data.

This name i^found to be reoo rded in an inscription at

Tiruvarajiamalai, perhaps that of Rajara;ja I. Tennavan bhayira maharajan, the owner of this name seems to be some person of local prominence, Bhayira- does not occur within the

Oola nadu proper and perhaps was current in Tondaima^^alam.

H 65*23 Brahmadhirajar and^tts otaer forms

Two^temple staff are called by this name, exx. Madurandaka bramamarayan andjponmendu sola brahmamarayan alias Ma^ilan tiruocirrambalamudaiyan. One donor, Ballavan Brahmadarayan is mentioned in an inscription of Parttivendra. This is perhaps the earliest reference to this name. Two Jayankond^r sola bramadii«Jars are mentioned as commanders of the anay of

Rajendra I and virarajendra I. Besides these two, five more officers are mentioned.

The implication of Brahmadirayars or its other variations seem to be that this was a title of only very high ranking, and probably designations as in the case of the array officers.

The existence of one alternative name for one of Bramadirayars,

Rajaraja brahmadi3ra;)an alias Uttama solan suggests that this title name i^not the name proper and was given to the persons on assuming office. This nan e isjnot restricted to any one family or any strata of society, -brahmadirayans seem to have 183 been discontinued after Rajendra I, also suggesting that the creations, applications and the foiros of these titles varied after Kulottunga I. These Brahmadirayars may also be classified under the -araiyar group.

H 65*24 Sudan or Putan

Though appearing like a name of Sanskrit origin, this is a very old Tamil name and one of the commiest names of Sangam A A ^ CD ^ A A times, Budan < Putanf Pudan kap^an, Pudanar are examples from the list of the names of Sangam poets. The meaning of this name seems to be 'flower wearerMadilan vasudevan budan, the bearer of this ancient name belongs to Cola na^u proper.

65.25 Qakrabagii Meaning ‘wheel bearer*, Gakrabani is a name for Vishnu.

Cakraba^i kesavan, ajdonor, about whom nothing is known except his place, is mentioned in an inscription of Konerinmai- kondan. This name mentioned only once, in Cola inscriptions has become very common now, probably due to the influence of the Nayaks who were devout vaish^avites.

H 65.26 Gandra This is bome^f by all sections of the people and total I 5.

Oandiran tanadongan, s|contemporary of Rajendra I, is the only temple staff, a priest, bearing this name. Other examples aret T ^ i sandirasekaran, an officer of Uttama; Sandiran kon of the time of Sundara J?an^yaj Ila sandran dpvan kalimarij and^andran arunurruvan of Parttivendra’ s days.

This name, an attribute of Siva, due to his wearing the moon on his head, is steady and common among all sections fS 184 of the people almost throughout the whole existence of the • Cola empire, which fact coiild be imdFfistood by the earliest mention in an inscription of Aditya II and the last in that of Sundara Pa^idya. Besides the long chronological span, geographically also, candra- appears to have been widely distributed all over the Tamil speaking area under the Colas including Ceylon, ^ a sandran- Sited above shows his nativity from ta m , Ceyjlflon. The Tevaram hymns also furnish many names of candra-59 This vname is so steady that, this could be found to be the name of men and women even in the present days.

The earliest inscriptional reference to this name appears to be that of a not very prominent Pallava king.^^

K. 65.27 Oa][i^esvara

Two among the temple staff and one among the Brahmins are named Ca^desvaras. Though, as a name of god, Gandesvara is found current during Rajaraja I, as name for men, it does not seem to be favoured until Kulottunga I and that also by a restricted few, Candesvara bha];Jan alias Tiruccirrambalam- udaiyan, Ga^desvaran, Candesvara deva are the three, all of them priests.

It islinteresting to note that, in spite of the installation of several icons of Candesvara, at Rajarajesvaram, this name has not gained as much currency as one would expect from the importance given to these icons by Rajaraja I, Though no apparent reason could be attributed to this feature, from this case alone, on comparis;Lon with other names in Sankrit created by Ra^araja I, it co\ild be immediately observed that

•Candesvara' falls into that category of names that die with the death of Rajara;Ja I.This feature will be taken for 185

disoussion later in the conclusion.

X 65.28 Oalukya names

Sa:j.-ukki narayapan manumasittarasan, Sasikula sa^ukki taninimni venra vira singa d^evan a lias Yadavarayan and

Sasikula sajukki tirukka^atti devan alias Vadakarai na;j;^vc:j.an are names of clear Ca!J.ukya origin or influenoy, most probably

the former. All these names are post-Kulottunga I and testify to the inevitable resuits of interaction between the Ga^ukyas and the Oolas, It is also possible that these names might

have started becoming current after the r'ule of the Ca^ukya-

Oolas. The name salukki- seems to have ceased to exist after the end of the Gola rule.

H 65.29 Celestial gift and qLuallties as names

Karpakam the celestial tree, is borne as a. name by

Araiyan janivara ka^akam, a donoj?. aandharvadaaan and

Gandarvar turai k a v ^ i , two musicians of Rajarajesvaram are named after the celestial musicians, the gandharvas, these It is also possible that^two might have gained this name due to their profession. Aravamudu srir^an of Harita gotra, an officer of the stores of temples is another named after aiBvamudu, the heavenly nectar, -amudu is found to be an

attribute of Siva, as could be seen in the Tevaram hymns.

Aravamudu, < ara + amudu, unsatiable nectcoc-, is also found f as a name among the women of Ra;jarajesvaram. The habit of naming persons, men and women, with this type of names, appears to have been steady throughout the Oola rule, though

the frequency of this name is ^much less when compared with

others, ‘Karpakart' could be found even now as a narae for women.

These names, to judge by a few occurrences in the inscriptAr.s 186 vas applied to any person irrespective of sex. i 65.30 Ooloiir Singan nllan is the only name after colour. Nil-,blue, might be taken to represent a blue mountain, keeping in view the other names’ after mountains. Unfortunately, this unique name could not be supplemented by further information to help our analysis. , it 65.31 Complex names One name of a temple staff, consists of most unconnectid

parts of names. Muni mohan siralan aijryan consists of two very common names, sira!J.an and aiyyan, one uncommon name muni-, and one very rare name mohan. On comparisjlon with

^ i s a i mohan, 'lover of music'. Muni mohan might be interpreted as 'devotee of muni', muni probably representing some saint or god. Mohan is a post-Kulottunga I name. Perhaps this name / might be taken to be an example of a new fashion or an attempt at it. t it 65.32 Dakshinam^ti Dakshini^ibrti is the name of Siva, the earliest mention of which we find in the inscriptions of Ra^arajesvaram.

Only one, a Brahmin, Bakshi^murti bha^tan bears this name.

It should be noted that there is a vast gap, in space and time between the first mention of this name as that of an icon of Rajarajesvaram from Tanjavur and the second and last mention as a name of a person belonging to Tirukkalukkun^m.

It would not be wrtfing to surmise that the reappearence of

Dakshi^^urti is indicative of the continuity of the name thougft inscriptions fail to record this name. Dakshipamurti is not an uncommon name for men even now. 187 H 63.33 Itoodlran

7 Brahmins, 4 officers and two others, a donor and a temple staff are named Itoodirans. Ihough not a Tamil name, this seems to have been not infrequent among the Sangam poets.

Pallava records also show that the name was on the increase.

'Damodiran or Damodaran’ continues to prevail even now.

Tamodiran setji of Rajarajesvaram is the only staff of the temple with that name, -setti suggests his caste. Damodara kramavittan is the only donor mentioned. Among the officers there is only one Bamodaran, Kadalangudi damodira bha-ftar of

Valan;)iiili. The largest number of D^odirans are to be found in the list of the Brahmins of our data. Most probably all the i)^odarr.ns of the Sangam anthologies and invariably all those appearing in the Pallava inscriptions are Brahmins.

In spite of the long chronological range of this name, its significance is not satisfactorily clear. Daiaodiran is an attribute of Krishna, and occasionally to Vishnu. Out of the occurrences of this name in the Cola inscriptions, Im- there is only one which could be said to^representative of this feature, Palasiriyan d^odiran baskara bhattan. -baskara and d^odira- combined denote Vish^^iu. D ^odira nakkan of

Kasya^pa gotra is^he only example which bear this narae of

Siva. 'This combination might mean two things: either, by the beginning of inscriptional times, the currency of 'damodira' ceased to denote only Vishpjiu if such has been the case during the Sangam and the Pallava times, or, 'dibaodara nakkan' is an example of that type of names attempting to blend th e ' conceptions of Vishnu and Siva. This could be cleared only 138

by deep analysis of the Sangam naiaes and those from the

Pallava inscriptions on a comparative basis.

^ 65.34 Dharma slvan

Dharmasivan i ^ h e name of 18 singers of hymns employed

at Rajarajesvaram, All the Dharmasivans and other sivans of

Rajarajesvaram, which will be discussed later, are newly

created nanies after the erection of the Rajarajesvaram.

All the Dharmasivans bear alternative names with aliases each. An estimation and examinatioB of those names show that most

of them come from the neighbourhood of Tanjavi^, as well as

that almost all of them are attributes of Siva. Araiyan picoan,

Kailayan, Sivakkolundu siralan, Subramapyan accan are none

but the names of Siva. Everyjone being called •Dharmasivan’ ,

the retaining of these original names had become necessary

for distinguishing one from the other. Just as all the women attached to this temple were called nakkans, all the

singers of hymns were called • -sivans'. Dharma-,ITetra-,

Itridaya-, Agora- and such namei^ere prefixed to -sivans

in order to distinguish different ranks, proficiency,

seniority singers of different types of hymns and singers of

different modes of singing, Keeping in view the large and well

equipped orchestic maintained ar Rajarajesvaram. 0?he fact

that n e i^ e r of the donors, officers and Brahmins bear this

-Siva type names indicates two things: either the people

refraine^rom being identified with hymn singers or this

-sivan type of names were officially restrictedjto these singers.

Otherwise, no other possibility suggests itself for the

discardffl^t of this name after Rajaraja I, particularly when

several attributes of Siva were popular. 189 ig 65.35 .Oevan Three among the temple staff are called »Devan'. Except

Devan Sengulavan, the other two, Arur devan ^and Bevan kavali

alias Vira sola penmdayyan, a tailor, aro to be found as

staff of Ra;)araje3varam. 3engaJ.avan belongs to Jayabhinanta:i.i.

Six among the officers have this -devan. exx.Aiyibran devar

kandan, a kilmiilcavetti,^^ jjevan alias kuttan alias sivapada-

sekaran muvendavelan, a secretary for the king and Bevakvuaara

kramavittan, an officer of his Dpvan is found to be more widely prevalent among the ordinary ranks than among the other CXn-V classes. The list of donors contains sixteen. Oasi collection

shows that chronologically this nane had aYery wide coverage.

Five Brahmins bear ’devan'.

All the devan names can be put under three groups: kings,

gods and names proper, exx. Kuttadum devan, the dancing god, which is the name for Siva. Tiravaranga de-'an, the god of

Srirangam, i .e . Vishnu. Of gods* names only two belong to Vish:5iu; Mahadevan and the one mentione<^a'tt) ve. The rest are

Siva's names. Ka^daraditta devan, M itta devan, Wunaiyan

arumolidevan are named after Gra:adaraditta, Aditta and Ra;jaraja I

respectively. About a dozen persons are c ^ le d just Devan.

The earliest mentions of Devans are to be found in the

nsmes of the poets of the Sangam anthologies, ilattu pudan

devan?^ Pudan devan^*^ are examples of the currency of Devan

in the pre-Pallava era, not only in the Tamil land proper,

but also in Ceylon. This naae is prevalent even now.

^ 65.36 Eccil Eccil alias Kumudavallava kon is the only name of a terapi-e 190 this kind. The nearest similar name is, Eooima^^dai, a name borne "by a temple woman of Rajarajesvaram, Eccumapdai indicates skull which isassooiated with Siva. It sems that it might not be proper to connect eccil, with saliva which is the direct sense it conveys, or with skull. The -il termination in Eccil is dei^initely connotative of some place, as the

-il in vByil, kpil etc. The nearest morphological possibility is eeyyil < eyil, a fort. Ec c H shoiald then be taken as a place name of unique foiro and occurrence. Besides, if this interpretation is correct, this is the only case of a person being named after a fortress or any such strucinire, X 65.37 Eduttapadam 'The lifted foot* of dancing Siva, E^utta padam seems to be acoramon name for men and women. Four among the temple staff and one officer bear this naiae. M^ikkam eduttapadam alias sola muvenda velan is the officer. That Eduttapadam is 8iis real name is clear by his carriage of sola muvendavelan, a title given to Mm as he is some sort of sjsenior superviser.

Ainnun*uvan edutta padam alias Dharma sivan, Aravabara^an edutta padam of Tirukkalar temp^-e, Eduttapadam Inburrirundan alias Porkoil nambi and Eduttapada piccan alias Rudra sivan of Ka^yappa gotra are"^t he temple staff named after eduttapadam.

Since the earliest occurrence of eduttapadams are found in the Rajara;Jesvaram inscriptions, it could be surmised that the name had ;just become favourite among men and women, -a little before the rule of Rajarada I. This name is carried on till the end of the Oola rgle. ^It is intei^esting to note that eduttapadam is one of the names of a Brahmin, an indication 191 that this name was open to every caste. g 65»38 Elephant

Being named after elephant, ooiamon for women, rather seems to be strange for men. Parandakan Kimjaramallan alias

Virasola ilangovel of royal rank and an officer is the only such name. Ilangove^. is obviously the family name of Virasola which is his own name. Parandakan kunjaramallan is perhaps a name probably due to some connection with the elephantry or his knowledge of fighting with elephants in battles or due to some elephant lore.

X 65.39 Eruman This implies Siva, though the origin of this name is not clear. Sometimes it is found to be the part of some other name. Paranderuman is already seen as the name for women of Rajarajesvaram. i'oin- erumans, all of them donors. Acceruman vairamegan is aoca + eruman vaira megan. Aoca, as already seen signifies Siva. Paranderuma^n < piran + d + eruman. 'Xhis form is preserved in the name of Pasangan piranderuman of Srlrangam.

Piran, as said earlier is the name for Siva. So is pusangan-, a solitary mention in inscriptional names, but not so in the religious hymns, Pusangan < Pujangan, 'the shouldered* is due to the concciption that diva is four shouldered. Tali eruman

A is the only name without any other name qualif jring eruman.

'■^'he earliest inscriptional mention of this name is to be found in an inscr ption of l>arttivendra. Strangely enough, -eruman seems to have been in disuse after Rajaraja I.

IL 65.40 Etti T>J0 names, one from the temple staff, Etti tirukka!J.atti udaiyan 192

It may be recalled that a^ur is named after etti, a kind of plant, as Etti siruve^ur.

Two names, one from the temple staff, Etti tirukka^itti- udaiyan and Sangarapadiyan koljambakilan madevan etti, an officer^ bear etti. Etti is also foimd as a name for women, as shown by an example from the list of the women of Rajara^esvaram.

Though insoriptional references are only two for men and one for women, it is not unlikely that this name was common. X 65.41 ^ ^ b a r a m Only one case of the famous name of the god Kc^baresvarar of Kanjipuram is the mention of Kali ek^baran, a tax officer.

The solitary mention of such a famous name among men and its total absence among the gods in Cola nadu could only be explained as that the worship of Siva in the form of Ek^baresvarar was not popular in Cola nadu. k 65.42 Ganapati

Six names, all from the list of the teD^le staff are after

Ga^apati. exx. Brali^kuttan kanavadi alias Irumudi sola vadya m^ayan, Iraman kanavadi alias Sfana sivan, Kuttan kanavati alias Kashatriya sikhamani perundattan, Marakkat'^ kap,avati temban* alias Tiruvellarai sakki, Selvan kanavati^alias Dharma sivan and Tan;jai kanavati.

All these kapavadis are employed at Rajarajesvaram in various posts. Ka^vati seems to havejbeen an already established name, keeping in mind that these names probably belong to pre-Rajarajesvaram days. The source of this name of these days

A A * might be located in^around Tanjavur. It seems that Bramakuttan

kanavati was attached to the Birahmakuttam temple in Tanjavm' 195 before his transfer to Kajarajesvaram as shown by the name of the temple being prefixed to his name, Oanapati does^ not seem to be popular after Hajara^a I.

X 63.43 GraradavaHana

An attribute of Vishnu is bome^ by Araiyan Garudavakanan alias Kalingarayar, This name appears in an inscription of

Kulottunga I, This name, garudavahanan is not found mentioned either before or later than Kulottunga I in the Cola inscriptions, though many other attributes of Vishnu are reo orded, X 65.44 ^old No name has come from the stemple staff bearing the name of this metal.Three names are from donors, two from officers and two from Brahmins. exx, Terri ponnan, Ve^laikkon ponnan.

Ponnan kol^ambattadigal and Suvarpan sattan are the two officers. Sattan is bearing suvarnan, svama, gold.

Kandadai ponnaya kramavitta somayajiyar is the earliest inscriptional name to be mentioned. This somayajiyar is spoken of in an inscription of Parttivendra. l^ames after gold is known to have been in existence up to the end of the

Cola rule, as the last mention comes from an inscription of Kulottunga I I I . To be named after gold seems to be common both for men and women. This name is not mentioned in Sangam classics, nor is it mentioned in that of the i^llava epigraphs, to judge by Seshadri’s list.

^ 65.45 Grovinda A name for Vishnu, Govinda- is mentioned as a name of four among the Brahmins only and one among the donors. 194

Th^onor is mentioned just Govindan, native of liruvamattib:. bKflt(r«A * A A The Brahmins, Karanjai govinda Oloooan sattan govindan,

Grovinda narayanan of Bharadvaja gotra, are all priests. The earliest mentioned Govindan is recorded in an Inscription of Rajaraja I I . To ;Jadge by our data, it seems that this name was mostly restricted to Br^mins only, and that too for the Vaishnavite Brahmins. The only exception seems the name Oloccan sattan govindan, of uloccar caste, Besideg

-sattan- is un-Brahminical. It is interecting to note that in the huge establishment of Ha;jarajesvaram, none of the men bear • govinda», showing thereby the complete ascendengry of Saivism. The popularity of, or the increase of Vishp.u names, is found more towards the end of the Cola rule than during the peak or the early stages of the Cola hegemony.

X 65.46 Ilango

The inscriptions furnish the names of 15 ilangos, 7 from dondrs and the rest, officers. i;j.ango < ilaia + ko, ’young king, i .e . prince, is found as a name, rather than as a title particularly among the donors, exx. siri^ango sahasran, lyiuttuvali slr^ango bhattan. This name is clearly the title of three among the donors; Tennavan ilango velar alias

Maravan pudiyar, Vii*asola ilangovel alias orri maduraadakan and vira sola ilango velar. The -ve^, ‘c h ie f or ‘king', determines their aristocracy. So is the case with the ilangov^s who are officers; Rajaraja ilangove^ alias Ra^araja madur^dakan an oflicer of law and order, Sembiyan i^angevel alias

Pudi aditta pidaran, Tennavan ilangpvel and three other virasola- ilangoveilars. All these i^angovel families appear to be related 195 and possib^ly long established, to Judge by the name of kings they bear and the regularity with whioh the name appears,

The Earliest ilangovel of our data is mentioned in Parantaka's

inscriptions and the latest in the records of Kulottunga II.

