Historical Perspective

Kodaganallur (Kodanur Kulasekhara Chaturvedi Mangalam) On Tamraparni

(Footfalls of its cultural past)

- K V Soundara Rajan 

Additional Director General (Retd.)

Archaeological Survey of India

(Copyright reserved with author)

1. Physiographic background

2. Place-name and regional setting

3. Socio-cultural context and landmarks

4. Mahasabha of Kodanur and Periapiran temple & Abhimuktesvara - Transcriptions

5. Art, cults and spiritual slant

6. After-word

Physiographic background

I.

Riparian villages in India have been significant in ideas of the traditional, cultural, spiritual and intellectual character of the region in which they are located, and depending on the importance of the river, the political status of the same and the architectural and art effervescence of the temples nurtured in them by the agraharam of the village, had even developed into cases of national cultural crystallisation - disproportionate sometimes to the physical sizes of such villages.

Some of the these villages or town-ships had themselves a hoary antiquity: others were of exclusively economic importance, by their advantageous location on the cross roads of commerce; and quite a few others, of modest but intrinsic elite of its citizenry, in the medieval centuries mostly, permitting them to play a definitive role in the regional geo-political or cultural ethos.

Kodaganallur, on the Tamraparni river, anciently called Kodanur and subsequently by royal writ as Kulasekhara Chaturvedi Mangalam, in the Tirunelveli district of Tamilnadu, is one such village of the last category above, which had a significant stamp of its milieu and duly left its foot-prints on the sands of time.

Villages like Kodaganallur, in ancient India, being located on a perennial river, attracted the citizens of other villages away from the river banks towards it, is a linked camaraderie for the performance of ritual-spiritual functions connected with traditional rites. Prosperous ancient administrative centres like Seranmahadevi which extended its revenue limits right up to the river Tamraparni to its north, built renowned temples like the Bhaktavatsala shrine on this river bank.  By the unique turn of the river course, here it constituted aTirtha becoming appropriate for sacred days like Maha-Vyatipada- falling on Bhadrapada Krishna Shashti annually, with pilgrims and residents from far and near gravitating towards the ghat here for a holy dip.  Kodaganallur village is located just downstream on the north bank.  The railway bridge crossing just above the Vyatipada ghat of Seranmahadevi adds a certain panoramic value to the whole neighbourhood.

Kodaganallur is, further, situated at the stage of the career of river Tamraparni where it had just left the plateau-land (through which it has flowed in several meanders from its very source on the Podigai hill at the foot of the Western ghats).  From Kodaganallur onwards the river flows in wide staid flood-plain, picturesquely bankful during the rainy season.  The village is perched on the northern cliff-bank.  Its slip-of slope, correspondingly stretches across on the south bank from Seranmahadevi downstream, through Tiruthu and beyond further eastwards.  The well-graded river carries heavy sand ballast in monsoon but is liable to cut into its own vast bed in summer, confirming the stream course mostly to its cliff sides, all along Palavur, Suttamalli, Gopalasamudram, Tirunelveli, Srivaikuntam etc., down to Kayalpattinam where it debauches into the Bay of Bengal now, though in the pre-Christian centuries, it joined the sea at Korkai, the celebrated sea-port town of the early Pandyas, in the era of Indo-Roman maritime trade.

Such a physiographic history of the river course had tended to shed its aggradational deposit of gravel and silt, in the distant past, further to the north of the present village site.  This might have been in the geologically measurable stage after the end of the Quaternary era of earth's history.  The river would then have probably been cutting its bed into the hard gravelly upland top terrace, in the stretch between Kallur and Ucchi Perambu. The gradual shift to the present bed of the river, to the south of the village site, should have formed only during the Holocene stages, approximately around area.5000 B.C. Evidence of sea-level change along the south Tamilnadu coast preserved in what are now called the "Teri" sand dunes stretching from Kilakkarai to Kanyakumari with concentrations at Savyerpuram, Megnanapuram, Kuttankuli, Kayamoli and Kudirameli dune sites, to mention a few, dated to this period, had nurtured a Microlithic stone tool-using culture by man. At this stage, the rise of the sea level was about 50 feet higher than the present one and the ferruginised consolidation of the lower part of these dunes had locked the stone artifacts of Man within them - subsequently discovered during archaeological explorations and study.

