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.