All the ilangos are found to have been living only within

Oola nadu proper. The earliest known mention of ilango is

that of Ilangovadigal, author of Silappadlkaram , a Jain as suggested bj'- -adigal and by his extollation of the principles

of Jainism in his work. It is doubtful whether this name

-ilango existed elsewhere than in Cola nadu at any time of recorded historyjor even during the period of Silappadikaram

or even earlier, A deeper study of this namdcould question

the Kerala origin of this author, and consequently his relation with Oera king Senguttuvan as his brother, and might connect

him with the family of ilango velars.

i 65.47 Irukkuvel

Fiadurandaka irukkuvel, alias Adittam pudi, who figures

in the inscriptions as an officer as well as a donor, belongs

to some important family called the * lrukkuve!J.s', about which nothing more is known than the mere name.

X 65,48 Isana

In Sanslcrit, this teiro i^ s e d for denoting north-east

and since Siva is supposed to be the god of this direction,

he is also called Isana. Pour persons are named after this

aspect of Siva, w ^ from the temple staff and two among the

Brahmins, isana sivan alias Setti tirunavukkaraiyan, singer

of hymns at Ra^arajesvaram and Isana devan of Gautama gotra

are the two^t^mplejstaff. Isana siva badaran and Isana siva

panditan are the two Brahmins, both of them priests. The earliest 196 isanas are to be found in Rajarajesvaram and the latest in an inscription of Kiolottunga I. I'hough originally this name seems to have "been current without any restriction of caste or professdl^ , as suggested by -setti, by the end of the

Cola nale, -isana has become restricted to onLy Brahmins, and that too particularly to the temple employers.

X 65»49 Kadamban

Nangorra kadamban and Pangan kadamban, both of them officers, and Kadamban, tanguvan, a Brahmin, are the three

Thames after the Kadambas or the isLadambas. -kadamba is first mentioned by Uttama^ andthe iast^ by Kulottunga I, It is not certain from the inscriptions whether these persons were oonnectedin anji way with the Kadambas, X 65.50 Kalinga Kalingarayan alias Aralyan gaurdavahanan and Kalingarayar an officer, are the only two persons named after the countjry

Kalinga. It is most likeiy that these two have nativity or origin from the Kalinga countiy. -araiyar in the name of the first and the official ri^iak of the second indicate that these two might be classified as aristocrates. Kalinga- occurs in the second half of the Oola rule, first: in the days of Kulottunga I and the other in those of Ra^adhiraja.

X 65.51 Kanban A total of 9 names is mentioned in all the four classes of our data, the largest of them coming from the donors, belonging to ordinary ranks. The significance of this name is not clear. It is not unlikely that tbis name might be that of a place called Kambam. Kamban tindi, Kamban swami. 197 Karaban amban, all of them donors, bear kamban + a name, suggesting the possibility that kamban- oould be taken as a prefix deno^ive of somfeHhing, rather than the name proper.

Ii’^ a n kamban, Kamban tirunavulckaraiyan and fandan Icamban are all temple staff, belonging to RaQaraoesvairam. Itenan kamban, an officer, is the only rme of his rank with this name. Kamban dW an is th(^nly Brahmin with kamba-.

The earliest recorded reference of this naiue is from

Parantaka’s records. However, Kamban is mostly prevalent during Rajaraja's times, and not so after the king, to judge by the inscriptions alone. We hear the famous poet kar.iban who lived as Contemporary of Kiilottimga I I , indicating that this name did not die out though not recorded in the inscriptions after Rajara^a I,

Tentatively it nay be said, that all kambans might have belonged to a class of watchmen, as kambu means ‘staff' and

Karaban,‘staff bearer*. In some names, -kamban is used instead of kamban-. This is probably portraying a prefix turning into a naqis proper. k 65.32 Kagnan Two officers and five donors are named with 'k a :» ^ n '.

In the inscriptions as well as in the present days, »ka]^n‘ is supposed to be an attribute of Krishna. Caldwell attempts the derivation of kapna from krishns. it is difficult to accept this derivation and attribution after a close examination of all the -kapmn- namesbome by the poets cf Sangam anthologies.

The Sangairi naiaesinclude a few Kansans, and are discussed here. 198

Penmga^n?® Vellaikka^n?^ I}angap^an|^ Itodukka^ni^

. Punganpanf2 Sengan^J^are some names possessing prefix of

established adjectives like peru-,vellai-, ilj.a-, mudu-,

pu-, and sem- meaning elderliness, white, youth, seniority,

beauty and perfection respectively. Besides, kap^ian- is

found as proper names also. The feminine form of kapipan,

kapni, is also found^^ to have been prevalent during the

Sangam days. Ability to exist with established prefixes,

ability to exist as integral parts of names like Kap^kkan^^

kadakkan^Lan and ability to be declined as a noun, and ability

J^io form feminine form, indicate that Kia:p^n i ^ native name

for Tamilnad and not a TdLmilised Sanskrit name. Although

such a Tamilised Sanskrit word could operate like any Tamil

word after a long stay in the Tamil vocab\ilary, guoh a feature

could not have been so wide spread in the early days of the

Sangam, when the Sanskritizatiin had just commenced. Beyond

doubt, k a n ^n < ka^i + an the masculine demonstrative. Ka^i,

eye, is the proper connotation of the name. Kaijinan then is

a name that has started as a term of endearment, '■‘•‘his affection

is shown in the vocative k a ^ e , even now in spoken Tamil,

Somewhere at the beginning of the inscriptional period,

Kannan started to signify Krish^jia. The change in the connotation

be solved by religious literature or icjiography. Araiyan

kanpappan could be said to be named after Ka^igiappa nayanar,

one of the Nayanm^s. Adan k a ^a n kanban though appearing

strange, might be the son of a Kanpan, as otherwise, there

is no need for bearing the same name twice. Kappan Aruran

and Kannan tusi adiimyakan, an officer and an army scout 199 respectively are two examples from the officers. Analysis

of all thjde inscriptions show that the inscriptional

-kan^n- does not seem to have developedjout of connection with Krishna. The last mention of karna- is found in the

inscriptions of Trihhuvana Kulottunga.

X 65.53 Kandan

12 donors, 8 officers and 5 Brahmins bear ’kandan’ , The

earliest available reference of this name is^he feminiae form

of this name, kandi, an attributive name of Salini, a|oharaoter

in Silappadikaran . When she was being decorated like Siva,

she was given all the existing names of Siva,in femininised 4-6 4.7 form, one of which was KandanT Nan;ju^du karutdsa kandan,

or Kfi^tta kandan which is not far different from Nila kapdan

in meaning, appears to have been the name of Siva. Theesiit

continuity of this name from the Sangam or the pre-Silappadikaram JLo-yS I'-p to the end of the inscriptional period is established.

Kandan madevan of Harita gotra, Kasdan alias vlranarayanan

of BharadLvl.3a gotra, Kandan karunakaran, Ka:ndan of Tiruvalambolil

are some examples of this name from among the donors. Araiyan

devarkandan alias Mlnavan muvenda velan, Kan^an^ranindan alias

Sembiyan Pallavaraiyan, Tirunilakandakramavittan are some

officers bearing ’kandan’ . Bhatta somayaji satta nllaka^dan

of Kau^idinya gotra, ullakandamadavan of Ka^yaj^pajgotra and

M^a^idan are Brahmins, and bhattars in particular.

All these names are found to be steady ttiroughtrut the

span of inscriptions. There seems to be no restriction of

class or caste for Kandan, which is often found with a

prefixal name, such as nilakandan, devarkandan etc. The king’s 200 name Ga^daraditta i^nothing but ka^idar + aditta. -r instead

of -n is denotive of respect. KandaraAattan of Madurai,

author of a Kurundokai song (317) is|the only .ka^i^an among

about 400 names of the Sangam poets and poetesses, indioatimg

that kanban has just started to be let in currency, ’Ka^daradattan*

is either an orthographioall^ erreneous form of Kajidaradittan

or a proto-type of the same name.^®

The name of this Kurimtokai poet, by its aolitaiy

among the Sangam names perhaps determinesthe date of the

early evolution of the story of Siva as a kandan, »the blue

necked’ . Jt is interesting to note that though no special

reason coiad be accounted for, many of th^andans are Brahmins.

Kandan possesses one of the qualities of established favourite

names, being carried by men as well as women. The name

Adiga^ kanban m^ambavayar is recalled here.

X 65.54 Kapali

Due td his supposedjassociation with tlie graves, or to

his wearing of the garland of skulls, Siva is called »kapali',

•one with skulls’ . Tevaram speaks of liva as the’kapali,

the dancer of the (grave)yard of the c h a r r e d and as 'kapali with the stained neck'5® Unlike the other names of Siva,

the rarity of this name might have been due to the unaesthetio

connotation or by the aversion to the movement of the Kapalikas which was crushed after Mahendravarman turned to the religion

of Siva. Kapalikairali alias Sanasivan, a singer of hymns of

Rajarajesvaram is the only one with this name in our data.

X 65.5$ Karugakaran

6 Karu:p.akarano among th^onors, one among the officers 201

and one among the Brahmins are foimd. It.. Is only with

some hesitation this name could be attri^ted to Siva, as,

, . >• this name seems to be present onljTin the second half of

the Cola rule, to judge by our data. Most of the Karupakarans

are found mentioned in the inscriptions of Rajaraja I I , Earlier

references, if any, either in inscriptions or in the *. f religious hymns,” are not very prominent,

Karu^^lcaran- ’giver of grace, i«e. benefactor’ is a very

common name among men of ordinary rank rather than among

the officials, though we hear of the f ^ u s Karupakara to^daiman,

the general of the Kalinga expedition under Kiilottunga II.

\ Shis name is now also common.

X 65.56 Kadan This is a very ancient name, common during and from the

Sangam days onwards. Kadan < kad + an (not counting the

euphonic u at the end of the root), meaning ’of the forest',

probably signifj^s the area or th^tribe to which the original

bearers of this name belonged. This view is supported by

the Sangam names Idaikadanai^^one of the imiddle forest *

and TJmbarkattu i!J.angannanai^^ Ilangan^n of the Umbex forest’ .

Even these two names would suffice to demonstrate that the

prefixes of kadan have coalesced with the name indivisibly.

Nothing more could be.said except to state that all kadars

at one time indicated some tribal connotations.

Kadan accan, Siriyan perungadan are the only two names

of donors with -kadan-. -perungadan, though meaning ’one

of the large forest’ should not be taken to have come from

any such forest, as, even by the end of the Sangam period, 202 such names coased to convey any association with any forest, but are handed over as mere relic of s o ^ tribal names.

Kadan ka^avati, Kadan karimakaran alias Abhimanameru muvendavelan and Kadan vldividangan alias Jayankonda sola vilupparaiyar are the names of the kadan"'bearers from among the officers. The estimate of all the kadans will be made after the analysis of other names which follow.

H 65.57 Kadavarayan

Kadavarayan means • the rayan of the ka^u •, obviously implying some high ranking among those! having kadu nagies.

The only kadavarayar, a donor, Kulottunga sola kadavarayan alias Painnaka muttaraiyan alappirandan elisai mohan, also an officer to judg^by his name, is a contemporary of

Kulottunga I I . Apparently this name goes against our c 11 conclusion of the analysis of the ka^u- names just analysed.

P ain n^a, 'the poisonous cob»a*, is the real naiae of this man, who feelongs to the Muttaraiyar family, which is older

than the Oola rule. Kada-«/arayan is a title, perhaps given to him for some purpose which is not clear^^ -by Kulo#tunga sola II and is borne to suggest that the Nearer of this name is a kadavarayar of the Kulottunga. *lilisai mohan' distinguishes him from his contemporary, perhaps his brother,

Kulottimga sola kacciyarayan alias Painnakamuttaraiyan alappirandan araisa narayanan.

St 65.58 Kadupatti Ka^upatti is beyond doubt a place name, meaning »a forestine patti ( a forest village ) ‘ and in the Pallava epigraphs we find it to be a family name, spoken of with respect and 203 as cormected with the rulers by matrimonial relations.

Kadupatti nuttaraiyar, Ka^upatti peraraiyan and K^dupatti

tamila peraraiyan were chiefs -under the Pallaaas. ^^This

kadupatti family oontinuesto exist well into the days of

the Oola rule. She name Kadupatti muttaraiyar is interesting

as it is a com'bination of the Kadupatti and Muttaraiyar families,

suggesting the alliances of the chiefs among themselves.

Uandi panma kadupattigal, a donor, contemporary of perhaps

Aditya II, and Kadupatti tamila peraraiyan, on temporary

of Vijaya nandi 'rikrama varman, and in charge of houndaiy

lines and Kaduvetti (< kadupatti), another officer, a contemporary

of Kulottunga II I art the examples from om.’ data.

Q?he linguietic and ethnographical analysis of the kadu

group of names such as kadan, kadavan, Kadalian mahadevi the

queen of Kadavan, a contemporary of Hirupatunga varman^^

and of the kadupatti group suggest thal all these groups must liave branched of from the same major family of which we get some glimpse in the Sangam days. The kadavarayar caste

prevailing even now in Tan;)avur district is perhaps none but

a direct descendant of this inscriptionally famous fanily.

X 63,59 Kalakala

.Kalakala bhattan of Tirukkalukkunram temple and contemporary

of Sundara i^ndya, is the only representative for the carriage

of Kalakala, a name for Siva andjfan iliar in Qgevaram hymns.

K, 63,60 Kali

The only man t6 bear the name of this goddess. Kali,

is Kali sambandan alias Bharraa si van, a singer oijhymns at

Rajarajesvaran. The reason for the rarity of this name of 204

this well established non-oanonioal goddess is already-

explained. It may be pointed out that the ’>habit of ■naming men after this goddesses must have been a continuous practice,

ignored by inscriptions and the proof of which could be found

in the village names like Kalimuttu, Kaliyappan etc. prevalent

even now in modem times.

^ 65.61 Kaman

A ^temple staff, five donors and an officer bear kama-.

T^ls name appears to have ;)ust come into vogue during the

Sangam days, adftwo names of the Sangam poets suggest.

K^akkani nappalatattanar, an author of an Akananuru verse^*^ and Kamakkani pasalaiyar bear k^a- . Kamakkayi might be interpreted as beauty personified* (kapi = estimate, detenfcine, set to required measure) . Manmadha, the cupid of Indian mythology in Tamil is called ‘Kama vel* or simply aoamon

Kaman palaya ve^an, a tax officer of Rajaraja I and

Kaman aiyaran, a guard of Rajara;jesvaram and Kaman tiruvai alias Kodukulamanikkam, a soldier of Adirajendra are some examples for this name. The Sangam kamakkapi is found in inscriptions as kamakkanl. exx. KamakkaM madevan. Kamakka^ ilaya siraman vadugan. This raises a doubt that which one of the two is correctj whether kamakka^ii or kamakka^. Both the tw« possibilities seem to be equally valid, since it appears that the difference is due to orthographical error* a > a due to vowel balance, caused by the^a in the first syllable.

Kama- seems to be rare after Kulottunga I. This name is borne by men and women. Along with the examples given here, Kamamogi a girl of Ra;jarajesvaram is recalled. 205 X 65.62 Kari Mr This name, obsolfirt« after the Colas, though figuring meaningless at the first sight, is clear after a'^eep scrutiny of the Sangam names. The name, Kari kilar of the author of a

Purananuru versl?® on the analogy of Karuvux kllar, Kayattur kilar, Kunri^ kilar and such names, could be interpreted as

’the lord of K ari'. Kari then is a place name. There seems to have been a river Kari, as suggested by the name Kariyaru.

Kariyarru tunjiya nedungi^^-i is the source for this interpretation.

This phrase means 'the nedunglj.}! who died in the river Kari*.

Even granting that Hedungi^J.i, the king died in a place called

Kariyaru and not in the river, it is to be admitted that the place was named after the river Kari like many rivfrine names we have come across,

Kari, a place name as well as a personal name, appears to be very old even in the Sangam days and was carried alike by chiefs and people of ordinary status. The karis of the inscriptions might have had some genecOLogical connection with the Kari cliiefs of Sangam days, or the popularity of this ancient name being continuedjtill the end of the Cola rule might have retained tliis 'kari*.

exx. •‘^arikolamban is an officer of Uttama solan. Karippi^ai alias Raja gamblra kadakkam kondan, a subject of Koperunjinga.

Kari tiruvenkat-^ adigal. Palasiriyan sattan kari. Of the available names two belong to Uttama*s days, indicating that

*k^i' was yet alive in his days, but steadily dedlining towards the end of the Oola rule. The last mention of this name is found in Kopperunjinga's inscriptions. 205 65.63 Kesavan Not found among the Sangam days, Kesuvan or Kesavan is first located in Pallava inscriptions^^ and isoobserved as common during the Pallava and Cola rule. 3 donors, a ^temple staff and 3 Brahmins possess this name Vishpu. The presence of this name in the early half of the Cola rule, is a clear proof of the established worship of Vishpu and his popularity among the people. Taken along with other attributes and names of Vishnu, ’kesavan’ implies that Vishnu cult was widely prevalent, but not as wide as Siva's. The role and the importance of Vishnu’s names will be discussed in the conclusion. 'Kesavan.* is not restricted to any. The available examples show its wide acceptance in all classes of society, exx. Kesavan r ^ a n alias Sembiyan paniyur nattu ve^-an, Kesuvaiyan alias Pallavan

Brahmadaraiyan of Takkolaip.-Velan and -brahmadarayan are suggestive of their official status. These two names are examples for ’kesuvan’ among officials.

H 65.64 Kings’ names 60 officers, 24- temple staff, 60 donors and 2 Brahmins bear the namer. of kings. It should be said that names after kings form the largest single class among the names of men.

The most conspicuous feature is that there are markedly fewer number of Brahmins bearing the names of kings, exx. Parantaka of Kausika gotra and Uran arinjikai, a priest at Allur . The custom of being named after kings among the Brahmins was almost absent and these two names should be taken as exceptional examples.

This custom of cairying the name of almost all the prominent

Gola kings is found to be steady throughout the Cola rule. 207

The names of Rajaraja I number the highest. However, to judgie. by oiir data, it is important that the names of the short' lived kings Rajadhira;ja and Adirajendra are totally absent. This

induces u.s to think that inauspioiousness of the names was also counted for in naiaing.

X 65.63 Kon

2 of the temple staff, 21 of the donors and o&e officer are called 'kons', i’his name, apart from as a word, creates more

interesting problems rather than satisfactory solutions. As we shall see presently, inscriptional evidences show clearly the fusion of two different ideas in the same name.

Amudavallavakon, inspector of milkmen of Tiruvekambam temple and Kon sadangavi alias Rajaraja prayogadaraiyan are the only two temple staff with kon as part of their names. The first mentioned -kon, which is the part of his father’ s naiae,

Tiruvekamba kon suggest that it is a oaste name, which is found in modem times as »konan». The kon- in Kon sadangavi (< shadangavid) is perhaps a proper name, meaning 'king’ . Being a barber of Ra;ja- fiajesvaram, the name may be also interpreted as »the master barber'.

Most of the kons in the list of the donors are milkmen, exx.

Arunagiri kon, AroLalakon, Oandiiakon, Devankon etc. A name, which is perfeaps an exception, Amarakonar alias Karupakara devan, lord of Vedavanam, indicates the possibility of kon existing at as a proper name, or perhaps as a term denot^ive of aristocracy.

This view is strengthened by an available officer's name,

Sundarapandya konar alias Madeva alagiya cokkanar.