As this event and the related trend of the river course were much remoter then the advent of the historical Kodanur village, we see only a residuary and terminal evidence of the heavy sandy cliff configuration upstream of the Periapiran temple ghat in what we now call the Periyattankarai.  This high level sandy deposit has itself been out into subsequently by the Periodai for Periyattankarai channel joining the main river.  The middle stretch of the river itself had become 'graded' by this time, flowing in a vast sandy bed.

At this point we may also briefly digress on the very name 'Tamraparni' for the river.  Without getting into the polemics of the 'Kumarikkanda' of the fabled past, one could yet delve into the historical impact of the name of the river, which became famous already around the 3rd century B.C. when Roman maritime trade contacts with Tamilnadu first began by circum-peninsular navigation, hopping from coastal mart to mart up to the Gulf of Mannar (interrupted there by the Palk strait), by which reason Korkai port on the Tamraparni estuary, as a terminal point, became important.  Whatever was farther south of Tamraparni was anciently deemed as identifiable with Srilanka of today and was accordingly designated by the name 'Taprobane' (a seeming classical corruption of the term Tamraparni by the Mediterranean geographers from Pliny, Strabe downwards to Ptolemy).  This tradition is seen followed actually by the Mauryan Emperor Asoka as well, in his south Indian edicts wherein he denotes Cholas Pandyas etc. as his friendly border kingdoms stretching up to Tambapanni.  The term, it could be noticed, was not intended for a river but to a land mass which is to be seen, soon after the Pandyan kingdom is passed.  The Lankadvipa was familiar to Asoka but he followed the traditional term by which it was designated by geographers then, namely, 'Tambapanni'- a term found used in the Srilanka chronicles also anciently and spelt as 'Taprobane' by the Classical geographers.

The Pandyas of yore of the 'sangam' period, as we know, were succeeded by the First Pandyan empire beginning with Kadungon (circa. 550 A.D.).  It ended by c. 925 A.D.  It was in this period that Kurukur Satagopan or Nammalvar born in the Tamraparni basin and glorified as 'Vedam Tamil seyda Maran Satagopan', flourished.  The period between c. 925 A.D. and 1218 A.D. saw the conquest of the Pandyan kingdom and the northern part of Srilanka by the Imperial Cholas, the last of whom, Raja Raja III was subjugated by Maravarman Sundara Pandya I, to re-establish the resurgent second Imperial Pandya empire.  The prelude to this was from c. 1162 when Tribhuvana Chakravartin Kulasekhara was ruling, up to 1178 A.D.  Kodaganallur, then called Kodanur, (and in the Mel-vimbu nadu division) had the special privilege of having the inscription of this king in its Periapiran temple, of his 4th year which was the oldest record of the Imperial medieval Pandyas that history records.  Kodanur was a township of Brahmadeya class with the Vishnu temple of the Devadana type, owning land in the name of Periapiran and granted by the king, the name Kulasekhara Chaturvedi Mangalam on that score and the God Himself named also as Kulasekhara Vinnagar Alwar.

We do not really know yet as to how much earlier than 1162 A.D. was the advent of the settlement of Kodanur.  One might not be too far off the mark if one places the coming into being of the village by the early 11th century A.D. when Vishnu temples around like Rajasimha Chaturvedi Mangalam (Mannarkoil); Ten Tirumalirunjolai (Sivalapperi) not to mention the Nava-Tiruppatis in the Tamraparni basin itself, were all well established.

PLACE NAME AND REGIONAL SETTING

II

As noted earlier, the original name of the present day Kodaganallur was Kodanur and subsequently Kulasekhara Chaturvedi Mangalam.  We may give some attention to each of these three names.  To the first, namely, Kodanur.

On the face o fit, the name strikes one as an ethno-cultural appellation.  We know that 'kodu' in pristine Tamil means 'hill'.  Correspondingly, Kodan will be applicable to a  God of the hill. Now, this qualified title is generally given to two divinities under Hinduism, namely, to Vishnu and to Murugan or Skanda.  To Vishnu because he has been known for ages as the Lord of Venkadam hill, or simply as 'Tirumalai'.  To Skanda, as in Sengodan, as he was having his abode mostly on hills, as in Tirupparamkunram, Palani, etc. However, by a simple process of elimination, since we do not have any temple celebrated for Muruga at or around Kodaganallur (the nearest being at Tiruchendur on the seacoast),  we should derive the name Kodanur as pertaining to the hill god Vishnu.  Apparently, there is a relationship between the place name and the inscriptional name of the god of temple here, namely, Periapiran which incidentally is analogous to other names given to the deity in the sanctum of temples on the Tamraparni, in the Divya Prabandha, as in the case of Adipiran at Kurukur, Kallapiran at Srivaikuntam etc.  It is only much later that a samskritisation of the name into a direct translation as "Bruhan Madhava" occurred, as popularly used now.  But in the inscriptional record of the temple, the god is known as Periapiran. We will come to this later.