Thetendency to confuse or to connect 'milkmen' and 'king' 208

through the structural similarity of kon should be avoided,

as the examination of this name shows the difference in origin

of these two ideas.

kon, »king» < ko + n. (ko = kingship or king; n masculine

demonstrative). Further examples derived from ko are: .a. kovil or koyil or koil, ‘plaice or temple»j konmai, ‘royalty*; koman, ’king*.

The original etyraa of kon is lost in Tamil, but is preserved

in Kodagu. ko*na*ta*n^® *man of the plains* suggests the reconstruction of the etyma. Kodagu ko*na’ta*n < ko’na’tu + a*n compared with spoken Tamil konan < kon + an indicates that kon- should be taken to mean 'level ground', perhaps indicating pasture ground. An ancient nadu, called Xonadu was a part of

Oola nadu. In conformity ef the geographical feature of the Gola nadu, this konadu might have Jignified a level nadu, plains or e^asture tract. In the light of this semantics and by V A A the profession of most of the kons who are shepherds -kon could be interpreted as a caste name, < kon, 'pasture'. It is noteworthy that the inscriptions do not mention any form such as the current konan or konar, a caste name for shepherds or mi].kmen, implying that the shepherds chose to be called themselves 'kons' which seemed to be dignified as the 'kon' meaning,the king. This is the only possible reason for the dropping of -an or -ar, the masculine demonstrative suffixes well established in the inscriptional times andjeven as early as the Sangam days.-kon signifying the shepherds seems to be post-

Sangam and pre-inscriptional period. 209

X 65.66 Koyil mayllal

An odd oocurrence, Koyil mayilai, lord of Slrrlngap alias

Parantaka muvenda velan, a supervising|3fficer of the temples

is the only one with this kind of name. Mayilai is supposed to

be one of the high class "bulls. It was ajotistom to dedicate

bulls to the temples and such bulls were called »koyilmayilais’ .

Thejsupposition that these koyil mayilais represent the Nandi

of Siva might have caused this name. This name is not seen

either before or after Aditya II.

X 65.67 Kraiaavittan

31 officers, 14 donors and 17 of the temple staff are kramavittans. The earliest references are found in the Pallava

inscriptions. reason for the mode, and the time of the origin

of this name is not clear. However this could be guessed to a

certain extant by the following analysis.

With only two exceptions, all the kramavittans of the temple

staff are found to be the managers of the committee of temple

affairs, exjc. Rishabanarayana kramavittan, member of the

temple committee of Vanamar sola Isvaram and Srirama kramavittan

also of the same temple in the same post. Mudamosi narayana

kramavittan of Madurandaka isvaram, a contemporary of Rajendra I I is perhaps the earliest kramavittan among our data to be

mentioned as a ^temple staff.

The professions of the kramavittans who ’figure in the

inscriptions are not clear, 'i'hese details have been omitted

by the draiter of the inscriptions as the kramavittans were to

be mentioned as donors and not as officers or as persons with

any administrative powers. The most striking feature of the 210 kramavittans are that most of them bear names in Sanskrit, a clear indication that all of them should be counted as Brahmins,

exx. Donaya kramavittan, Damodara kramavittan, Akkisarma kramavittan.

Even among the offioer-kramavittans also, none bears any complete ICamilname. These kramavittans are found holding various posts in the Cola hierooaeo^^ and administration, usually in the former, exx. Itoodara kramavittan is a member of the town council and Madhava kramavittan is a revenue official.

The meaning of Kramavittan, 'carrier of order' indicates that the works assigned to the kramavittans might be hereditary.

'■^'hough this hereditary rights could be admitted in the case of the kramavittans who are connected with the temple affairs, it is dbubtful whether such a custom existed among the kramavittans engaged with'the administration. However, tentatively, it could be said, on the basis of the predominantly Sanskrit names of the kramavittans, that 'kramavittan' was a hereditary title given to Brahmins, connected with theOolalhieroc'ro.^ rather than with the administration, 'kramavittan' appears to have started as an attribute of designation during the Pallava mile, and by the end of the Cola rule is found as a suffixal part of the name of persons,

X 65.68 Krishnan Two officers and three Brahmins bear this name. K rish ^n

Rajadittan, an officer of Uttama Cola, and Krish;;ian raman alias Rajendra sola brahmamarayan, a chief secretary of Rajaraja I and the one who built the circumambulating colonade of Rajaraji are the two officers bearing krishna-. The three Brahmins arej two Srikrishna bhattars and one Srikrishpa suri. Suri's name is 211

the earliest mention of Krish^ia in our data.^^lt is to be

noted that a temple of Krishnar existed during the rule of

Uttama. If this name is to be determined as post-Pallava, it

might have entered this zone at the time of the trouble with the Rashtrakutas, whose kings often bore the name of

Krish^. 4.S we mentioned earlier, this name has been identified with 'kaijqian’ probably at the time of Silappadikaram or a little earlier.Fow Krishnan is a very common in South India particularly after the JTayak rule. X 65.69 Kumara and Kumara

5 among the temple staff, A donors, 4 Brahmins and none of the officers bears this name. Kumaran could be found among the Sangam names, exx. Salliyam kumaran, Itodurai kumaran.

It appears that in these earliest names, 'kumaran* m ^ t nothing bjit 'youth*. In the inscriptional period, it is certain that Kumaran invariably signified Murugan or Subrahmapyan. Though found among the earliest set of names available thjfcuough the anthologies of the Sangam classics, this name should be taken as i Sanakrit nomenclature for 'youth*. Kumar- ( in kumaran, kumari), if could be taken as ajroot makes no meaning

in Tamil. Why the Sangam classics mention this name as only kumara and not kumara is not clear.

Geographically widely distributed, 'kumaran* is found to be borne by all classes of people, exx. Kumaran vadavayil alias

Mummudi sola nirtta marayan, the chief dancing master of

Rajarajesvaram. Kumara* bhattan of $a^dilya gotra. Kumaradiccan

alias Muttan setti. 212

A comparative study of the names of Subrahmanya like

Kumaran and Murugan with the icons of Subrahmanya is bound to yield the mode and the date of identification of the indigenous

'T fM l »V ^ mountain god ^ in the classics with the son of Siva.

X 65.70 Kuigan

Two names, Madalan Imi^a nakkan, ajcontempoaraiy of Uttama and Jt'aramesvaran kiinran are examples for *kunran». This could be considered as a remnant of a very ancient name, kunran, *the one of the mountain', signifying none other than the mountain god Seyyon, famous in Sangam literature.

This name is not found in the post-Rajaraja I period, obviously being on the wane. Another possibility is that it might indicate Siva, as suggested by the names of Siva, nakkan and Paraiaesvaran, in both these examples. Though 'kunram' could be interpreted as 'mountain*, the primaiy meaning is

’h il l '. Hence we choose to adhere to the first explanation given here, on the basis of the mountain god of the ancient anthologies and not Siva.

H 65.71 Kuppai

Though the literal meaning of this name is 'heap', as a name it signified 'heap of gold' or 'heap jof riches'. It is recalled here that this name is found aiaong the women of Rajarajesvaram, an indication that this is a very ancient name, heaving the quality of beir^ borne by men as well as women. We are given a name from the Sangam classics, Kuppai- koliyar, author of a Kurundokai versi.^'^ appears as though he has a funny name ' fowl of the dust heap*. An archaeologist's 213

interpretation would be^ifferent. Bearing in mind that koli

i^one other than the famous Uraiyur, the ancient capital

of the Sangam Colas, Kuppai koli should he interpreted as

the rich wealthy or prosperous U^aiyur. Kuppai k o liy ^

i^none other than a 'man of the great Uiaiyur*.

Th^emple staff furnish three names, exx. Kuppai vanni

alias Kshatriya sikh^ani tongar perariyan, a parasol bearer.

Kuppai tirumamiijeri. Kuppangudaiyan. Except the second,

the other tv;o examples connote other than those we have just

mentioned. Kuppadi vanni should be taken as the 'vanni tree

of the hill or mound'. The person bearing this name is

naraed after the most sacred part of his village. Even now,

as it has been from the ancient times, vanniadi, 'vicinity

of the vanni tree or \inder the shade of the vanni tree' is

always considered as a sacred spot of the villages. Kuppangudaiyan

is best understood as the Lord of Kuppam, rather than as

'possessor of wealth'.

Ve^cadan kuppai is the only name of this class from the

donors. Ihis person is named after V e^a^u , though he is found

to be a resident of Vamattur, the Tiruvamattur of the inscriptions

and of the modern days, 'kuppai' here perfedtly fits with

the old sense explained at the beginning of this section.

X 65.72 Kutrfean and Kuttadi

Kuttan of Kuttadi seems to be the earliest name for Siva.

To get e, clearer prospective of the history of Siva, the

Sangam literatures should be studied afresh in thejlight of the history of Siva and his names, available from inscriptions, correlated by the names of Siva abounding in the Tevaram hymns. 0 ^ w 214 17 temple staff, 2 officers and 3 Brahmins carry *kuttan', A as names or as parts of thetr names. 2 Officers and 11 donors bear 'kuttadi' or the other names having the same significance.

exx. Dutahari venriaikutta kramavittan, Kuttan amara bujangan Alias Satya sivan, Kuttan tillaikkuttan alias

Jtana sivan are some namei^rom the list of the temple staff.

The names like Ponnambalakkuttan and^illaikkuttan are clear proofs of the ascendency of Tillai, the modem Chidambaram, in the religious literature and in the estimation of the people.

It is very important that this ilr is not spoken of in the

Sangam classics, though by the end of the Pallava rule or by the beginning of the Cola rule, its popularity and priority among the sacred urs is very well established. Tiranavukkarasar, the contemporary of the Pallava king Mahendra varman has already started his hymns on Siva, but, the Tillai is yet to gain fame. The far.e of Tillai is established by the first

Rajaraja’s times, and the structure and the significance of this inscriptional name indicate that in the mind of the contem­ poraries of Hajaraja I, Kuttan and Tillai were interdependent.

The interdependency of Tillai and Siva is set and fixed permanently with the building of the temple at Tillai, the modem Chidambaram.

There is a strong contrast between the Kuttan of the Sangam classics and the Kuttan of the inscriptional times. The classic anthologies present Kuttan or the proto-type of Siva, simply as a great god, dancing the dance of Victory after destroying the enemies and their 'moving forts*, and neither more nor less powerful than the mountain god of the ancient Tojnils. No place 215 on the Earth i s ‘assigned to him, though rare references 68 assooiating him with a mountain oould be found. How and when h^was transferred to I'illai from the Cosmos and

Tillai was oosmisized for his Lance, is as much a problem as it is interesting. Nor the reason for choosing Tillai in particular and not any other place is understandable.

The solution for this important problem could be found without fail by any p»e who could satisfadtorily penetrate the interregnum between th4>oll». of the Sangam Cola|polity and the rise of the Pallava rule.

The inscriptional Siva is not only a kuttan, but also

Ga^desvara, Yidangan, Rudl^a, Piccan, Arthanari, Nakkan and many others. He is the nucleus of a carefully calculated pantheon. The Sanskrit names show that he is very well

Aryanized by the end of the Cola rule.

Kuttan kangai kondan alias Siva saranam segara muvendavelan and Velan kuttan alias irumadi sola vilupparaiyan are two officers who are ‘kuttans*. The currency of Kuttan among the people, without any distiption of class or rank, and also among women is ajplear feature ofjthe antiq,uity of the name. b^e. It is interesting to witness^total decay of this name after the end of the Cola rale. It was perhaps believed that this name was not fashionable any more with the ascendency of other latest Sanskrit names of Siva. ‘Kuttan’is totally dead now, though several other names of Siva are alive.

The name ’kuttadi* meaning the same as »kuttan» was perhaps a linguistically sub-standard or colloquial form. In dialectical

Tamil, the wor({ now simply means 'dancer' without any attribution 216

to Siva, Adir^an kuttadi, Araiyan kuttaduia devan, Lord of

Ka;j.at1rur, and IIruooIrrambalamudaiyan kutta devan are some

examples of other forms signifying the sen§e in ‘kuttan*.

Dindi kuttan alias .Purridangonda mahadeva Bhat'fan is an

example from among the priests, for bearing ‘kuttan*. The

modem name Natarajan is a direct translation of 'the master

dancer’, an attribute of Siva as a kuttan.

X 65«73 Lingam

Araiyan Mapali lingan is the only name after Linga, available bkjl- in my collection. This rare feature is, not explainable when we know that linga worship was well established and Oola temples

enshrined lingams. The ourrenoy of the names Jambulingam,

Vaid^alingam, Kodilingam, Gokkalingam etc. in modern times

deteiroine the influence of lingam in naming habits. Perhaps,

these are pre-Gola names. The only example sited belongs to

an accountant of Rajarajesvaram of Rajaraja I.

> 65.74 Masculine and geminine compounds

Aramaiappan, 'mother-father* is found in three names, exx.

A A Ammaiyappan, Amnmiyappan k a p ^^a i peruman and Amnaiappan siyan

ammaiyappan. The last two belong to the Sengeni family. This perhaps is a name which evolvedjafter thejcon'eeption of Ardhanari,

All these three names fall in the post-Kulottunga I period.

It is difficult to explain the significance of this name based on inscriptions alone, without the >help of hagiological literature.

K 65.75 Madavan 3 persons, all of them Brahmins bear 'Hadavan' a name of 217

V i s h ^ . Madhava bhattan, Nilakandan madavan of Kasya^pa gotra and Odiraukil madhava bhattan. The seooiK^example combines the names of Madhava with that of Ifilakan^an, a name of Siva.

All these names seem to be post-Ra;jaraja I, i 65.76 Mahadevan

Pour^temple staff and two Brahmins have this name. exx.

Mahadeva bhattan of Avisaka gotra, Madevan tirunavukkaraiyan alias Vijnana sivan, a singer of hymns in Rajara;jesvaram,

Madevan sivaloka sundaran. Prom the contexts it appears that

Mahadevan or madevan, ‘great god» signified Siva. As not a very # widely prevalent name, Itolmdeva- appears to be post-Rajaraja I. 65.77 Mai a van

IVo donors, Kollim^avan orriyibran pradikajidavarman and

Kollimalavan pradika:ndan sundarasolan, both of them contemporary of Ra;jara3a I in his early days, and eight officers bear this name. Those two kolli medavans appear to be brothers and seem to be different from the Malavars for two reasons; first, they are purposefully distinguished by Kolli, which is the name of some place; second, they are not officers of high rank or long descent. The possibility of connecting the Kolli m a l a v a B S with the Malavars cannot be totally niled out, keeping in mind t their place of residence, Tusiyur, where one tlalavaraiyan sundarasolan , a tax officer, is reported to be residing.

The malavarayans are mentioned in our list of officers ranging

from Rajara^ja I to Sundara pandya. The importance of the

Malavaraiyars^^ of administration throughout the Oola rule has been detailed earlier. 218

H 65.78 Manradi ^ ^ o-o-a Viranokka manradi alias Kumaran is the only^temple staff, a raeas-urer of ghee, maintained as a Manradi. Being a temple

servant, we can interpret this name as that of Siva ^ d given to him after heboined the services of the temple. Kumaran

is his fathegasname. Viranokka < Vira aniikka, 'brave soldier' or'brave body guard' is a name of Gola coinage.

Akkumaran kandan, Perungadan and Ulagan mo^an are all manradis mentioned in the inscriptions with manradi- as a prefix. Here the interpretation i^ifferent. Manradi, 'speaker in the arena' is the arbitrator of his ur. MaOTadiyar is now a family name for some^families in the Tanjore district now, suggesting perhaps that this post was hereditary at a later stage of the Gola rule, if not at the beginning. It is doubtful whether this designation existed in Paliava times.

X 65.79 Hani

Maniyan sirupiran, a person in charge of the temple donations at Allur and Dudakari tiruvaranga ma^ bhattan, a priest, are the only two persons with 'majii'. This name which is veiy common now, is found to be veiy Drare in the Gola inscriptions.

Mani, a Bamil word for gem, seems to have been more popular among the women of the times, as could be seen from the names of the temple women of Rajarajesvaram, than among the men.

In this sense of gem, the mai;ii in the second example is to be understood. The first example however suggests a different sense. One would be tempted to interpret Mandyan as also a

'gem', but for the second part of the name s i^p ir a n , 'young god'. Clearly this is the name of Subrahmanya, who was 219 identified with the son of Siva. Classical names do not

include any •ma^ii’ among them.

X 65.80 Kangala

I ISTirupatunga manga^a peraraiyar is the only name with ‘manga^a',

prosperity, coming from an inscription of a very early date

of Cola rule. This very un-masculine name, is to be found among

men neither before Aditya I nor after him, whose contemporary

the bearer of the name was.

X 63.81 Marudan

Karudan piramalaittan, an accountant and a contemporary of

Uttama and Marudan sendan, a priest at Tiruccendurai are the

only two of this kind. An ancient name we find this borne by

a Sangam poet Marudan ilanakan."^® As one of the veiy few

names of the Sangam age to have strength or popularity to

continue up to the first half of the Cola rule, Marudan must

have started as a general name for persons of marudam, the

agrarian zone, and later got standardised as a proper name.

K 65.82 Ma^van Iraman maravan and I“i£^avan pudiyar alias Tennavan i].ango

ve^ar, husband of Nangai karrali pirattiyar are the only two

with ’maravan’ . Probably both of them belong to the I'iaravar

caste. Unlike ±n the case of Tennavan i].angove}, the -maravan

in the first example casts a doubt about its marava hereditary

due to the absence of any title or any important designation.

If th^t is so, the name simply means ’brave one’ . I^ravars

along with Ka^lars and Akamudaiyars formi^““oomplex cgste called

’Ilukkiilattor’ , which is a very good field sample for any

social anthropologist. - 220

X 65.83 Madllan

The insoriptions always mention this name as Madilan, while the Sangam Glassies, in whioh we get the earliest references of this name, mention as Madalan. exx. I''ladalan maduraikumaran, A 7T ^ Madalan. This name is not borne l?y any^temple staff or any officers. 3 donors and 2 Brahmins carry this name. exx. Madilan kunra nakkan and Madilan ka].avan gerudan, both of them contem­ porary of Uttama, and Madilan m ^an srl krish^a bha-Jjta IsvBra kraduvayaveyajiyar are the donors. These names, taken with two available Brahmin-Madilans, and when corroborated with the information on Madalan of Silappadikaram; very clearly suggest that I«ladilan or Fiadalan was an exclusively Brahminical name, not borne by any other caste. It seems that this name went into disuse after the Cola rule. It appears that this is one of the very early Sanskrit name^to enter Tamilnad,

X 65.84 Mai

The Tolkappiyam is the first to mention Mai as ^god of the forest and the neighbour hood. *^3 An examination of th& references to Mai clearly indicates that he has been long established even before the classics were written. The identification of Vislip.u with Mai seems to have started well ahead of the Cola rule.

The Cola names always imply that Hal and Vishnu are one and the same. exx. Arava:jiai alias Hal ari kesavan, head supervisor of a temple, carry the name 'the recliner on the snake alias who is a kesavan and who has understood Itol*. The alternative name of this person is not a later addition, as it implies neither an official status 221 nor any other relation with the administration. This is the only name available of this kind. X 65.85 Manikkam

4 officers and 8 donors oarry ‘manikkam*. exx. Karuma^ikkam soman alias Sola raja muvendavelan, Karumanikka s s ^ a n manikkan durandaran and tlanikkan eduttapadam.

Karumanikkam should be interpreted as the ’blue gem of the oobra* raiher than ’the blaok gem of the oobra’ , in view of the fact that maifiikkam is spoken of as blue in colour by the Sangam classics and abso because kairu- in Tamil implies blue also. Karumaigiikkam seems to have been a favourite name both for men and women during the Cola rule, -manikkam names among women of Rajara;jesvaram are recalled here. exx. Kara ma;iikkam|

Tigaimanikkam, ’the oveiwhelming manikkam’ (overwhelming by its beauty lustnire, etc.),

Piudikon^asola alias Uyyavandan, Tondan manikkam are some examples of this name being borne by donors all of whom in this case appear to be persons of ordinary rank. It is important that neither map.i nor manikkam is found as a name among the

Sangam names, though nagan, ’cobra’ is very common. The appearance of ’ma9.ikkam’ in the insoriptional period is an indication that it is a Tamilized form of Sanskrit word ma^ik which in turn is Sahlskrit borrowing from the I^avidian. In this light, teanikkam should be classified along the Sanskrit names which entered the country during the Aryaniaation of th^gods. Sivaks called ’manikkam’ in the h3nnms,'^^ which lendi^ support to this interpretation. 222

X 65»86 Marayan and rayan

These names are distributed as follows* Marayan- 3 donors

and 3 officers; Rayan- 5 donors and 11 officers.

I'larayan is sometimes^ibiEund to be suffixed to Brahma-

and all the Brahmamarayans are found to be officers of

very high rank. exx. Mummudi sola brahmamarayan alias

Narakkan srlkrishna r ^ a n , commander-in-chief of Rajara^a I;

Mummudi sola brahmamarayan, chief secretaiy of Rajara^Ja's

correspondents.

Kodandar^a marayan alias Trilokiyan and Vikrama sola

marayan alias Anibalavan paluvur nakkan, two of them donors,

are examples for the oai^iage of 'marayan' alone. Although

their profession is not mentioned, it might be concluded

that these two appear to be connected with the administration

i n some way, as could be guessed by ’ x ’Vikj7amasola

marayan' which is certainly a title in view of the availability

of the alternative name, which is his personal name.

Brahmamarayan and marayan seem to be titles evolved

by Rajaraja I and is steady up to Kulottunga I I I .

Rayan appears to be a title also, but not a very high

rank. Examination of Rajcan names show, like other two of

its kind, that it was borne by a few aristocratic families

only. exx. Edirili sola sembuvarayan alias Sengeni ammaiyappan-

siyan ammaiyappan of the Sengeipl family, Jananada kacciyarayan

alias Arasa n^ayanan elisai mohan. However there are cases where -rayan is nothing more than a name proper, exx.

Fiarayan k^pakam, Lokamah^ayar.

Rayan< rasan < rasan is no doubt connected with araiyan < 223 araisan < arasan. The meaning of all these different forms is none but ’king*. A further analysis is left for the historical linguist, as, he can determine the date of the borrowing of this word from the Indo-Aryan. Here it would suffice to say that araiyan < arasan, has been borrowed in the classical days'^5 even earlier. Rayan < raja appears to be afresh borrowing perhaps during or after the Pallavas,

The fact that -rayan, -raarayan and-brahmanaiayan are titles of administration is proved by another faat. Hone of the temple staff or any of the priests oarr^this name.

H 63.87 M^an

4 donors aasd one officer and 2 Brahmins bear -ma^n.

The earliest occurrences of m ^an could be found as a suffixal part of the names of the kings of the Pandya dynasty talked about in thelpan^m classics, particijlarly in

PurananiW and Pattupatta . ex. He^umaran. -m^an is foundfto be borns by minor chiefs of the Sangam age also, exx. Palaiyan maran, Tandumaran.'^^ Though this narao is generally associated with the I^ndya roy^Cty, as well as

Pandya|sountry, the existence of this r.ame in the Gola inscriptions coming ^om Cola na^u proper disproves the exclusive i^ndya origin of this naye.

In the Gola inscriptions, instead of as a suffix,

»m^an* is found to be a name proper and we are not able to account for the shifting of the place, which might have happened sometime in the pre-inscriptional period. Had it not been the case, then the difference in position is 224 explained by stating that -iii^an is a caste name, probably borne by o^ief or warriorsand that m^an- is just a personal name.

A satisfactory explanation for the origin and the development of this name is dU-ffioult to give. Maran = mar + an. mar + u > maru is found as ajword of considerable frequency in the Sangam Tamil with the meaning of 'change, shift, confront, oppose’ . In this light maran could be interpreted as • confronter, opposer’ , perhaps signifying that all the ancient raarans were vanguards of the army.

Persons of this caste or class carried maran as their titles.

We may now examine the Cola marans. Li^an paramesvaram alias aembiyan sola variyan, ^general of I'arantaka, the only officer with m^an-, Maran satta bhatta sittan,

M ^a n vinayaka devan, both of them donors, and V attu^ maran sattan, a Brahmin, carry this name. All the classes including the temple staff (this Brahmin could be included among the temple staff, being p riest),b ea r this name.

This indicates that by the beginning of the Cola rule, maran was not restricted any more to warrior caste alone.

There is another possibility. The Pan^yan m ^an and the

Colan m ^an might be different Arom each other having geographical differences.

X 65.88 Minavan A typical l^ndya name, minavan is borne by four officers, all of them muvendavelans, holding very high posts in the

Cola administration. In view of all of them being muvendavelans, 225

a name which will be explained in due coiirse, iiiinavan-

sho"uld not be isolated lafrom muvendave^an, and should be

taken intact for analysis as mlnavan muvendave^an. Observing

that none of them coiae from i^n^ya nadu, and that all of

them are residents of Cola na^u, >rainavan rauvendave^an* proves

that there is really nothing mlnavan about it, except it is

coined foijserving style and position as well. It is not

altogether impossible that these officers might have been

entrusted with official duties connected with Pan§.ya territory.

Besides, all these four names, Mlnavan muvendavelan the royal secretary of Kulottunga ( perhaps KuD.ottunga I ),

Minavan muvendavelan the royal secretary of Rajadira^ja,

Mlnavan muvendavelan alias Araiyan slkandan, chief royal correspondent of Ra;jendra I, another Mlnavan Muvendave|an

of the same post under Kulottunga I I I , and a fourth Mlnavan

Muvendavelan, an officer of Rajaraja I, indicates a very

important feature. The|name or the title ’mlnavan muvenda ve^an’ is carried on from Rajara;ja I onwards to Kulottunga III and the title is held by people holding more or less the same

post in the administrative machinery of the Oolas. To be

exact, 'Mlnavan muvendavelan' is a designation for and a

synonym of 'Olai nayagam*, chief of the royal correspondents.

In futiire we may have to come across similar name like

titles being designations for some kind of office. X 65.89 M ountain and other natries 2 offCcers, 2^teraple staff, 3 donors and one Brahmin possess names indicative of some mountain. I’hey are;

Abhimanameru muvendavelan alias Kansan karu:p.akaran, an executive 226

officer of Rajendra I and Abhimana meru p£G.lavaraiyan, a correspondent of Vikrama Oola, are the two officers; Abhlimana- meru setti alias Vadan setti, Aru^iagiri kon alias Malayan pCman and Arupagiri pillaiyar alias Seyagangar are the two donors: Aiyaran porccuvaran, an accountant of Rajarajesvaram and Accan tiruvengadam alias Rajaraja perungavidi an accoimtant

of the same temple are the temple staff with this name; and

Ponmalai sivan, a priest is the only Erahmin with the name of a mountain. The carriage of the names of these rauuntains

of Sanskrit mythology shows the effect of Aryanization of

the naming system as it existed during the period of Ra^jaraja I or just brefore it. In Rajaraja's reign we get the first inscriptional evidences for this type of names, gowever, I ^ the frequency of this type of names afe much less, though its chronological coverage is wide in all the classes of the society. Of these Arupagiri, *the mountain of the rising

sun' is the only one that still has roots among the / present generation.

X 6^.90 Kosi

The only remnant of this ancient name is home by Mosi araiyan paranderuman of Kadamb^b:, a contemporary of Rajaraja I.

On ^the analogy of Hosi kiran, Hosi kanpattan, Mosi sattan and Mosi korran.'^'^Mosi might be taken to be a name of a place which might have ceased to exist in the inscriptional period and might h^vd^become just a name in the^ime of this

Paranderuman. Otherwise, there is no reason foi\him to be a

Mosi when he is a native of Kadamb-^. It is difficult to

explain ‘iiiosi* etynologically. 227

K. 65,91 Mudaliyar

This name, which is now the surname of a oaste in South

India is referred to only onoe in the inscriptions, and that too by a not very prominent donor. With th^help of

•mudaligal*, a word which denotes the vanguard or sc|iouts of the Cola apay, ’mudaliyar’ certainly means ’ ajvanguard or scout’ . Hudaliyar kakkunayagar, the bearer of this name could be a T^ont line fighter. His name, ’the chief of protector-vanguard* confirms this stand. All the present mudaliyars might be taken to be the descendant of soldiers of a particular platoon or ranks set apart for front line fighting.

65.92 Hummadi Sastri interprets this name as ’thrice powerful’ ,'^®

However, on the availability of the form ’muramudi’ , mummadi could be taken to be an ortnographical error or sub-standard dialectiaal variation of ’mtimmudi', literally meaning , three crowns, and signifying the supremacy over the territories of Gera, Cola and Pandya. Five, all of them high officers, carry ’mummudi’ or ’m-ummadi'. exx. Kummudi sola ilango ve^ alias Adittan, I-tomraudi sola posan, I-luramudi sola posan alias

Uttama sola pallavaraiyan alias x’el^lndanam irayiram Pallavan.

Kummudi sola, 'the Cola of the three crowns’ , is a title borne by noble and aristocratic families holding administrative posts, -ilango vel, -posan, -pallavnraiyan and -brahmam^ayan, parts of the names of the persons bearing mu^udi sola- are indicative of aristocracy. The coinage of ’mummudi solan’ appears to be :of the same time as of muvendave^an and other

titles, which start becoming prominent from the time of 228

Rajaraja I onwards. The signifioande of such high ranking and high sounding titles will be estimated later.

X 65.93 Muni

Thre4 persons^ all of them Brahmins, bear muni as a part of their names. Alvan muni mahadWan, Andan m ^uni alias

Tillai nayaka bhattan and Purridan^^a mamuni alias

Natta peruman have -muni, whioh in meaning is eq.uvalent to

Sanskrit ’rish^’ , and whioh appears to be an attribute of

Siva. The origin and the reason for the emergence of this name is not clear. This post-Kulottimga I name Eould be also taken to be an equivalent of Rudra or Gandesvara.

X 65.94 Muragan One donor, two officers and one Brahmin bear 'murugan'. 79 The earliest reference^ is to be found in the Sangam classics.

Murugan or its neuter form murugu (sometimes gods are spoken of as iaanimiate in the classics) is the name of a god who is considered to be residing on hills. The worship of Murugan is perhaps more widely prevalent than that of Siva and is a very popiilar family deity, among the non-Brahmins, even today. The rarity of the name of this popular god can be explained by pointing out that the Cola pantheon, given the final shape as it is now by the Colas, was mostly engaged in implantin»5 the prominence of Siva into the mind of the people by creating temples to the canonical gods. A further analysis is nwcessary, for exposing the process of canonising

Murugan as the son of Siva andjas Subrahma^a andjlalso for explaining the calculated by-passing of this god.

• 229

That it was too difficult to ignore this long established god, like other non-oanonioal deities like Kali, Sattan and Pidari, is demonstrated by sources other than insoriptional.

The building of a fresh temple for Subrahmanya within the premises of Rajarajesvaram and the dedication of over a thousand hymns on Murugan by JLrupagirinadar with rapturous beauty of rythm and dignity of style, which no other Tamil A work could surpass, are but examples for a|conscious effort of trying to restore the prestige of Murugan after a long period. Arum girinadar’s i-iurugan, emerging after a long span of Aryanization could not isolate himself from all thejgods of the Oola pantheon, with whom he claims filia l relation in some way or other. He has a long list of Sanskrit nomejjclature and innumerable anectodes, alone and ;jointly with other gods. Yet, Tiruppugal is representative of the emergence of the importance of Murugan after the memory of the hegemony of Colas in the field of religion had waned, tiurugan's and Kali’s cases are instances for belittling the importance necessary to certain gods, if oneiis to judge the history of the deities by epigraphical evidences alone. It is pointed out that though the names of Murugan are considerable even now, our data record^ only the few to be mentioned now, Narayanan murugan of Maitreya gotra, a priest at Tiruccendurai

Malappiiran kumaraswamy kram avittan, a member of the town assembly, Kunradi tiruppori, an officer of Uttaraa and

Murugan sadaiyan, probably a priest are those with the attributive names of Murugan. Kiimaraswamy, 'the young god* and Kunradi, 'the dancer on the hills' are attributes of 230 ■s/lr this god. [Though it might not signify an^trhing important, it oan "be pointed out that the first person just mentioned now is a Brahmin and it is very common for non-Brahmins and very uncommon for Brahmins to be nament after Murugan. This is true not only in the insoriptional times, but also even now,

X 65.95 Muttaraiyan The Muttaraiyars have been discussed earlier under •

’araiyan’. They number 3 from donors and 2 from the officers.

The muttaraiyar family seems to have existed till the end of the Cola rule. i 65,96 Muvendavelan 49 officers are titled 'muvendavelars', meaning ’the chief of the three kings’, ’muvendavelan’ is similar in significance to ’mummudisola».

An examination of a ll the muvendavelars show that they held various kinds of offices, connected with the central administration, such as revenue, executive, records or correspondence and other posts. Usually all the muvendavelans have an alternate name each, which are their real names, -muvendavelan prefixed with some other name formed the title of the officer, exx.

Minavan muvendavelan alias Araiyan sika^^an, an olai nayakam,

’the chief of royal correspondents’. Parakesari muvendavejan alias Kodukula sattan, a ’karumam aramiyam’. Pai^ndaka muvendavelan alias Sirringa^iudaiyan, an officer of the temple affairs. If any naijje of muvendavelan is found to be without an alternate name, it should be understood that either the 231 name is not recorded or his original name went into disuse. exx, Parakraraa sola muvenda velar, Rajanarayap.a muvendave^an.

Often a set of these title like names very clearly indicates the designation although the names might have been coined to honour the bearers, exx. There are four Mnavang, mlnavan muvendavelans in our lis t whose chronological span ranges from Rajara^a I to Kuljttunga III. All of them appear

t to be in charge of the correspondence of the king. Since% we kno'w for certain that there was no such family as muvenda­ velans ever existed, we cannot assume that all these muvenda­ velans are geneologically related. Thebnly alternative is to conclude by the office these officers held, that these names are designations of particular post and these designations were handed over throughout the Cola adm inistration. This could be supported by the fact that each king had different ncLo-ve muv^|ians under him. exx. Rajaraja muvendavelCan, an executive officer, Tennavan muvendave^an, a manager of Rajarajesvaram,

Minavan muvendave^an, an ’olai nayagam', Sola muvendave^an alias Manikkan eduttapadam, a 'karumamarayiim adikari*, are all those who belonged to the officialdom of Rajendra I.

A deeper study of all the muvendavelans would be of use to any one engaged in a detailed analysis of the C oia administration,

X 65.97 Nakkan

4 temple staff, 17 donors, 19 officers and 5 Brahmins bear ’nakkan*. The origin of this word is not clear. It may be a borrowing from Sanskrit nagna, 'naked'. Even granting this it is difficult to understand the reason of applying this attribute to Siva. Nakkan existed as parts of the naipes 232 of poets of Sangam literature, exx. Nakkan of Viriyur

(author of P o ran am ^ verse 332) and Van^akkan tattanar

(author of a Harrlnal verse 298).

Most of the nakkans are Brahmins, exx. Arltan nakkan i .e .

Nakkan of Harita gotra, Paradayan nakkan, i .e . NeQckan of

Bharadvaja gotra, Kaoouvan nakkan narayamn i .e . Uakkan naraya^an of Kasyapa gotra.

Nakkan was also a name not uncommon in the Pa^^ya territoiy is shown by an example Andave^an kurumbar adittan pullala nakkan, an officer of I^ndya king of Mara varman.

Ifakkan is found to be very common till Kulottunga I and its frequency seems to be steadily decreasing yielding place to other names of Siva connected with -tilla i-. X 65.98 Uambi

This is an old Tamil word meaning 'youjbh’ . Though this word is found to be frequent in the Sangam anthologies, as a name it has not been mentioned anywhere in the classics.

16^temple staff carry this name. In most of this class, nambi is found as a suffixal part of the name, precefjfded by the name of some place, exx. Kannu tiruvaranga nambi, the

Nambi of Srlrangam. Tirumaligai nambi, the Nambi of Tiruma:j.igai,

Of the temple staff, two are Brahmins, or only two of them are clearly mentioned as Brahmins. Purushottama nambi of

Bharadvaja gotra and Periya nambi bhattan brahmisvaramu^aiyan are the two, Attiku

12 donors bear ’narabi*. exx. laaraadi nambi alias Madilan kalavan gerudan, a contemporary of Uttama, Tiruvarangattu nambi, a contemporary of Kulottunga I,

Nambi is more frequent in the post-Kulottunga I period, than in the period earlier. It may be persumed that this is mostly a vaishitovite name. Vish^iu ii^ometimes called nambi in religious literature. Nambi is borne by all sections of the people. In the present days, this name has ceased to exist, in spite of the Nayak rule, who gave prominence to

Vaishnavism. X 65.99 Nandi and Nandan 3 officers, 7 donors and one Brshmin have 'nandi*, which is the name of the Bull of Siva, indicating that these are to be considered as the devotees of Siva. The naiae of the

Pallava king Nandivarman indicates the usuage of this name even in the pre-Gola period. The name of temples like Nandipura v i^a g a 3ram in the neighbourhood of Palaiyaru is a proof of the popularity of this name. Ho»ever Cola inscriptions do not possess this name in considerable frequency as it could have existed in the Pallava times. Though this name could be pointed out as spread throughout the Cola rule, the occurrences are chronologi«ally far between. 234- I ^ 65«l0Q' ITarasjiiii!^ and i^araslnga

llarasimha nayakan and ITarasinga bhattan are the only two persons with this attributive name of Vishnu. It is a common name during the Pallava rule, as oould be judged from the names of the Pallava kings, ex. Narasj/lii^varma. Though there are only two references to this name in our data, the frequency of this name^eeems to have increased after the coming of the Vijayanagar njle in South India. This name is a very common name among the vaislinavite Brahmins even now, X 65.101 Harayanan 25 donors, 17 Brahmins, Tofficers and about 50 temple staff are called ’narayanans*. The earliest mention of this name in a viide frequency for a woul could be found in

Silappadikaram. Tfeis name continues to be widely common even at present, particularly among those with Vaishpavite faith. There seems to be no restriction for this name concerning the strata of society in which it oould be accepted. It might be recalled that the feminine form of this name, IJaraylj^i, isjbome; a woman of Rajarajesvaram. This form, narayaijii, is not imoommon even now among the Brahmin women. Some examples for this name may be seen now. ITagan narayapan alias

Rajanarayana muvendavelan, a contemporary of Kiilottunga I and by profession, a mukavetti. Narayapa kramavittan, a member of the temple committee of 7anamar sola Isvaram.