The legitimacy for the suggestive name of Periapiran for Vishnu Trivikrama or the Purusha of Purusha-sukta cannot be gainsaid.  Hence, the great-god, in standing posture (as seen in the temple at Kodanur in the sanctum)  is the iconic encapsulation of supreme Vishnu, in the role of an archa deity.  It is even more so appropriate under the Vaikhanasa mode of Agamic worship, as even followed at Kodaganallur, where Para and Vyuha manifestations are more popularly seen adopted than Vibhava or Puranic forms, as in the Pancharatra mode for the deities in the sanctum.  With Tamraparni already in the earlier centuries as the abode of Nammalvar of Kurukur, prior to the adoption of Pancharatra mode of rituals, when the Vaikhanasa mode had a precedence of usage the place name Kodanur and the deity name, Periapiran seem, as it were, made for each other.  Thus Kodanur as the name of the village, (prior to its modification, at the instance of royal patronage as Kulasekhara Chaturvedi Mangalam, in 1166 A.D.) should have been prevalent, at least perhaps from the 11th century A.D; and the latest name for it as Kodaganallur should have accrued probably not earlier than the 15th century A.D.  following the resuscitation of religious worship in Tamilnadu after the Islamic invasion and rule of the Madura sultanate between 1331-1378 A.D.   This significant addition of the suffix "nallur" to the name and the mythical complexion given to it by the first part  "kotak" related to Karkotaka kshetra, are both of a piece with the state of resurgence of the religion, at the hands of the Vijayanagara potentates who were ruling then and several hundreds of riparian villages in Tamilnadu got this name 'nallur' added to their main name.  There was, of course, a land mark change in the character and advent of inhabitants of Srivaishnavas into the village, after the establishment of a new Matha and Pontificate of Ahobila matha, commencing from the holy order and divine ordainment to fits first Pontiff, Sri Adivan Satagopa Yatindra Mahadesika of Melkote at Ahobilam and immediate spread of the Srivaishnava devotees in different parts of Tamil Nadu, especially in the Tamraparni basin, hallowed by the birth of Nammalvar of Kurukur. This happened in the 14th century.  As we know, after the earliest significant immigration of brahmanical devotees in the early Pallava period, consequent on the diffusion of this dynasty from its erstwhile homeland in the Krishna valley of Andhradesa, the rule of this dynasty from Kanchipuram and that of the almost coeval dynasty of the early Pandyas, under Kadungon, in South Tamilnadu ruling from Madurai, there was a great exodus of Vedic-affiliated elite from Andhradesa into the Kaveri Vaigai and Tamraparni basins.  This was further facilitated in the Imperial Chola period also and the Imperial second Pandya dynasty and later, the reign of the Vijayanagar culture, all over South India, had been a further important stage in the patronage of religion and its art and architecture.  One would be tempted to associate, in a way, the transformation of the pristine name of Kodanur, first into Kulasekhara Chaturvedi Mangalam, and later into Kodaganallur, as relatable to the above-cited three major socio-political and socio-cultural stages of religious and civic life in South Tamil nadu.

We had mentioned earlier about the Ahobila matha and its founder Adivan Satagopa yati.  Hagiological accounts have it that this great monk, soon after his ordainment, had hastened to Kurukur in the Tamraparni basin to seek out and savour the holy inspiration of Nammalvar, and was responsible for the discovery of the archa murti of Nammalvar which had been lost, establishment of the same properly in the temple of Adinatha, besides additions and renovations to several parts of the temple and organization of the festive schedule in the temple.  This visit should have galvanized not only the activities of his Matha, but also Srivaishnavism itself in the Tamraparni Zone.  This would explain how in the village of Kodanur religious life among the Srivaishnavaites should have gone on at an even pace, whether of the Ahobila matha affiliates or the other brands like the Muni-traya (followers of the codes of Nathamuni, Yamunacharya and Sri Ramanuja) who had also formed a part of the elites of Kodanur Vaishnavism.  This might explain why we have not got any inscriptional references to the later medieval activities in the township of Kodaganallur.

SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT AND LANDMARKS

Inscriptional references to the existence of the Mahasabha in the "brahmadayas" township of Kodanur, together with the Periapiran temple having "devadana" lands on either side of the river, would seem to indicate the civic leadership that the place had assumed for the immediate zone.  It is also recorded that the temple was affiliated to the Nellayappar temple of Tirunelveli for revenue purposes, from the inception of the village Assembly (Mahasabha).  It is interesting to note from the inscriptions that the members of the Sabha and the priests of Periapiran temple were able to secure a personal hearing from the king who, in the first such case in the 4th year, 243rd day of his reign (1165 A.D.) was mentioned as seated in his throne Cholakulantaka Chaturvedi Mangalam (Solavandan of today).  Two years later, in 1167 A.D., when again the Mahasabha members approached the king, he is mentioned as seated on his throne at Madurai.  The reason for the above difference of the place of his throne is the fact that in the earlier instance in 1165 A.D., the king had not acquired his full control of the throne at Madurai - the period being one of civil war in the dynasty for the Madurai throne.  The royal orders, in the first case, in 1165 A.D., sanctioning the provision of suitable resources for the daily expenses and the apparel items of the deity , should not only have given Kodanur a new status in the neighbourhood, but also show that perhaps only in that year or a little earlier in the reign of this king that the new name for the village of Kodanur as Kulasekhara Chaturvedi Mangalam and the deity as Kulasekhara Vinnagar Alvar, was given by the king, lending to an upswing of the fortunes of the village Mahasabha.  It enabled Kodanur Mahasabha to receive appropriate relief from the taxes to the crown on certain items connected with the temple of Periapiran, which obviously was growing into a popular religious center.  The Mahasabha of the township itself was called upon to assume certain advisory roles in the area, as seen in the case of the Matha at Kalijeyamangalam (now called Karisulndamangalam, across the river downstream) the details of which would be seen further down these pages.  All this would itself reinforce the fact that even before deserving the royal patronage, Kodanur had been probably functioning as a "Brahmadeya" township during the period of the administrative control of the Imperial Cholas, through local Chola-Pandya viceroys, as in the case of Mannarkoil.  Thus, the temporal association of the temple of Periapiran and the Mahasabha of Kodanur with the historical transformation in the Pandyan political power soon to take place under Maravarman Sundara Pandya I, was a significant coincidence.

In this context, we may devote some attention to the layout of the village of Kodanur and its landmarks.  Much of these appear to have survived till recent times.  The features adhere to traditional Agamic usages.  The village had two main temples, that of Vishnu at the head of the West street, and that of Abhimuktesvara Siva at the south-end of the East street which had a flourishing Smarta agrahara.  These two temples were more or less of the same period, thought the Periapiran temple could have been slightly earlier.  According to the Agamas, the Vishnu temple should have a control position in a village or should be aspecting into the village, consistent with the protector role of Vishnu for any settlement.  The Siva temple, on the other hand, should be either in the Isanya-kona (north-west) of a village or should be looking away from the village in its orientation.  At Kodanur, the Siva temple, though at the southeast of the village due to the exigencies of having to be on the riverbank is indeed aspecting away from the village.  "Abhimukta " means broadly , one 'who released with great force'.  This could either relate to Siva's role as Gangadhara, or his release of the "retas" which Agni received and nursed into Skanda through the six krittikadi divine mothers.  The south-east is the Agni-kona and this would suit the 'birth of Skanda legend'.  The position of Ganesa shrine which should be on the southwest side of an Agraharam is properly located opposite to the Siva temple on the riverbank and as part of the Sankara Matha here, under the Asvattha tree. The tadaga or pond (or lake) of a village is best located on the northern side and we find the 'lotus pond' intended for the use of lotuses for temple needs is actually on the north-side wherefrom the road to Kallur is starting.  The location of Durga or Kali should be on the northern entrance into the temple and facing north; and this is exactly how the "Nangaiyar Amman" shrine is situated.  There is even a provision of a "Kshetrapala" demigod, in what goes by the name of "Taradi-Madan" south of Periapiran temple, on the flood-plain limit of the river.  There is a Garuda sannidhi, outside the Vishnu temple with a stone pillardhvaja in front - which has a potent link with the later appellation for the temple as Kodaganalur (or Karkotaka kshetra) seemingly for mitigation of harm from the Nagas to the village.  Swami Vedantadesika had composed a Dandaka type of prose work called "Garuda-dandaka" and the Garuda sannidhi and the preferred acceptance of the "Amrita-kalasa" offering by Periapiran, have a common import in the Garuda-Naga legendary myth, so much intertwined into Puranic Vaishnavism.