Narayanan sattan of Kasyapa gotra, a priest. X 65.102 I?avukkarasu and other fonas Altogether four, three from among the temple staff and a donor are named Tirunavukkarasu, one of the faa:ous 235 nayarnasrs and a oonteiaporaiy of king Ii5iahendra vanaan.

(Though gev^am is full of the mention of the name of this saint, it is siirprising to note that only four names have come dovm to us from our collection. Yet the importance of the name and the memory of liirmavulckarasu or Tirunavukkaraiyar he as^has been named, cannot be bilittled, since the Cola inscriptions clearly state the importance of his images, X 65.103 Falaiaba 3 officers and 3 donors are called 8»nu4.amba-'. It is not certain whether this name connects No^-ambas with the bearers of this names. IT\i].appiLyarrskkllan velan perayiramudaiyan alias Ta^daka nadudaiyan and the native of TT'o^.appiyaru suggests tiiat nulaiaba < nuj.appa. Ihe etymological analysis of this name is explained in an earlier chapter. Other eaamples are*

Kulamba mayilattiyar alias Sandiran e^unujnruvan and

ITu^ambadhirajar, an officer of Kulottunga II I. Th(^eaning of mayilattiyar or mayilattiyar is not clear. All the nu^-ambas belong to the post-Kulottunga I class. X 65.104 Fomerals Perhaps the most problematic group of names is the one after numerals. Although wc are aware of the numerical place naiiies from other areas, particularly from Karnataka and the Deccan, it is difficult to account for n'omerical personal names borne by men and women within the Cola nadu proper.

(The names, of che kind just jgiven below, cculd be ment with — in the 3angam period or even during the present days.

lO^temple staff, 12 donors, 6 officers and 6 Brahmins bear the nunierical names. Eicept 7, which is famous as a 236 C-iTN favourite nmber ©J- stories and mythology, the rest of the

num'bers detailed bolow present a problsm which is as important

as it is difficult.

500j i’his name is borne only by the temple staff and

tliat too only by the singers of hymns of 3ajarajesvarara.

It might be suxniised that this oould be a naiae for 3iva.

exz. Ainnurruvan edu^tapadam alias Dharma sivan. Ainnurruvan

siyarl^ alias Tatpurusha sivan. The Jiumber of persons with

this numerical name is four.

75t ilubattaivan, a m usician of Hajarajesvaram is the only person to bear this num erical naiae, 102^; lurrenmsn, and his brother liuirepiian surri, guards of Rajarajesvaram are the only two persons to carry this numeral lor a name. I^furrepman, the first mentioned name does not carry any other naame andtihis suggests the possibility

of ITu^enaan being taken as a name proper as anj- other title

or code of designation.

48000* 1‘his seems to be the most favourite numerical name and has the largest occurrence for any number, 4^temple staff,

2 donors and 5 Brahmins carry this name. exx. U^patte^iayira- m a n i k k a m alias Adavallau, a subject of Adirajcndra, Udaiyan tittaiyar n£;rpatte^8yirattu tiruniia ka^i^appan,

Itarppttepnayira bhattan of Kausika gotra and ITarrpatt eg^^ira bhattan of Kasyapa gotra. Ij; is during the r'ole of ^

Adii^jendra, this name is first recorded and on account of this,this name oould be taken to belong to the post. ^Culottunga I

class though the curre^y had started a little earlier than

K\ilottimga I. 237

700: Two saaes, are named after this numeral, exx, Sandiran elunui^van alias Niil.amba mayilattiyar, a oontemporary of

Aditya II. Elimiunnivan alias Nu^amba nayilattiyar, also a oontemporary of the former, or probably the same as the former,

’700* names are not found in inscriptions of any other kings.

7: Serupposan eluvan, a subject of Aditya II and Eluvan tirumalapadi, ajsub;jeot of Rajadhiraja II are the only two names of this kind.

2000: irayiravan pallavan alias Mummudi sola posan, irayiravan pallavaiyan alias Uttama sola pallavaraiyan and Perundanam irayiravan pallavaiyan alias Mummudi sola posan alias Uttama sola pallavaraiyan are the names available after *4000*. oinoe these names range only in the inscriptions of Rajaraja I and Rajendra I, beyond doubt, all these three names belong to one and the same person.

300Ji Velkovan pukalan munnimnivan and^''Iunnurruvan desa vidangan are the only two names after munnuru, ’three hundred*.

4-000: Nalayiravan, father of ^irattirunumivan (1200) and Verrikuri nalayiravan are the only two names after this numeral,

600: Sandiran arunuruvan alias ^ a y i r a v a .... is theonly name after >600’ . This interesting name, due to the fact that the alternative name isjalso after a numeral, is unfortunately incomplete.

3000: Muvayira bhattan. A solitary case.

32: Muppattiruva bhattan. Another single case.

250 Irunu^aimbadinman amtturai, an officer of king’s correspendeno*, is the only available example. 238

lo9c Kovaluradaiyan kandan nu^enman, a personal secretary

of Rajaraja I is a sole case of ocourrenoe for this numeral.

400: Kuttadi nanu^uvan, a ‘Icllmukavetti* alone "bears

*400».

Nothing^ it appears^ oould be made out of these names, Ho

common feature seems to operate them either numerically,

chronologically and geographically,

X 65.105 j!^ana sivan

11 Jfana sivans, all of them with alternate names which

seem to be their re41 names, are found to be hymn singers

of Rajarajesvaram. The examination of all thenames of these

^ana sivans indicates that they are natives of Cola nadu proper.

It has been mentioned earlier that all the hymn singers of

Ra;)arajesvaram bear the name of Siva with some adjective

such as nana-,radra-,etc. X 65.106 Oloocan Oloocan Jatavendra narayanan, Oloccan vasudevan kari

maran, Oloccan govindan, all of them contemporaries of

A Kulottunga I and attached to the temple at Anbil are^the jcxx^ examples available for oloccan. Oloccan- is not found

as any part of any name in the inscillptions either before

or after Kulottunga I.

The implication or the significarfte of Oloccan, is not

clear. These three priests appear to have something in

common as indicated by oloocan, and coming from the same

place,

X 65:^107 Padmanaban This name of Vish^p is bom^ by two donors: Parpanaban govindan. 239 a contemporary of Uttama and Padmanaban karayil, an officer of Rajara;ja's correspondence and lord of Rajakesari nallT^.

Like ifedmanaban most of the names ov Visli^nu have only very few ooouirenoes, g 65.108 Pallavan ol^ !Two^temple staff, five donors and five officers are named with this dynastic name of the Pallavas.

irayiran pallavaiyan alias Mummudi sola posan, a treasury officer of Rajaraja I, and Pallavan sakki alias Abarajitan vadavayil, a|tailor of Rajarajesvaram are the two Pallavans among the temple staff.

Avandia kova Pallavaraiyan alias Mayilai ti:p^an, Pallavan brahmamarayan alias Kesuvaiyan, Pallava peraraiyan alias

Rajakesari peralyan, Pallavaraiyan alias A^avanda pillai, lord of Nelveli are some examples for this name among the donors.

Prom the above examples it may be seen, that, invariably every one mentioned here has an aDLternate name, which feature is an indication of their officialdom or aristocracy. Though alternate names are not uncommon among persons of ordinary rank, it is pointed out that, the carriage of the name of a royal dynasty, combined with -araiyan which is usually indicative of aristocracy and occupying 6ffice in the treasury or being the chief man of the ur (as in the case of Alavanda pi].lai) clearly indie at ei. that these persons have direct or indirect gen^logical relations with the Pallava royal household, which, though lost of its position and power, continued to exist even up to the peak of the Cola hegemopy.

It may be observed that the husband of Kundavai, the elder 240 sister of Hajaraja I, was a Vallavaraiyan vandlyadevan, a Pallava prince.

That the Eallava nam« could figure as nothing more than a mere name is known from the sole example of Pallavaraiyan a resident of Srlrangam.

An important point to be noted here is that none of the

Brahmins oarrSt^this name. We have pointed out earlier that royal na^Ties among the Brahmins are almost or totally absent and this feature is true of 'Pallavaraiyan' or any of its other forms.

X 65.109 Panmahesvara This name which is an attribute of Siva, iajbome by two

Brahmins living in the post-Kulottanga I period. Both of them are called Panmahesvara bhat^an.

X 65.110 Papdita This word meaning 'scholar* is found as a suffixal part of the name of two persons, Dharma siva panditan and Isana

Siva pan^itan. Whether this name is really indicative of soholarliness or whether it was just a title cannot be understood for want of more information.

65.111 Parakesari A title of Cola kings, 'Parakesari* is borne by only officers, Parakesari muvendave^ar, an officer of Rajaraja I,

Parakesari muvendavelan alias Kodukula sattan, an officer of Uttama and Parakesari Pallavaraiyan, an officer of Rajendra I are the three with this name. Their official position and the titles 'muvendavelan* and *pallavaraiyan* indicate that the royal title Parakesari, was also given as official titles 241

to the officers of administration. It appears that the reason for this title not being continued after Rajendra I might be perhaps due to the constant engagements with the Oa^ukyas from Rajendra I till the arrival of Kulottunga I and also due to the reason that titles took a new turn after

Kulottunga's ascendency, H 63.112 Paramesvara 3 donors and a Brahmin carry this name, which is susually attributed to Siva, meaning 'the great god». Nakkan paramesvajan of Kasyapa gotra the Brahmin, Paramesvaran ganga kulorpavan siyakangan amarabharanan alias Tiruvekambamudaiyan and

Paramesvara slyakangar alias S^anayagar are the only three possessing this name of Siva. It is to be noted that this name is familiar in the siyaganga family as judged from the last two examples. This name is common now.

X 65.113 Parantaka 4 names of officers are only those to be foiind after the name of this Oola king. Judging from the four examples available, it is not unlikely that three of the officials are related with the royal household, exx, Parandakan kunjaramallan alias vlrasola i^angoveil. is the husband of queen Varakujoaperumanar. Pai^ntaka pallavaraiyan alias

Velan Adittan, an officer of RaUarajesvaram, besides

-pallavaraiyan carries the name of another king, Aditya.

PBrantaka muvendavelan alias Sirringapudaiyan, chronologically not seperated far from Aditta II, could be related to the

Parantaka rulers I and II .

Parandaka pal^ivelan, a name markedly different by the 242 -palli- stands out as un-Gola. This general, an officer of Pandya raja simha, appears to have been nam8.d after the-

Parantaka, a pandya king.

The ourrenoy of this name has stopped after Ra;jaraja I. i 65.114 Paranjotl

Paranjodi pattalakan, an officer of Uttama and Parangodi nilan alias Ananda vikrama muvendave^an, also an officer of the same king, are the only two persons who bear the name of one of the nayanraars, Paranjodi, who was the commander in chief of the king Mahendravarman. It could not be guessed why this name is not carried on in spite of the popularity of Paranjodi as a nayanmar.

X 63.115 Pasupatl

This name often written as Pasuvati, is an attribute of i ^<61 and is found only among the Brdamins, and that too only of Kasyapa gotra. Molre^ bver it is to be noted that all of them have more oijless the same name, belonging to the same temple of Tirappainlli and come under the same king, being contemporaries, exx. Kaccuvan kaigidan pasuvati, Kaccuvan pasubati nllakandan and Kaccuvan tattan pasubati. It is not explainable why these four persons having the same name come from the same town and belong to the same gotra.

I± is not unlikely that they might have been brothei& This name is not found either before or after Ra;jaraja I in any of the inscriptions, Oola or Pallava.

X65.II 6 Palasiriyan Three donors and one Brahmin posses Palasiriya- <

Balasiriya-. The earliest reference of this name is to be 243 found in the nai.^es of the Sangam poets. Palasiriyar nappalanar

(Akananuru 172), Palasiriyar Narramanar (Akananuru 92),

Palasiriyanar sendan korranar (ISfarrlgai 322) are the examples.

Almost all of the Palasiriyanars of the Sangam times belong to Madurai, suggesting that the Palasiriyan family must have originated in Madurai proper in the Sangam days. The interpretation that i^lasiriyan ment ’teaoher of children* cannot be «cofi>y^ accepted as it is most unlikely that whether the Sangam people would^have chosen a Sanskrit term for this designation.

Furthermore, the *Palasiriyan» of the inscriptions which is a clear descendant of the Sangam Palasiriyan functions differently.

The -vadugan in Palasiriyan nai^pan vadugan is indicative of the bearer being of Telugu origin, -sattan kari in

Palasiriyan sattan kari is indicative of nothing concerning teaching of children. Palasiriyan d^odiran Bbaskara bhattan is complete enough for the name of a Brahmin of the inscriptional timei. The analysis of the Sangam Palasiriyans indicate that even apart from the Palasiriyan prefixes, the names are complete in thimselves. Palasiriyan could not necessarily be the name proper nor they are likely to be those of any teachers of children. All the inscriptional Palasiriyans belong to the same ur and are contemporaries^ an unambiguous information .

Ae in some other cases, this is most probably a family name and that too only of the Brahmins, In otheijwords, thiSis could be counted as a gotra, Basasriya, which had become extinct after Uttama sola. 2U t 65.117 Palllkogdan

Palli kondan Icuttan alias VlliSattaraiyan alias Sirram\^daiyan is the only person who is named after Pallikondan, a name of V^shpu., indicative of his anandasayana. -kuttan, Siva's name is also found as a part of his name as in some oiE the names after Vishnu's attributes. I’his name belongs to post-

Kulottunga I period.

65»118 I^mban

2 donors and one Brahmin are named after ‘snake wearer', a name of Siva or after his snake itself, exx. P^bu di^idi ajanda murtti bha^^'Jan, a Brahmin priest of Kulottunga I I 's times, P^ban alias Tiruvalanjuytkkon, his contemporary and resident of the same \lr, Tiruvalanjuli, and I^amalkkon pamban are the only persons with this name. This name is not found before Rajaraja II and after Kul^ottunga II. It might not be wrong to class this name as bebngin^ to the naga- group, as pambu is a general name for the genus,and nagam for the species. This name seems to be totally absent in the official or high ranking society.

X 65.119 Papdya

Two names, each of different type, are available.

Sri vikrama pa^idya devar samandan tiruc c irrambalamudaiyan alias Sola pandita marayan, a member of his town committee and Sundara pandya konar alias Madevar alagiya sokkanar, bear -pa^idyan-. The first name is a curious mixture of

Pandya and Cola names, -devar, the honerifia: suffix clearjy states that the bearer of this name Sri vikrama pandya is 245 of Pa:ndya house-hold. -s^andan tiruoolrrambalamudalyan is

a mme typical of Cola nadu and might have been given or adopted

after this man’s domicile in the Cola nadu, or after he

has been taken into the service of the administration, -marayan

signifies his officialdom and sola pa^i^ya- is indicative

of the fact that he was Colanized with the dynastic name.

Sundarapan^yakonar alias Madevar alagiya sokkanar is an

officer who is named after the Pandya king Sundara pan^ya.

The alternative name madevar fidagiya sokkanar also appears

to have been given at a later stage. These two names suggest

1 the habit of naiaing non-Gola officers with Cola names when A — “ they are taken into service. The rarily of Pandya name in

Cola time and area is obvious

X 65.120 farttasaradi

A Brahmin, P^ttasaradi hhattan, of Rajaraja cadurvedimangalam

bears this name of Krishna. The time of his living cannot

be ascertained as the name of the king whose inscription

mentions this Brahmin is missing.

X 65.121 Peruman and Perumaj.

The significance of Perumal and Peruraan has been discussed

when analysing the names of the gods and goddesses, Perumal

is borne by three donors and one member of the temple staff,

and by an officer, exx. Pai^vari alagg^peruma^ and Periya

peruB^^ alias Amarakon are Pandya subjects. Peruma^, son

of Aru^alakon is a donor as these two. Kutta perumal, a

priest of the Tirukkalukkiinram temple is the only one of the

temple staff. The first of these two Perumals appears to be

naroed after Vishpu, rather than Siva, to judge by -alaga peinama^., 246 which is a name for Vishnu and is also the name of the god of Alagar malai a few miles away from Madiarai. The -kon suffix implies that of the bearer of this name is a shepherd or a milkman and is most likely to be named after their favo-urite god Vishnu rather than §i\a , Kutta perumal, is ✓ none other than Siva, the 'great danoer’ .

Ecoa peruman, a temple servant: of the first Parantaka»s times, Aiyan peruman, a subject of Aditya II, Aditta peruman somasi, a sub;ject of Hajaraja I and iDirunatta peruman of

TiruTranaikka, probably the latter‘s contemporary are all the perujnsns. Eoca peruman signifies 5iva. Eocil, is 'left over food*, which is given ts5 begsflcrs, Eoca peruman is an attributive name of Siva, sinoe the b e g g ^ in religious literature is none other than Siva. The naaes Eocumandai, 'begging bowl and Eocil among the women of Rajara;jesvaram is recalled.

She -peruman in Aditta peruman might indicate the king rather than any other. Aiyan pearuman is the name of »ome village or ancestral god.

An estimation of these names show^that while peruman was * A exclusively confined to Siva, perumaij. was not so much restricted, and its meaning could depend on local variation either Vishnu or Siva. Perhaps 'perumal' meaning Vishnu was more in vogue in Pandya nadu than in the Cola nadu proper or even in Tondai nadu.

X 65.122. Piccan

.6 ^temple temple staf;staff, 11 donors and two officers are named after this name of Siva, Shis name seems to have been a 247

favoiirite among the temple staff and donors. It is noteworthy

that none of the Brahmins bear^ this name although this is

of Sanskrit origin. (< Bikshadana)

A±aiyan piocan, Dakshi^iameru vidanga piocan, E^uttapada

piooan of Kasyappa gotra are some examples for this name

from among the temple staff. Periya piooan, Pioca devan- kunikkum piran and Rajaraja Piocan are someddonors.

This name is fou^d in all classes of society and also

among women, implying the wide usuage of this name in

Oola tines, paii;ioularly after Rajara;ja I, Modem names like

Piooan, Piooai, Piooaikka^u are remnants of the influenoe

of the insoriptional and hagiologioal literary piooan. 65.1j?3 X.Pidaran

3 donors and one officer are named 'P i ^ ^ a n ', an attributive name of Siva due to his wearing of the snake on his head.

Pudi aditta pidaran alias Sembiyan i}ango ve!J., Pidaran, father of Sengada kon, Satti acca pidaran (sakti aksha pidaran) alias Vadakarai natta ve^an and Sendan acca p id ^a n are the pidarans in our data. It can be seen that the first is a noble or chieftain, the second a shepherd anduthe tird perhaps a cultivator. It may be assumed that Pidaran could have been borne by all sections of the people. This name disappears gradually after Kulottunga I.

X 65.124 Piran

Maniyan siru piran, a name aliready analysed, Tirukkurukkai

piran, Attiki^i nambi piran, Narayana senda piran bhattan

of Bharaitvaja gotra and #)ambi piran bhattan are all the pirans availatile with us| The chronological coverage of 248

this name, though with very few references, is spread

almost over the entire rule of the Oolas. This name does

not seem to be popular among the officers and all the

examples given here tells nothing of importanoe of the bearers, 0'^ either sooial^politioal.

X 65.125 Pillai or Pillalyar

An officer, four donors and two[temple staff carry either

PiJ-^ai or Pilfaiyar. exx. Karippillai alias Rajagambira

kaijaltkam ko^^an and iCurrur kilavan udaiya pi^lai sokka

E'anasambandan of Tiruvanaikka are examples for pi^^-ai being

borne with a connotation of nothing more than ‘child* or

’a young man*. Udaiya pillai, the head man of Kur^ar possesses

a name which lookslike the proto-type of the modera caste

naid6-pil].ai,

Pi}5.aiyar nadarandaka pottappi solan, fo\inder of a she^

shepherd guild in Kanjlpuram appears to be a person of royal

household by his honorific prefix »pil}aiyar‘ . Pi^^aiyar

nllagangamiyar is another such e*ample. -araiyar and PiJ^aiyar

are definitely implicative of high ranking. Besides, the

honorific suffix: a:id the epecene plural -ar in Pil^aiyar

is a proof of the elevated social position of the Pi5.].aiyars

over the mere PilJ.ais,

Vhat could have been the time and the origin of the

Pillai caste or rather the name of the caste if not the

caste itself, is rather unsafe to speak about without any

deeper analysis of the caste and corroborating the evidences with inscriptional records. However the origin of this name 249 might be disuossed,

IDhe root of pll^ai is pil-, ’split, divide, seperate’ . pi^lai m ^ t > that which is sepeiyated* and this word was used to denote any yoiing one?^ particularly of mammals.

Even in spoken Tamil, pil^ai is used to denote plantlings of ooooanut, palmyrrah andother suoh trees, exx. TennampiJ^ai

Panambil].ai etc. *Pi};j.ai» child was adopted in due course to grown up child or a young man. The next stage would have been the carriage of this nomenclature as the name proper or even as a aesignation as in the case of ’pi^aiyar* which denoted ‘prince’ . This designation, onee given to some one, could be handed over as a family naji-e, which turns in due course into a caste name, Just as 'manra^iy^' or

’kadavarayar’ .

X 65.126 Posan

4 donors and a Brahnin own^ this name. The earliest reference cones in the inscriptions of Mitya II, The meaning or the sif^nifiosnce of this name is not clear. Since the records speak only of -posan and not as -bosan, it night not be safe to connect this name to Boja. Ijumuiiu^i sola posan alias irayiravan pallavaiyan, an officer of ri:ajar&;Ja I,

Nandisami posar, Posar soma deva bhattar aare some examples.

The suspicion whether this could be a family name or a caste naiae is imnediBtely removed by Serupposan eluvan a relative

Vaikliaaasan kali nlkki bhattan. This kali nikki ’eradicater of kali' does not carry posan.

X 6^.127 Pottan

Sendaraippottan is the only person, a donor, beajring 250 this pottan. I’hough apparently rare in the Cola inscriptions, this name could be easily connected to one of the titles of Wahendravarman, »Itottaraiyan», ’Pottaraiyan’means the araiyan of the Pottans, i .e . the king of the Pottans. Who the Pottans were cannot be said with the help of the Cola inscriptions alone, Pottan looks like a Beluga name. Since this name is mentioned in Uttama’ s inscriptions, it might be surmised that the Pottana were still existing up to the time of Uttama,

X 65»128 PrabaKaran

iDhis name of Vishnu is borne by a Brahmin only. Prab^ara bhattan, who seems to be an immigrant into Cola nadu, as the name of his w6fe, Kagalawaiccani betrays a Kannada origin.

At present, Prabakaran is mor^omraon in Kera]J.a than in

Tamilnad.

X 65,129 Padi One Brahmin, five officers and two donors are Pudis. »il

»Pu.di* is none other than a neuter form of Pudan, the etymology of which will be explained later.

Ms^avan p u d iy ^ alias Tennavan i^angi ve^ar, Pudi parandakan alias Sembiyan irukkuvel, Adittam budi alias Madurandaka irukkuvel are the important persons among the -pudi bearers.

All these pudis are invariably vels and all of them bear alternate names which are similar to or connected with royal names, exx, Parandakan, Sembiyan, Madurandakan and idittan are names of kings. The royal names combined with the carriage of irukkuvel or ilangovel indicate that pudi was a common name among the vels. One pudi holds a ajmastic name, Sembiyan, 251 and, just like those mentioned above carries an alternate name. Whether this person, 2andi pudi alias Serabiyan uttara- mandiri belongs to a family of cliiefs just like the ve^s is not certain} perhaps not, whdn taken with another example

Pudi tiruvorrisruradiga^., a Brahmin of Kasyapa gotra,

X 65.130 b W b sivan Five PurvB sivans are mentioned. Except one, Purvasivan alias A^avallan alias Pattarka^ nayakka piocan, a contemporary of Kulottunga I, the rest of Purva sivans are singers of hymns at Rajarajesvaram. It is interesting to note that the name Purvasivan created by Rajaraja I, unlike some of the names of the singers of hymns at Rajara^jesvaram, is carried by at least one person well aftgr Rajaraja I.

X 65.131 Queens* names

3 temple staff, one Brahmin and two doiiors carry names of queens. Panjavan madevi nadagamayyan alias Kuravan vira solan, a dancing master of Rajarajesvaram, Panjavan manga:j.a peraiyan alias Pava rudiran and Panjavan peraiyan alias

Puvanisegaran karpakam, a lamp lighter, both of them of

Rajesvarara are named after the queen Panjavsin madevi.

Panjavan madevi bhattan bears the name of the same queen or the name of some other queen or royal woman having the same name. Trilotiyan alias Koda^darams. marayan and ulakamulududai- yar are the two donors who bear the name of the post-

Kulottuiiga I queens, Trilokkiya mulududaiyal and Ulakam- mulududaiye^.

It is interesting to observe that no name after the queens corner from the list of the officers. Perhaps most of them form 252 members of some arti^cratio families which ooiild oarry names

of their own. Besides, any among men, the names after the

queens cotild not be said to be a oommon feature, while, women are named efter kirigs. All the six names mentioned

here could be put under two groups, those after Panjavan mahadevi, queen of Ra;]ai^3d I and those after the queens

of Kulottunga I. It is difficult to determine the cause for being named after theseparticular queens alone and none other. Perhaps their popularity might be chosen as a reason and nothing more about thisjcould be said considering

that no oommon feature operates among the examples.

X 65.132 Rangaiiatha Sri ranganata bhattan, a contemporary of Kulottunga I is the only person bearing the name.This name which is very common among the Vaishnavite Brahmins is found to be mentioned only once in the inscriptions. The earliest reference to this name could be found in the name of Srirangam, the arangam of Silappadikaram which indicates the carrency

of Ranganatha even in the classical times, though not wSdely mentioned. Further research concerning the idntification

of Mai with Vishnu xfould thliow light on the presence of

Vish^ worship in the classical times.

X 65.133 Ravi This name of the sun has only a solitary mention.

Ravi mapdala bhatta somayajiyar, a contemporary of Kulottunga I

and by profeRsion, a member of the temple committee of Vanamar

soli isvaram, is the only ’ravi» bearer. 253

K. 65.134 Rudra ; otii^ A name of Siva, Rudra, is borne by 3 ^temple staff and 5

Brahmins. The earliest reference to this name oould be found in the list of the authors of the oangam verses. K adiyal^ uruttiranga^am r, author of a KXorundokai verse (352) bears this name of Siva. Uruttiran < rudra. This name suggests that Siva was known in Tamilnad as Rudra even in the classical days, Bhava rudra bhatjan, Rudrs bhattan (three persons with thia name araong the Brahmins) and Uruttiralcuittara bhatta soma- ya;jiyar are the Rudras among the Brahmins. Rudra sivan alias

Venikadan namasivayan, hie fellow worker in the same temple and Bhavarudra kramavittan alias Sandesvara, a subject of

Rajendra I and a temple manager of Tinmai^esvaran are the temple staff bearing the Rudra name. All these names indicate even at first sight that only Bafste&niy lAsed to carry this name. Although nothing definite is mentioned about Ve^a^an who is also a Rudra sivan, on the analogy with other sivans in the service of the Rajarajesvaram, h^culd also be taken to be a BrahmiJi. This name is foiaid'jto be steady till the end of the Cola rule.

'a 65.135 Rajaraja

9 “temple staff, 19 officers, 4 doiiora and one Brahmin bear the name of this most famous king. More than any other kings, the nano of Rajaraja I is borne by almost all sections of the people. He have mentioned earlier that, to judge by our naterial, it is very uncommon for any Brshmin to bear thejname of ariy king and this feature is proved by the only reference to the very popular name of Rajaraja I among the 254 name of the Brahmins. Rajaraja bhattan, ajresident of

Tirukkalar and a subject of Rajadhiraja II, the bearer of this name testifies the influence of the name of Rajara;)al and it was so powerful that it could penetrate the naming

habits of the Brahmins also.

The Rajaraja names among the temple staff fall under a different class of its own, .lust as the -sivan names given for the hymn singers of Rajarajesvaram. With only one exception, the Rajaraja names come from the members of the temple staff of Rajai^jesvaram. All these members have alternate names of their own, a^lear proof that these alternate names were the original names of these members of the staff and that

'Rajaraja' was given to them on or during the service at

Ra;jara;jesvaram and prefixed to or suffixed with the deaiga^ designation of each bearer of this name, exx, Rajaraja perundaccan alias Kunjaramallan vira solan was the master carpenter (perundaocan = master carpenter). Rajaraja peru- navisan alias Seyadaran nettanam was the barber for Rajar^jesvaram.

(perunavisan » master barber). Rajaraja pertangavidi alias

Acoan timvengadam was the master accountant of the temple,

(perungavidi = master accountant). One person,Rajaraja pallavaraiyan, measurer of paddy doss not have any alternate name. This could be accounted by stating that being in charge of the granary of the temple might have been a very

high officer and of aristocratic family which fact is explained by the suffix -araiyan. Almost all the officers who carry the name of Rajaraja

are very highranking in the field of administration and in

society. Rajaraja llangovelar alias Rajaraja madurandakan, 255 lord of Hadar and the »Dhandanayaka», Rajarajan paraniruba- rakshasanar alias Virasola i^angoveij., lord of Nadar and the ’Senapati’ , Rajaraja vangara muttaraiyan alias Sendan adittan, and Ra;JaraJan Jayarikonda solan alias Imkkuve^ar are some 'jvery high officers belonging to the aristooratic families of Ilango vels, Muttaraiyars and the Ilango vels.

It appears that it is not unlikely that these posts used to descend geneologically from one person to another to judge by the names of two ilangovels mentioned above. Both

0^ ^ A A AAA A of them^ilangove:i.s and lords of Nadar. Rajaraja madurandakan is a contemporary of Rajaraja while the other i^angwvel is a subject of Kulottunga I. The nativity and the posts and the families of these two persons are the same suggesting beyond doubt that not only these persons are geneologically related, but also that, the post these two held, could geneologically descend. This feature is supported by another pair of names. Rajaraja vangara muttaraiyan alias Sendan adittan and Rajaraja vangara muttaraiyan alias Mandali, contemporaries and subjects of Rajai^ja I I and Kulottunga m respectively, could have borne Rajaraja vangara- only by being gen^logically related.

-muvendavelar, -brahmadirajan, -brahmamarayan, -ton^aiman

-vaj.avadaraiyar are some of the family titles which sa.- figure among the vbearers of Rajaraja names. Created during

Rajaraja I, this name is steadily carried on till the end of the Cola nile, with the addition of -sola, as RRaj-endar'

Rajaraja sola- . Incidentally it may be pcjnted out here that the name KulSttunga did exist even before Kulottunga I 256 started ruj.ing as the Cola monaroh, a faot vhioh is known from the name Rajarajan alias Kulottunga jayamuri nadalvan, a contemporary of Rajendra I . ijhis also tells the existence of Kulottunga jayamuri nadu, about whioh nothing more is known than its mere name and that Kulottunga jayamuri must have been the name of an individiial, most probably of an aristocrat or that of some king himself.

All the five persons who carry Rajaraja-^names, and though figuring in the inscriptions as donors are of high rank in society and administration, a fact which is determined by the presence of alternate names for these persons, and the carriage of some suffixes denotive of high rank as muvendave!J.ar or araiyar, exx. Rajaraja muvendavejar alias Perunallur udaiyan adittan solaiyar and Ra^jaraja idlagangaraiyan alias

Tiruocura kappappan adinayakan panjanadi vapan. k 65»136 Rajanarayapan

All the Rajanarayapans of our material belong to the post-Kulottunga I class. No names are available of this kind either from the temple staff, donors or Brahmins,

Except one, Rajanarayaijian valavadaraiyan, a witnessing officer of Kulottunga II, the rest of the Rajanarayapans are muvenda- velans and are »Tirumandira olais», or ’mukavettid». Th4.s suggests that ’Ra^anarayam muvendavelan' has been a title for the officers oftthe correspondence department of Kulottunga I and his successors. It cannot be told with certainty whether the Rajanarayapa muvenda velans were gen^logically related on account of the absence of any alternate names, which, perhaps had not been recordedj^ue to some unknown reason. 257

X 65.137 Rajendra

8 officers and one Bratimin carry the name of Rajendra I,

The lone Brahmin's name coidd be discounted as belo^lnging

Virarajendra whose subject he was, though his name is available

only as ....rajendra bhattan. Except two of the officers,

the rest of them are named Rajendra solas, followed by some

titles or some family names, exx. Rajendra sola irulclqive^ar,

Rajendra sola Brahmamarayar alias Zrishpan r ^ a n , Rajendra

sola anukka pallavaraiyan. All of the officers are directly connected with the central administration as indicated by

the titles >olai nayakam’ , *adilcari», 'penmdarattu senapati*

etc. Rajendra sola- names are not met after Rajendra I. It might be recalled that Rajendra I was engaged in fighting most of the days of his life and perhaps his attention was more drai^n towards the fights than towards the administration, which could not have needed much attention, as it had just been laid down afresh by Rajaraja I. This perhaps explains the reason for less names after aa4«e;a^a=i=aad Rajendra I, though

he was a very powerful king.

Rajendra simha muvendave^an and Rajendra singa muvendavelan, citizens of perhaps Kulottunga I are mentioned as »Olai nayagams’ . considering with other muvendave^ans, Rajendra simha muvenda- velans might have been named so after the official designations

and need not necessarily carry the names of their own.

X 65.138 Rsbgian

One of the temple staff, 3 Brahmins^ ajid 3 donors and 2 officers

carry this name. The earliest reference to thia name is met with in an Akananuru verse (70) as belonging to that of a 258

person sung upon.

P itta r ^a bhushar! ii^nan, a revenue official of Rajendra I

and Alankaran srlranan also his contemporary are the officers.

Ir^an waravan, Ma^alur u^aiyan r^an alias nilava^ai vettaiv^

nayan, Ramabhat-fan are the donors, K ^ J i posan srinarasingar^a

bhattan, Srir^a bhattan and Srlr^anada bhat];an are the

Brahmins called ‘damans'. Aravamudu sri r ^ a n of H ^ ’ita gotra

is the only^staff mentioned as a raman. Of the officers,

Krish^jan rajoan alias Rajendra sola brahmamrayan is an

important person.

It is most likeiy that all the famans could have been

Brahmins, as it could be told from the names of bhattars and the absence of any family names for the rest. It may be remarked that the Tamil R^ayanam was written by the end of the Oola rule and this accounts for the lack of wide currency of this name before the story of R^ayapam was popularised at the time of Kulottunga I I , Raman has a wide currency at present. ♦ X 65.139 sd£its»b names Madevan tinmana sambandan alia« &anasivan of RajaraJesvaram and Manikka vasakan alias Periya nayan are the two named after Tirunana sambandar and Mapikka vasakar respectively, both of whom were the nayannars.

X 65.140 Script

There is only one aamed after the »five scripts« which is a synonym for the religiously famous invocation 'namasivaya*.

This unique name, Ainjeluttan is borne by a priest at

Tirukkalukkunram at the time of Sundara pandya»s invation 259 C.O Of 'iiasiinad in the last phase of the Oola rule. The presence of this nane in the inscriptions jwouLd be of help to fix the date of the related portions of religious literature, particularly those concerning passages concerning the conception of 'namasivaya*, At present ’namasivayam' as a name could be found existing still.

H 6 5 . 1 4 1 S a d a siv a n Araiyan sadasivan, a relative of a raeTCber of the Rajarajesvaram staff and a Brahnin, Sadasiva bhat1;an are the only two persons carrying this nane which is now comiaon as a name. She earUest reference to this name, after Siva, is found ;in the inscriptions of Rajaraja I and the latest in that of Sundara Pandya.

X 65.142 Sadayan

This name of Siva Is due to his matted hair, 'sa^ai*.

The earliest reference to the use of this word sa^ai in Tamil is found in the coamentttry of A^iyarlcku nallar in the word sadatari < Jatadari?^ Though rare in the inscriptions,,this name of Siva is found in Tevaram very frequently.

^ 6 5 .1 4 3 S a h a sra n Sirilango sahasran is the only one mentioned in the inscriptions with this name of Vish^iu, suggestive of his thousand other names. This na.ne still persists among the people at present, though not frequently, as • sahasranamam.*.

X 65x14 4 Sam bandan Iraman sambandan alias Satya sivan and Kali sambandan alias

Dharma sivan, both of them hymn singers of the Rajarajesvaram carry the name of this nayanmar, Tirunana sambandar. Apart from the two Just mentioned none else carry this name to judge by our data, though this narae isvery common in and 260 around Ohldambarom.

X 6 5 ,14 5 Sainkara

This name of Siva is "bome by only two persons, Samkaradeva and Sainkara kramavittan, subjects of Rajaraja I and Rajendra I respectively,

X 65.14-6 Sattan

One of the temple staff, 10 donors, 2 officers and 5 B rahm ins I * ‘V are nan e ^ after the village god Sattan, the Tamil e^valent of which is Aiyan. The first recorded mention of this name isfound in the list of the Sangam verses. Sattan, the grain merchant of Madurai and Sattan of 8 i t t 6Q.ai are the two being the earliest sattans to be recorded.

It may be observed that the nam in^abit afliing the Brahmins tx. who ' ^ e not easily prono to accept names deno^tive of native gods and goddesses, stiHadm it the name of Sattan, suggestive of the powerful influence of this ancestral god. exx, Uarayapan sattan of Kaupdinya gotra, Narayapan sattan of Kasyapa gotra, Oloocan sattan govindan, Sattan sendan (vacciyan) and M^an sattan (vatlnqii) are the sattan Brahmins, Vishnu’s names

Narayanan and Goyndan is carried along with the name of Sattan.

Sattan sendan and M%^an sattan cannot be distinguished as

Brahmins, but for the mention of their gotras in the Tamilised form. An examination of all these names indicatei. that the influence and worsbiip of Sattan was very powerful even during the 'Jolajtimes, though the Cola inscriptions do not make much notice of it, and that the worship was carried on without any discrim ination in the presence of the new canonical gods like Narayapa which explains for the combination of Sattan 261 with the names of Vishpu. It may be sumiiaed that Sattan worship was more among the Vaisbipavlte Brahmins rather than among the Saiv^te Brahmins none of whose natne5 figures in the list among the Brahmin sattans. O-nt ^ It is not just an aooident that there is only^narae of Sattan among the temple staff, Sattan ambalam, head of the 3aka(Jai kottigal of Hajara;je3varam, perhaps a non-Brahmin by profession, isthe only Sattan among the temple staff. His name seems as if it is his own and not a later coinage and bears no alternate name unlike most of the members of the Rajarajesvaram staff.

Perhaps his non-oanonioal narce was tolerated by the canonical disciplinarians of Rajarajesvaram, as he was holdingja very important post in the temple as others. The reason for the rarity of the name of Sattan in the insod. ptions and particularly among the temple staff has already been explained.