MAHASABHA OF KODANUR, AND PERIAPIRAN TEMPLE AND ABHINUKTESWARA - TRANSACTIONS

IV.

When a "Devadana" grant of land is made to an existing "Brahmadeya" settlement of Vedic families, this land is also liable to be either augmented or parceled out by the granter-king or his successors for any collateral requests from affiliated donees or institutions.  It would be seen that Kodanur or Kulasekhara Chaturvedi Mangalam was paying "kadamai" to the Nellayappar temple of Tirunelveli.  Such a situation arose also in the face of the temple lands of Periapiran, the details of which will be stated further below. Before that, we should mention that inscriptional data from the Vishnu temple predominantly and from Siva Abhimuktesvara temple supplementarily help us in the understanding of the character and functioning of the Mahasabha of Kodanur town-ship and the temples.

In the 4th year of the King Tribhavanachakravartin Kulasekhara (1165 A.D.), the priests of the Periapiran temple and the members of the Mahasabha of Kodanur waited on the king at his Solavandan palace and requested for a grant of Devadana Irayili (tax-free endowment for the deity) to meet the daily expenses of offerings and for the deity's apparel items.  This needed one kalam of paddy per day by way of the annual paddy yield from the temple land resumed by the king.  The revenue was till then being paid in cash ('kasukkadamai tiruppaga').  These were to be paid henceforth in paddy. The land involved measured three-fourth Veli (15 ma) and one Mamundirigai araikkal in extent, as measured by the Virapandya kol (measuring rod).  Due to the inadequacy of the existing provision for the deity, of a kalam of paddy per day was desired to be separately sanctioned (365 kalams per year) of paddy yield from the concerned land, already belonging to the Mahasabha.  Two persons occupying important offices of State in the kingdom had recommended it to the king.  They were Mahabharana mangalattu Nambi (the place cited was a western hamlet of Seranmahadevi) and Uttama Solan.  The king sanctioned the request and ordered that the grant take effect from the main crop ('pasanam') of the 14th year - the date of the grant itself. The actual royal command was duly attested by two State officers (Vadatalai Chembil natty Manavilududaiyan Velan Alagiya pandya Vilupparayan and Venbaikkudi nattu Elur mannai ke Srivallavanatha…..).  As extract of the Registry in the Land Register was to be given to the beneficiaries, namely Srivaishnavas and the temple priests of Periapiran of Kodanur.  This was in 1165 A.D.

A record, two years later, in the same king's 7th year of reign (1168 A.D.) it is stated that at the instance of one Ayyan Malavarayan, a further request of the priest and Srivaishnavas of Kodanur was granted and the king ordered that they will continue to pay 'kadamai' and 'antarayam' (the principal land dues to the State) on the occupied holdings in land of the deity of Kulasekhara Vinnagar alvar at Kodanur, but certain other levies like 'vetti-pattam' (free labour for community service leased for a lumpsum), 'Panjuppili' (Fluff of cotton for oil lamps), oil-seed and oil-cake crushing cess, 'pon-vari' (gold cess, Sandhi-vigrahapperu (levies of war and peace) were to be exempted from the lands of the deity located in Seranmahadevi Chaturvedi Mangalam, across the river.  The Sabha of Kodanur was ordered to forego the collective contribution levied till then by the Sabha on the deity's occupied land holdings.  The order was seen attested by a host of officials. The Sabha then duly endorsed the royal order to the temple priest.  This document had been signed by more than 56 signatories, all Brahmin land-holders of the Kodanur township, constituting the Sabha among whom are seen Somayajis, Atiratra yajis, Vajapeyis, Bhattas etc. There are both Sanskrit and Tamil personal names, the latter like Alvar, Solai piran, Alagan, Tiruvarangaselvan, Alumpiran, Pandavaduran, Ulagamundan etc., recalling divine names from the Divyaprabhanda.  There were also Smarta (Saiva) names like Sankarnarayanan and Nagasvamin.  Some names reveal the original clan names (from outside Tamilnadu like Irunganti, Mudumbai, Irayar Settai, Vangipuram etc., ) while some others had dropped the clan names.

Another record in the 10th year of the same Kulasekhara, showing the king seated in his throne at Madurai, purported to be the royal sanction for the request of the Srivaishnavas of Kodanur, for the enlargement of the tax-free content of the land yield, which was specified in the King's 4th year order.  The sanction order of the same by the king was conveyed by the Accountant of occupied lands (named in the record) and the extract of the Land tax register was signed by a number of officials.

In a record two years later of the same king (12th reginal year 0 1114-75 A.D.) there is an indirect involvement of the Kodanur Sabha.  The context was a request made by new Matha erected at Kanyakumari temple ('kumari piratti') and named after the king as 'Kulasekhara Matha', in the record.  For the 'paradesis' (what are called 'desantaris' in Srivaishnava temple parlance), to be fed and provided with amenities, it was requested that 50 kasu, out of the cash revenue yielded by the 'Devadana' village of Kodanur and forming the grant portion of the 'antaray' paid to the Crown, be sanctioned to the 'Sattar' (students) of Kumarimangalam (Kanyakumari), so that with this resource, they could buy paddy from time to time for feeding the mendicants and pilgrims to the temple Matha for the above cited festival.  The request was made to the king by the Superintendent of the kitchen, assigning duties to the kitchen servant ('adukkalayarkku kuri').  The king ordered the assignment of 50 kasu from the revenue due to him from the land-holders o Kodanur, as 'Madappuram'.  This indicates that Kodanur Sabha fulfilled some community obligations also as and when they arose.

In a 5th year record of Maravarman Sundara Pandya (1221 A.D.) it is stated that the king gave up his royal right to receive the share of the first produce ('china mudal peru') realized from the oil-mongers of the oil-press ('chekku') which supplied oil for the lamps of Periapiran temple at Kodanur, in order that the oil-lamp service ('tirunandavilakku sesham') be properly maintained.  One kulasekhara Kaduvetti had signed the order conveying the royal sanction.  The personage who was responsible for this royal initiative is mentioned in the inscription as Sendalangara Mamuni.  It is tempting to identify this Vaishnava ascetic as the monk of the same name (c.1209-1258 A.D.) who is seen taking an active part in the construction of a shrine for Kulasekhara alvar in the temple of Rajendra Vinnagar (Mannarkoil), about 22 km west of Kodanur.

In a further inscription from Kodanur Vishnu temple, of the 13th year of Maravarman Sundara Pandya, it is seen that the Mahasabha of the township, of its own accord, had also made voluntary contributions, out of its land yield, towards a new deity installed in the Nellayappar temple, Tirunelveli.  The gift constituted 15 kalams of paddy, by the 'Vira Pandyan' measure, per crop, beginning from the 'pasanam' of that year.  The Sabha agreed to provide this to the merchants to whom they delivered the 'kadamai' paddy for every crop, and were to get the receipts from the merchants for the same.  The grant is attested by a number of Brahmin signatories.  These names of the year 1230 A.D. of Maravarman Sundara Pandya I, when compared with the large number of signatories to the document relating to the 7th year of Kulasekhara (1168 A.D>) show that quite a few of the names repeat themselves.  They could either be the same original signatories in both cases (of an interval of a good sixty years), or were acceptably, in the alternative, of the grandsons of the former who might have come of age, noting that it was customary for  the grandsons to be named after the grandfathers.

In a third inscription, in Sundara Pandya I probably, it is stated that one Kandiyattevan addressed the Sabha of Kodanur. This letter recounted all the levies ordered and exempted by 'Nayanar' (the king), namely that except 'kadamai' and 'antarayan', all other levies like 'pon-veri' etc., had been remitted on the lands held with 'karamai' rights by the Periapiran temple; and by an express command through this letter ('prasadam seidarulina tirumugamum niyogamum undayirukka') it sternly prohibited only innovations (i.e., new or additional levies) being made ('ippodu sila pudumaigal seiyakkadavargalalla') and enjoined on the Sabha to the 'niyoga' already issued and endorsed by the sabhaiyar.  Obviously, the cause of action, through this royal reproof, arose against certain over enthusiastic revenue officers who might have demanded higher rate of levies from the Sabha and this should have come to the notice of the king.