Some names of donors which fonri the bulk of the Sattan group may be examined. Nandi sattan of !}arifca gotra, Sendan sattan, a shepherd, M %an satta bhatta sittan, Palasiiriyan sattan kari, Sattan gu^abhattan p.lias Haraooars^ sekaran are some who figure in the inscriptions as donors. Here also it maj be observed that expept the shepherd, the rest are Brahmins.

Kodi kulavan sattan alias Parakeaari muvendavelan, an officer of Uttama and Suvaran sattan also his contemporary are the tvro officer sattans.

The name of Sattan is totally absent not only among the

Bralmins now, but also anong the urban population of the present days. The reason for the disappeai^nce of this name 262 after the Colas might be important and should he taken up hy any who deals with the post-Oola ethnography.

An amlysis of ths Sangam names indicatesthat the frequency of Sattan names was muoh higher in olassioal times than in the insoriptional period. Some e*amples are: Nacoattani^ of Alisi, Masattanar of Aduturai, Sattanar of Alanberi,

Masattanar of Okkur, Seraman sattan of Karur!^, i>adan sattan of Karuvur, Kadapi^ai sattan of Karuvur, Sautantandaiyar,

Sattamr of To^^i Amw, Peri sattanar eto.

The presence of so many naaes after Sattan in the Sangam days confirms the widely prevalent ancestor worship, and, as canonioii religion developed in historical times, the importance to the Sattan worship was gradually reduoed, whioh could be seen frora the very infrequent mention of Sattan names in the inscriptions. The presence of these names among the BrdTmins oould be interpreted as remnant influence of this ancient ha\iit of naming after Sattan.

^ 65.147 Selvan Selvan ka^vati temban alias Dharma sivan, a singer of hymns at Rajara;Josvarar>i is the only person bearing this type of naDie, Selvam, wealth, form the name content of this.

Selvan, would mean, one who is prosperous and metaphorically, a person who is an incarnation of prosperity itself. The femine fona of this name, selvi, is found in the name of the goddess Vadavayil selvi mentioned earlier. Selvan oould mean, son or child, and it isjin this sense perhaps selvan is carried along wj.th kapa\-e,ti. The name means* (Janapati the sen (of Siva). # Selvan is very common in literature and also as a part of 263 modern names.

X 65.148 Sembiyan

This is a synonym for Oola, particularly in the olassioal times. This name is< carried up to the end of the Oola rule. ol) fKx Three^temple staff, seven donors and fourteen officers are called Sembiyans, It is^portant to note that nonejof the

Brahmins oarr^this famous and ancient dynastic name of the

Oola kings. We shall analyse the ’Sembiyan* in every group.

Sembiyan muvendavelan, a resident of Tiruviliocilur and a subject of Y lr a sola does not carry any alternate name. It is most likely that this temple supervising official did carry the name of biis own, for -muvendavelan, not being a family name, but only of an official status, presupposes the existence of some name which is not recorded here. Sembiyan muvenda velan like the other two names to be mentioned here just now was a title, Sembiyan perungavidi alias Mapali lingan and Sembiyan vinai adittan alias Subrahmanyan kuttan, both of tferaii Hajarajesvaram, master accountant and master vlpai player respectively suggest that Sembiyan- is followed by their professional name, being a coinage for official designation, just like the names suffixed to Rajaraja- .

Of the officers, a few appear to carry Sembiyan as if it is a name of their own. Sembiyan i^ango ve^ alias

Pudi parandakan, Sembiyan ilango vel alias Pudi aditta pidaaran are the t;^o Sembiyans carrying ’sembiyan’ as their personal and not as any official name. The examination of the names indicatesthat 'sembiyan’ does belong to some aristocratic families which appear to be much younger 264 when compared with the Sembiyan pudis, Sembiyan pallavaraiyan alias Kasdan n^apindan, a tax officer and Sembiyan pallavaraiyan alias Udaiyanjeidan vinayakan appear^belong to this class.

The name Sembiyan tamila ve} is interesting as it carries th^name of the language And is mentioned in an inscription of iditya I. Among the officers, to judge by our list, 'sembiyan' is frequent almost from the beginning of the Cola rule and less frequent after Kulottunga I. Some more Sembiyans about whom nothing more could be said except that they come from aristocratic families as their secondary parts of their names indicate. Sembiyan sola varaiyan alias tlaran paramesvaaran,

Sembiyan vBlavadaraiyan and Sembiyan vilupparaiyan etc# are some examples, -va^avadaraiyan, -solavaraiyan and -vilupparaiyan are suffixes of these names deno^ive of nobility.

The fact that the Sembiyan name had not totally died out after the Collapse of the Sangam Oola is proved by the existence of 'sembiyan' among the persons of ordinary rank.

Sometimes the presence of a name among the ordinary persons is a good test for the continuity of the name. Sembiyan k u r r ^ ,

Semb iyan kiliyur najtu kon, Sembiyan panaiyur na^;^ ve^an are the names of very ordinary persons. Probably thiB name totally died with the end of the Cola rule.

The general belief that Sembiyan < Saibya cannot be entertained. It is most likely to be a Tamil name, since it is difficult to believe that this name, one of the most ancient and important dynastic names of the Oolas could have had any Sanskritic origin. A reconstruction can i>e attempted, 'sembiyan' or its reconstructed proto-form 'seppiyan' 265 as such means 'copper man’ . The suffix of this word is not mere-n or-an for the masculine demonstrative, but -iyan meaning 'man of the naabure o f ( -iyal =* nature ), implying gentftive or ablative sense. ( compare Pa^dyan 'pandiyan'j

P&ndyan 'pulijran'j Cola 'sembiyan'j caste name 'soliya vellalan' etc.) Sembiyan, 'copper man' furnishes no clear idea at first. Fortunately 'Sembinadu' meaning 'copper country' comes to our help. The name of this country, which had ceased to exist, and the location of which is not determinable, though we might say that it existed within the Kaviri delta, is preserved in the name of a sub-caste. Of the Maravars®^ the Sembinat^ Maravars were considered to be at the top of their society. This is a clear indication that the M^avars did belong to a na^u called Sembinadu. The clarity of th£st statements cannot be questioned. It follows that thepeople of the Sembinadu would be called Sembiyans. Further on the basis of the long standing fame of the Ktoavars, just like those of the M^avars, we can assume with a good amount of correctness that the kings who bore the title of Sembiyan were none but the Maravars. The name of Sembiyan vfor the

Oolas is indigenous. We shall discuss in the conclusion the implication of all the dynastic titles of the Colas. To judge by the accounts in the Sangam literature on the Colas, the Sembiyans are mentioned as if chronologically anterior to the contemporary kings themselves, suggestive of the great antiquity of the Sembiyan name. It is possible that, either copper was mined in Sembinadu or copper weapons were made by the Sembiyans. We know that copper bronzes dominated 266

Cola i&ography. Further research in this line oould be f r u i t f u l .

X 65«149 Sengeni

Only three na.ces, all of them persons who figure in the inscriptions as donors, are mentioned. These persons belonging to the Senge^ family, appear to have been active or prominent in the post-Kulottunga I period. All these Senge^s carry a name of another family, the Sambuvaraiyans. exx. Sengeni ammaiyappan slyan ammaiyappan alias Edirili sola sambuvarajyan,

Senge^ mindan attimallan sambuvaraiyan are the three. The carriage of the royal name Edirili sola- and Vifcrama sola- appearsto be rather a result of kinship with the kings rather than as titles. The alternate name Sambuvaraiyan along with

"Wse anothername Sengeni perhaps indicates the matrimonial alliances among the two families. It is not known:when these two families originated.

X 65.150 Setti

3^temple^staff and 10 donors bear this caste name, Adigal setti a body-gura* of Bajarajesvaram, Set^i eduttapadam alias

Kavasa sivan a singer of hymns and Tamodira setti, head of the sakadai kottikal, carry setti. Since this name is not found among the Brahmins, it may be assumed that all these settis are non-Brahmins. When we find that the bymn singer,

Setti edutta padam is a non-Brahmin, it suggests the fact that the company of singers of the hymns at Rajarajesvaram was not exclusively Brahmin staffed. The examination of other two naiaes tells that setti was the secondary part of the name, Setti- for edutta padam was just a shift in position 267 and he could be called E^utta pada sejti.

-setti examples are: Manikka setji, Muttan setti alias

K-umaradittan, liruvasaperarlvi sejti (peraruvi?) and Urumi^i setj;i. TanjavTar madilcai nanikka ranlyan karuna^aka pulaliya se'tti can be analysed, Pulaliyan is his proper name. Piolaliyan

(compare sembiyan, pikiyan, pa^diyan soliyan etc. with this form pulaliyan) indicates that Pulal is the name of a after which he is named, iCanum^aka is an adjective of either his residence in or nativity of Kan^ada origin, ’madikai manikka va:^yan» states he is a jewel merchant, Tanjavur is probably the place where he has his buisness. It can be admitted in this light of the internal evidence itself that vaniyan and setti were synonymous. Setti then is a merchant class.

It may not be Jmpossible for the settis to get into the temple service as the head of the sakadaikptjikaij., but were definfet^y closed to the post for the officials. Seshadri's list does not mention any as existing in the Pallava times, although this woi^a and this profession did exist in the

Sangam days. This name is found throughout the Cola rule.

X 65.151 Sekaran 4 donors, 6 officers and 2 Brahmins are named with this name of Siva. 01 ten the name is a sxiffixal part of other names, exx, Gandrasekaran, guvanasekaran of KaSyape gotra, Elan isvaran giri sekaran alias Jayat\’jiga muvendavelan, Sivapada sekaran ItovWavelan alias Devan alias Kuttan, Siva sarapa sekara muvendavelan alias Kangai kondan.

This name is not found in the Sangam literature and it is possible that this nane started before the Cola rule. The 268

prefixing of adjectives to the naiies is a. usual feature

with the names that are popular. There seems to "be no restriction

for the application of this name to any caste or class.

X 6R.I52 Sendan

This very old name is found to ooour in all classesjof the o4 Iks. people. 7 Brahmins, 4 donors, 9 officers and 2 ^temple staff

are named sendans, The earliest sendans are found mentioned

in the list of the Sangam poets,and the sendan naKes

continue)^ to be stesidy up to the end of the Cola rule. It

is not known whether this name continued to exist even after

the enJlof the Cola rule, considering that this name is not

prevalent at present amcng the urban pupulation. It is not

unlikely that this name could be met with among the villagers.

Examples for Sangam sendans are* Sendan kanpan, Sendan pudan,

Sendan kiran. It may be advantageous to know the of

sendan which is possible only by reoonstniction. Denasalising,

sSndan talces the original form settan which can be further \ split, sey + t + an is the only possibility, Sey, ‘child*

is given a masculine ending with -t- for the prevention of

hiatus. Sendan could mean, ’child’ , ’son* or ’boy’ . Sendan

kapipian furnishes a complete sense, ’young k a ^ a n ', which is

not far different from a possible modem Tamil form sinna

kannan. Correspondingly, Sendan pudan and Sendan klran

would also mean young pudan, young klran. It should be noted

that it is very difficult to come across -sendan as a suffixal

part of the Sangam names, a proof that it was used only in

the sense of young, and as an ad;)ective, must p reo e^ a noun.

In inscriptional times however, sendan has developed into an

independent name often preceded by other names. 269

Of the officers, Kaji^an sendan adittan alias Rajaraja

Yangara mu-ttaraiyan is important as the bearer of this name is a muttaraiyan. Sendan sattan, Kadan sendan of Kasyapa gotra are some examples for Sendan, which was also carried

"by Brahmins, She name 3endan sendan is structurally interesting just like the naiae Ka^mn kappan, and meansmost probably

'young sendan’ . I’his rjime is borne by all class of the people in the Cola times. X 65.153 Singala

Singala- ^ ’Ceylon', is found as a name for only two persons, Singaia devan and Singa^avira narayanan. Both of them are residents of Tirunagesvaram and Vi^attilr, within the Cola territory proper. They aight have derived these names due to some association with Ceylon, as indicated by the name '3inga;j.a vlran narayanan', Karayanan, the warrior of

Geylon(war). It is interesting to note that the second name indicates the association of the Colas, with Ceylon in the times of Aditya II in whose inscriptions this naraya^ian is mentioned,

^ 65.1S'4 Singan

This name becomeg popular with the coming of the I’allavas.

The Icings Simhavishpu, Narashiman and others uare well known,

8 Singans are mentioned in our collection and all of them

A A A come froia the donoi's' list only, Kunran singan of Ilarita gotj?a,

Singa devan of Baradhvaja gotra, Singan nllan, Singan pulisai uiaJ> are some examples. It appears that tliis name w«re mostly restricted to the Brahmins only during the Colas, It is so now also. ex. !fal?asiman. 270

K. 65*155 Slvakkoltundu

An attributive name of Siva, Sivakkolundu is very popular in the Tevaram hymns and is even now borne by persons mostly around Chidambaram. This name which is very oommon at present, strangely enough has only a solitary mention ^ in the inscriptions.

A Brahmin, Sivakkolundu bhattan, a subject of Rajendra I is the bearer, Siva kolundu means literally the Siva flame i .e . the flame which is Siva or Siva the Light.

X 65>156 Siva The history of this name forms a separate subject itself.

This name has been treated on and off wherever there was any need in the chapter. A short note on Siva would suffice here.

It is doubtful whether Siva was called as such in the Sangam classics, although he is loiown as the Dancer, the Dancer with Skull G«rland, Dancer of the Graveyard, the Blue-necked

\ and in oth^r aspects as we know him in later times. Perhaps the first mention of Siva is to be discerned from the feminine form^’sivai, a name given to the woman Salini when she was decked like Siva. This is one of the most steady name and is still current in a wide frequency as a part of the names of the people.

X 65,157 Siva^s and Tishgu*s names combined

Though it is very difficult to draw a clear distinction in some cases between the names of Siva and that of Vislrqiu, the moat conspicuous combinations only have been counted. 4 ^temple staff, 4 donors and 1 Brahmin possess this combined name pattem.

Tiruvaranga narayanan sangaran of Baratvaja gotra,

Narayanan nakkan of the same gotra are some examplesf«r 271

for the Siva-Vishpu names. Narayanan is the name whioh is usually used for denoting Vishnu, though, other naiaes like Sangaranarayapan can be noted, I'he frequency of th£s£

combined names increase more after Kulottunga |, but is found chronologically sparse before him. The eariest popular mention of Narayapa is found in 3 ilappadikaram, ‘^'^clearly

indicating the establishment of his worship, mostly prevalent among the shepherds. Siva’s naraes and Vishpu's names are kept apart till the inscriptional times. Our list does not show any deity in any ur with this combined name, although this type of names among the people gradually tends to increase its frequency towards the second half of the Cola rule. I'his combination is the result of not only the religious tolerance, but also the interknit pantheon whioh had developed well by the beginning of the Oola irule.

X 65.156 Snake names

4 ^temple staff, 4 officers, 3 donors and one Brahmin have

this group of names. The names fall into two classes* those that are after cobra and those denoting some aspect of either

Siva or Vish:nu.

exx. Aravabharanan eduttapadam alias Tiruocirrambalak^an

and Aravabharapa aiyabarada nadan, both living in

the times of Kulottunga I and natives ol|Dj.2ukkalar are named

Aravabharapa-, whioh is an attribute of Siva due to his wearing of the cobra on his head. Aravanai alias Mai arikesavan

a subject of Rajaraja I is named after the attribute of Vishpu,

as this name means 'reoliner on the snake'.

The rest of the names are after cobra. Nagakumarakramavittan, 271A Karumanikka sarpan, P ain S^a muttaralyan a!J.^pirandan araisa

narayapan, IJagaraa 'bhattan of Kausika gotra are some bearers

of this name.

Nagan- is to be foiind even in the earliest written reoords

available. Nakam pottan (gutrundokai. 282), Fanakaiyar (ibid 50)

and Ponn^an (ibid 114) are some names from the list of

Sangam poets, jEven now this name continues to be prevalent

and is not restricted to any class of society as it has been

in the inscrlpticnal times.

X 65.159 ookkan

This name which is common even now in the villages, borne by men and by women as aokki, is found in inscriptions, but not in the group of Sangam names. Our list shows that this name is carried by one officer and two donors. These names appear to be restricted exclusively to Pandya nadu to .judge by the examples, exx. Madevan cdagiya sokkanar alias Sundara- pandya konar, M laiyittan sokki, a vellala, are two sokkans,

subjects of viarapandya and Sundara papdya respectively.

At present this name is verj'- common around the neighbourhood

of Madurai where there is ajgod called Alakar who is also known as sokkar, *handsome person’ . It may b'e presumed that

these two names are after the god Sokkar or Sokkalagar rather

than as a name after some masculine quality. However, we do

oome across a nane of this kind, meaning 'handsome', but no-6 after any god. The bearer of this name, a native of

Tirunagesvaram, is called Sokkan ara amudu penman. This name

might have started as an attributive name of god and later

spread into the society. Sokkan < Gokkan < Ookkam, 'beauty,

excellence 272 K 65.160 Sola-

Sola < Oola. The name of the dynasty of thejOolas is borne by 18 donors, S^^temple staff, 58 officers and> almost none from among the Brahmins. It may be necessary to examine the kind of Sola or Oola names prevailing in each group.

Temple staff: The persons bearing -sola- among the temple staff are Alagiya sola bramam^ayar, Alagiyasola kadikai marayan, Axaiyan sundarasolan, Kuravan virasolan alias Planjavan madevi nadakamaiyyan and Ponmendu soLa brahmamarayan alias

Wadilan tiruocirgambalamudaiyan. The examination of the names of these persons indicate^that those who bear -sola-, carry that name as a title belonging to some office such as time­ keeping and supervising the dancing. It is interesting to note that the names of kings themselves were given as a title for A thes* temple staff, as in the case of these officers.

Officers: This name is found as a part in the title-names'. exx. Sola muvendave].^, Sola pa^dya marayan. Sola brahma ' i maharajan. The examination of the -sola- names among the officers indicatesthat, the bearers are all invariably of aristocratic families, to judge by -marayan, -pallavaraiyan and others.

Donors: Without a single exception, all the bearers of

-sola- are also officers of high rank or of persons of ancient families, though they might be mentioned as donors along with the persons of ordinary rank.

Kulottunga sola kacciyarayan alias Painnaka muttaraiyan alappirandan araisa narayanan, Mummudi sola posan alias

Irayiravan pallavaiyan and Tondaiman sola peraraiyan alias 273 Isvaran singamani are some such names.

It may iDe assumed that -sola- names were given to and carried by persons of high office only. This feature is found all over the Cola period. Namei like Solam, belonging to a woman of Rajarajesvaram, indicate the attempt of ordinary ranking to carry this dynastic name, Names with 'sola' appear to have been dus- used after the end of the Cola dynasty.

No Brahmin to our knowledge bears this dynastic name, as it is usual for the Brahmins not pto be named after the kings.

X 65.161 Soman (51) 3ktemple staff, 3 donors, one officer and one Brahmin are named 'soman*. The earliest giention of this name may be placed as occurring in the Pallava inscriptions,®^ The continuity of this name could be found up to this day, particularly in villages. This name probably refers to Siva,03^jiurttga».

Though relatively of lesser frequency, this name is found to be carried by all the ranks of the people.

Siriya soma bhattan, Karumai;iikka soman alias Sola raja muvenda veijan, an officer of Kulottunga I, Kambidaran soman alias Tennavan sikamani muvenda velan, and Soman sambandan alias Sana sivan, a singer of hymns at Rajarajesvaram are some examples for the cairiage of this name. Though the name

Soma is found to occxir in Pallava records earlier than the beginning of the Cola rule, it should be noted that this name is recorded only in the post-RaJaraja I inscriptions. The* largest number oi^oman names are to be found in the inscriptions of Kulottunga I. 274 X 65.162 Somaya.1l

P«'i,..y-ONTnUrV, ^ ^ This name, meaning ’ the ©osd^&toar of Soma yaga is very oommon among the Brahmins diiring the Cola rule. Wot any member of the temple staff in ovac list are somayajis. 5 Brahmins,

5 donors and one officer are Somayajls.

Bhavamndi cadurvedi bhatta somaya;jiyar, Bhatta somayaji satta nllakandan of Kaiindinya gotra, Kandadii ponnaiya- kramavitta somaya^iyar ambalattadigaij. are some of the somaya;)iyars.

The somayajiyars are chronologioally spread throughout the

Oola rule and this name still continues among the Brahmin families even now. The examination of the names of the somayajiyars show6that they are named after iattan, Siva auid

IJarayanan (Tayanaraya^a bhatta somayajiyar). Further research, along with other names of Bratanins isjbound to yield some valuable information about the struotiire of the Brahiain society as it existed during the Oolas. It isjdiffioult to explain why no somayaji is found among the temple staff,

X 65.165 Subrahmanya

Three donors, three/temple staff and two Brahmins are found to be named thus. Subrahmapya is the name of the god whA is identified with the son of Siva and who is called as Murugan.

This namejfor I-lurugan is definitely post-Sangam and probably was ooined for Murugan during the Pallava rule. *Subrahtoar^a’ as a name of ifturugan is very oommon all over the Tamil-speaking area to this day. Somejof the names can be exsuained . Three K l staff of Rajarajesvaram, Subrahmapyan acoan alias Dharma sivan, a singer of hymns, Subrahmanyan kuttan alias Sembiyan vii;iai adittan, a master vinai player and Subrahmanyan singan, a 275 bodj^guard, carry this name. In the first two oases, na the name is carried along with the name of Siva, aooan and kuttan, while thepther is combined with that of Vishpu,

-singan.

Subrahmargran of Kasyapa gotra, Subrahmanya bhattar are two Brahmins cariying this Sanskritized name of 1‘lurugan. It is possible that the persons carrying this name including the temple staff could be Brahmins, but we are not in a position to determine definitely for want of further information. It may be as'^jumed that this name as a Sanskritised foua of

Fmrugan mightjiave started among the Brinhmins first and spread into the rest of the society. This name is mostly found among the Saiv^te Brahmins and irrespective of caste and class among the people of^his community. ’Subrahmanya’ is found to be distributed chronologically over the Gola rule.

X 65.164- Sundara

Only one, Sundara kulattan ka^lcca pakkamudaiyan, a subject of Kulottunga I is carrying this name. It ia not certain whether this name could be taken as ifit is the name of the king Sundarasolan, or of ajgod, or even of a masculine quality. a 65.165 Sibnran

4jt^temple staff, 5 Brahmins, 5 donors and one officer are named after Sun or his aspects.

Adittan suryan alias Temiavan muvendavelan, the manager of Rajaru;)esvaram temple, Suryan tanguven and 3\b:ya deva kramavittan are some examples for 'Suryan*, the sun, being borne as a part of the nsime.

Iravi < ravi, sun, is borne by Kuttan iravi and Iravi kuttan.

The earliest inscriptional reference to Sun’s name is found 276

in the name of Iditya sola. Of these names, ’suryan' is

fo\md to be the most^tome, rather than the foim iravi or

adittan. Surya- name is carried on till the end of the Oola rule. This name is almost dead in the x>resent days and the reason for i1^ easing to exist needs to be explained by one who woiild be interested in the post-Gola studies. It is most likely that this name was disused immediately after the Colas, whose surya icons are familiar. Though comparatively few in number when oomparSd with the names of other gods, names after the sun are borne by all classes of people during the Cola days. It may be pointed out here,though the worship of the sun did exist when Silap-padikaram was written, the

Tamil name ' n a y j^ ’ was used by the author and not ' siirya ’ . a 65.166 Taiail

The name of the language 'Tamil* forms the part of two names of officers. Sembiyan tamilavel alias Vikki a ^ a n , a subject of

Iditya I and Ka^upetti tamila peraraiyan, an officer in charge of boundary lines, are mentioned in the inscriptions of

Vijayanandivikrama.

These two persons appear to be of noble families. Unfortunately, such names are not available in a number enough to satisfy us to bjbuild any reliable history of this name. However, it i^certain that Sembiyan was a vel of the Tamil. Who the Tamil vels are,is not known. Nor could it be satisfactorily said that Tamils which is the name of the language now, was ever also for the language in the insoaiptional times. The stnuoture of the name on the analogy of other -vel names should be taken to indicate the existence of a jEamily called ’Tamils'. 277

'i)h iE ocnjuoture is imraediatly dis^edited by the 'vikki am an' which seems tc “be the persons real name. Invariably in all

the names with aliases, the title like name is later, and on

the strength of this 'anirersal featiore, the possibility of

this family is ruled out. The name only proves that the word

Tamil vjas used in this inscaHptional period. The second person who ifi a Pallava descendcyit to ;judge by his f ^ i l y name

’kajupat^i*, also carries ’Tamil* followed by -araiyan proving

for certain that this name was also a title. This'Tamilian'

name is neither used earlier than Iditta nor later than Vijaya-

nandivilcrama. This is a very rare name, and the basis on which this has been applied as a title is not clear.

X 65.167 Temple

2 officers and 2 Brahmins are named after temples,

Tiranerrali of Kausika gotra and Pasalai periyakoil dasar

are the two Bralmins naiaed after temples. Tjrumerrall, a

temple of Allilr, and Periya koil, 'large te^aple at Pasalai'

respectively form the names of these persons.

Mandali alias Rajaraja vangara rauttaraiyan, a subject of

Kulottunga and ICarrali alias Uttama sola tamiladai'aiyan,

an officer of Rajendra are named 'the mud built temple*

and *the stone temple* respectively. Perhaps all these names

of the temples are given to the natives of the in which

these temples were situated. It is doubtful whether this haMt

of being n«i ed after temples is common during the present days

even taking the village naiues into consideration. During the

Oola rule, not only men, but also women were naiaed after temples. 278

TlrJ-s way oijnaiTiing was open to all sections of the society irrespective of class and position.

X 65»1G8 Sennavan

7 persons who figure in the insoilptions cas donors call themselves ’Termavans', This name is in existence from the time of i’arantaka and continues to the days of Kulottun^a I I I .

Keanin^iS 'the southerner’ , ¥hich is also a synonym of 'ancestors' in old Tamil (tenpulattar), this name is foiind to be a part of a few title naEies of boslq ancient families or who hold * soiLe position of high office, merchants and other ordinaiy ranking. It appears that no Brahmin 136328 this naaie. In fact this name appears problematic rather than informative.

Tennavan ilangovel alias I‘iaravan pudiyar, 0:ennavan sikhaisapl muvendavelan alias Nambi^aran are names which arc borne by the natives of Cola nadu, while, ’tennavan’ usually Implies a man of i'andya teiritory. It is not explainable why this name was chosen for persons of rank £.nd office eiigaged in the Oola administration. Tennavadaraiyan stlias Sundarasolan muttan, a subject of 3-undara Pajidya, is the only one whose name fits i] with the real implication of the name. We have earlier pointed out that the Ilangovel families appear to be natives of the

Cola nadu than any other place. If 'tennavan' could signify any thing corjiected with ’Pandya*, then, the possibility of^ the Oola origin of the family is questioned. However there Is no reason apparently, for the choice of 'tennavan'

This name is found among the temple staff only. In the inscriptional times, Tillai was the original .name for the modem Chidambaram ( < oirrambalam ), Tillai is named after a tree Exoeoaria agallooha. The original meaning of

Tillai seems to have been forgotten, though ’T illa i’ is used as a name proper by persons, men and women, till Kulottunga I starts ruling. Araiyan tillaikkarasu alias Purva sivan, ^dar tillai nayakar are the two available examples for the carriage of this aflcient name of Chidambaram.

X 65.170 Tiraiyan

43 Tiraiyan names are available. The earliest mention of this name is found in the list of poets and of chiefs of the

Sangam times, exx. Tondaiman ilandiraiyan^ Tiraiyan. The continuity of this name is established up to the tlhme of

Vikramasol^a.

iSTiraiyan’ means ’man of the waves’ . Most probably, these

Tiraiyans were connected with sea-faring. Though the first set of Tiraiyan names seemsto be associated with Tondainadu, the Tiraiyans of the Cola insciiptions do not seem to have any relation with the sea or with Tondainadu even. Tiraiyan madevadigal kaikondan alias Rajaraja valavadaraiyan, Tiraiyai tangi mandurai nambi and Tiraiyan valavadaraiyan siv^adi kanga devan, the three Tiraiyans of the Cola inscriptions are all natives of Sejryur and sem to be either brothers or closely related. It is difficult to interpret this name

satisfactorily. 280 X 65.171 Tlrumal

The Tamil name of Vishnu, which is very familiar in the religious literature has only one reference in the inscriptions.

Tiruraal puttan kaniooapakkamudaiyan, a subject of Kulottunga I, a donor is the only rme bearing 'Tirumal'. It may be observed that tiru- is prefixed to M a^ another example for the canonisation in the vaishnavite field also.

X 65.172 Tlndi

This name, which has ceased to exist, is carried by three donors andjone Brahmin. The meaning of this name appears to be

'strong man*. Kamban tindi, Kavan tindi, Mayilai tindan alias

Purridangonda mamuni are the bearers of this name. All these names fall within the post-Kulottun.ga I period, Tipdi cannot be interpreted as a place name (ex.modem Tindivanam) for, not Tindi or Tindivanam not only did^exist, but also was not a religiously famous place td be sought after as a name.

Besides, all the tindis mentioned here come from ^ola na^u proper and not from Tondainadu where the place is situated.

X 65,173 Tondalman and other names

2 donors and 4 officers are found to be Tondaimans. Tondaiyan is the name for two donors. Tondaiyan is carried by two temple staff.

#ust like all the names with -man suffixes, 'To^daiman* clearly means » the chief man of the Tondai(nadu)’ . The earliest names are to be found in th^list of Sangam names.

Tondaimans still continue to exist up to the end of the Cola days. It may be pohnted out that the Tondaimans still contime to exist in and aroundPudukottai claiming descendency from 281

the Psillavas. The analysis of the names indioates that afe

although the To^daimans were living throughout the Oola

rule, it is'jiifficult to oome across more than one Tondaiman under eaoh king, a fact which may be taken to mean that the

Tondaimans were related to one another by (descent and were

in the service of the Oola kings being bestowed with high ranking titles as could be seen from the following examples.

Singanada tondaiman sola peraraiyar, Tondaiman alias

Accudan rajarajan, Tondaiman alias Velan karun^aran, lord of Vandalanjeri, Tondaiman sola peraraiyan alias Isvaran singamapi, Tondaimanar alias Araiyan ponnambalakuttan, chief man of Arumba, are some examples of the Tondaiman names.

These persons carry not only the family name'Tondaiman', but also the Cola titles peraraiyan, Singanadan, ICarun^aran,

IsvBran singama^, Ponnalambakkuttan are the real personal names of these Tondaimans.

The history of the Tondaimans appears to be very importaitt and forms a separate valuable study, as this shows the continuity of the family from the Sangam days to the present day,

Porkali tondaiyan and Tondaiman, two^temple staff do not appear to be connected with the Tondaimans, but are merely named either after the place 'tondai' or after the famous Tondaiman families. • • Sj^ttondanambi alias Sivan tillai nayakam, and Si^ttondan a ¥ellalan by caste cannot be associated with any of the two sets mentioned above, aa the -tondan- in these two names means •sei'vant, devotee’ . These names are after the nayanmar

Si^ttonda nayanar, a contemporary of Mahendravarman. 282 X 65.174 Uyyakondan and Uyyavandan

This is an attributive name of Rajaraja I, meaning ’one who protects' or'one who has oome to protect'. This phrase was originally attributed to Siva.

The name is borne by one donor, two Brahmins and two^temple staff, exx. 2;j.udaiyan uyyakoipdan, a temple supeirvis^, Uyyakko^dan of Kasyapa gotra , Velan uyyavandan alias Tiruooirrambala pallavaraiyan, lord of I^iattur, Viravalli uyyakondan bhattan and Uyyakondan bhattan are the bearers of this name. Invariably all the Uyyakondans are found to have been living after

Kulottunga I. This suggests that this name mighli|be after ^ A A Siva of Tillai, rather than Rajaraja I, or, to think of another possibility, after any of the Kulottungas. Had this name been after Rajara;ja I, there is every possibility for at least some persons being found with this name during or immediately after Rajaraja's rule. It appears that this nam« is not carried by any, after the end of the Oola rule. The fact that this name has been applied ^or two Brahmins induces us to

A ^ think that Uyyakondan was after Siva rather than any of the kings, since the Bramins invariably almost, avoided the names of kings,

X 65.175 Vaman

This name of Vishnu is carried by two officers who appear to be Brahmins. e3» . Vam«na narayanan, Anandav^ana kramavittan fKjL are^only gvamans mentioned in our lis t. There is no other2Bference to V^an denoting vishnu after Rajendra I, in whose inscriptions these names are mentioned. The vaman- , mentioned in the

Rajarajesvaram inscriptions mean^Siva,and not,Vishnu. V ^ a n 283 is a rare name of Vishnu and in Tamil this name has not taken root. Unlike some of the names of V$shnu, which are still to be found in the present day, Vaman is praotioally extinct.

X 65.176 Yanavan (tAJL. ^ 3 donors and 4 officers i# found to be named 'vanavan'.

2he origin of this name is not clear, thoggh this is first mentioned as that of a chief in Sangam literature. Even its meaning is difficult to determine, van- means 'sky’, 'cloud,rain.' and Vanavan might be interpreted as a benefactor,on the conception of the benefacting quality of the rain. It may be pointed out that Tlrukkural. even at the very beginning itself, emphasises the importance of rain. One of Bajaraja's queens was named 'Vanavan mahadevl’ . She coiild be a princess of some

Vanavan family, suggesting the continuity of the Vanavan family from the Sangam days to the Oolas. That this name Vanavan was a name of high ranking families only is proved by the fact, that, all the examples available for thfsthames belong to persons of high rarJc, bearing titles like -muvendavej.an,

-pallavaraiyan and -perariiyan. Of all the Vanavans, most of them are muvendavelansj Vanavan muvendavelan alias Arangan tiruccirrambalamudaiyan, Vanavan pallavaraiyan and vanavan peraraiyan alias Korran Arumoli. This name is found to be existing up to tne end of the last days ofothe Solas.

X 65.177 Vasudeva

Bhadrankadu vasudeva somayajiyar is the only one in our collection of names with 'Vasudeva'. He was a subject of

2ditya II, 284 g 65.178 Yel]^alan

Eight persons, all of them of ordinary rank and mentioned in the oapaoity of donors in the inscriptions, are prefixed with vell^an- whicli is suggestive of their profession,

Vella^ar were oultiv&tors, particiilarly owner ciiltivators.

VeiJ-lalan is a .widely prevalent caste name now. i’he earliest

Vellalan to be mentioned in the Cola inscription was a subject of Parantaka and the last, of Stmdarapa^^an. exx. Vellalan va^li marudamudaiyan, V e ll^ a n singan solaiyan, Vellalan nakkan,

X 65.179 Yidangan

Vidangan is found to be borne by all the sections of the people and is nowtotally dead. Perhaps the influence of religious literature which abounds in thes name might be a reason for the prevalence of this name and might have dropped out after the Ools^raa.€' was over. Vidangan, as we have mentioned earlier, isthe name of Siva, since he has the vidai or the bull as the vahana. Three^^emple staff, one donor^ three officers and two Brahmins carry this attributive name of Siva. exx.

Uttarangudaiyan kerala vidividangan alias Villavan muvendarve^an seems to have been named after a particiilar Siva icon meant fo3^being taken into procession in the streets. Bakshipa meru vidanga piccan alias Siruve^aval semborjodi alias

Sanasivan, a singer of hymna at Hajarajesvaram, was named after liaksni^ meru vidangan, probably an icon, and if so,

of Rajarajesvaram. Olokavidanga bhat^an alias Uyyavandan uyyaninraduvan and Adavidanga bhatteai are two Brahmins.

Murttividangan, a tax officer, Udara vidanga vilupparaiyar,

a secretary of the king are the officers who are naiaed after 285 vidangan. On comparing the names with one another it appears I that the temple staff aone seem to have been naraed after vi^anga icons rather than vidanga as a name for Siva.

X 65.180 Vikrama

One Brahmin and one officer are the-oidLy two p««©ns named

•vikramaIt cannot be taken to mean that this name is after king Vikramasola, since this name is found much earlier before Vikramasola came to rule. Vikrama bhattan, a Brahmin citizen of Rajendta I and Ananda vikrama muvendaveian alias

Paranjodi nilan, al^ubject of Uttama are the two canying this name. It appears that personal names after kings become iaoa?e aaa laeye-ieas the end of the Uola rule, though titles often contain the names of the kings,

X 65.181 Villavan

Villavan muvendavelan alias 1-layan kenjan and fillavarayan alias I’Mniyan aarumoiidevan are the only persons in our « collections having this villavan name. This name looking like an ancient name is in re\lity a part of the title name, probably having something to dfl) with archeiy. However it that the should be noted^first name is mentioned in the inscription of Uttama and the second of Kulottunga.

X 65.182 Vilu Five names, three from the officers and two from the donor*

are foumdto be prefixed with Vilu-. All these names ;are titles. Vilu- means ’famous, long standing*. Viluppa^irajar,

Jayankonda sola viOjxpparaiyar alias Kadan vldividangan and

Jayasinga kulak^a vilupparaiyar are some examples. This title seems to have originated in the post-RaJaraJa I period. 286 sinoe not any of his officers bear thii^title. i^he last mention of this title is found in the inscriptions of

Kulottunga III.

X 65.185 Vinayakan

Maran vinayaka devan is the only person naraed after

Vinyayaka, He appears to come from the M ^ a oommunity. He is found to be mentioned in an insciiiption of a king who calls himself as 'Konerinmaikondan*. a 65«184- Vlra-

Seven names, all of them borne by donors carry vira-, meaning ’brave’ , as part of their names. One name, tirasola ilangove^ is found to be prevalent during the time of Parantaka who lived much earlier than Virasola. Soiue examples aret

VJraraJa3jP-miladara2iyar alias Perumbarmur kilavar, Viravali uyyakondan bhattan.

Even during the present days, vlra- could be found as part of particularly village naraes. exx. Viraj^ran, Viramma. Vira- an attribute of masculine equality has changed into a name.

Parantaka is the first Oola king to record ‘vira-’ in inscilptions.

X 65.18!3 Y a g ^

ShiJ name of Sanskritjorigin is found|for only three, all of them Bralmina. exx. Yanna kramavitta somaya;jiyar, Yagna uT^tti bhattan and Sottai y a ^ a purusha bhattan. Ra;jara3a I

is perhaps the first Cola king to redord this name.