A record - whose date portion is lost from Abhimuktesvara Siva temple of Kodanur relates to a resolution of the Mahasabha of the township.   This refers to a benefactor, named as 'Podiyir pillar Srivallabhadevan' of Madurai having installed in this Siva temple a goddess ('tirukkamakettattu nachiyar') and named as 'Angayarkkanniyar' after his mother.  The Sabha of Kodanur, in pursuance of their resolution, sold 6 ma (1.98 cents) of its land to the benefactor as 'Devadana Irayili' and duly reduced the demand in the Land tax register ('variyil Kalittu') and attested it also in the Land Register.  The signatories to this again were both Srivaishnavas and Smarta Saivas among the landholding gentry of Kodanur, the former being seen more in number than the latter. This goes to show how the two dvija communities of the village were living in harmony and mutual understanding in spiritual matters.

The influence of Kodanur Township and Sabha was seen outside its limits also in the neighbourhood.  We learn about it freeman inscriptional record noticed at Kalijeyamangalam (now known as Karisulnda mangalam). In the year 1312 A.D., the Head of the Parahamsa parivrajaka Sripadasvami matha, Mukundananda Sripada had appealed to the Mahasabha of Kodanur to intervene and regulate the defaulting and incompetent Manager of the properties of the Matha.  This, however, did not succeed and the Head of the Matha had eventually to change to incumbent.

ART, CULT, SPIRITUAL SLANT

V.

The nodal point of the township of Kodanur was the temple of Periapiran with its external guard-post of the Garuda sannidhi.  The temple had blazed its trail as a Vaikhanasa center of religious worship mode of Vishnu as supreme Lord - a feature that typified the ancient spread of this tradition in the Tamraparni basin. Further, from the post-Alvar and Acharya stage of Southern Vaishnavism (from Yamunacharya and his successor Sri Ramanuja, as a preferred metaphysical base by the later) Pancharatra agamas and worship ritual modes gained profuse currency in lower South India, though vaikhanasa traditions were already seen in Tamilnadu from 8th century A.D. at lest in the Alvar period.  This pristine Agama format tended to integrate its theistic-iconic trends into a unified mould and in that process included iconic elements which Pancharatra mode clearly eschewed.  We have thus the images of ganesa (Vishvaksena) of Vaishnavaites) and Durga-Narayani seen on the southern and northern niches of the ardha mandapa exterior in very ancient temples like Srirangam, Tiruvallur etc.  In the Periapiran temple at Kodanur, the presence of the tradition of showing a Dakshinamurti image on the southern upper Vimana keshta is noticed.  This usage is also current in the Vishnu temple in the West street of Pattamadai as well.

The prime importance given to the Mula-bhera in the sanctum, notwithstanding the deputisutsava/kautuka murtis in bronze for abhisheka - (especially where the image in the sanctum is of sudha (stucco) - is another feature under the vaikhanasa mode.  This Agama represented by four Samhitas of the disciples of Vikhanas, namely Marichi, Atri, Bhrigu and Kasyapa, was known in Tamilnadu from the 7th-8th centuries A.D. as seen in its iconic forms in several early temples sung by the Alvars.  Sri Ramanuja, while reforming the temple religious ritual authority, established the Pancharatra tradition uniformly, except at Vengadam - owing to the supremacy of that deity - where the Vaikhanasa mode still prevails.  Another element of the Archa character of Pancharatra temples was the establishment of separate Sri-Lakshmi shrines in a temple complex.  Vaikhanasa mode prescribed a subshrine for this goddess in the southwest corner of the third avarana of a large temple, the classic example of which is still to be seen at Srirangam complex.  At Kodanur, in the Periapiran temple, the Sridevi shrine separately is not to be seen, since the ubhaya-nachiyars are integrated in the mula-bhera of the sanctum.  Indubitably, the charismatic impact of Nammalvar born in the Tamraparni basin and the propounding of the Ramanuja siddhanta subsequently, had resulted in the twin modes of Vaikhanasa and Pancharatra flourishing side by side in Vaishnava temples, enriching the archa iconography of Vaishnavism.  The introduction of bhakta-bimbas like those of Alvars, Ramanuja, Vedanta Desika etc. as noted mainly from the post-Ramanuja time again form an interaction of these two Agamic ritual modes. Kodaganallur temple was just an index of this situation.

On the Saiva side, it is to be noted that a separate Devi image got consecrated (in the premises of Abhimuktesvara temple in the east street of Kodanur by a donor and mentioned as Tirukkamakottattu nachiyar) as detailed earlier above in the time probably of Maravarman Sundara Pandya I.  It is noted generally that a separate Devi Shri in a Siva temple is not coming into being before the period of the Imperial Chola king Rajendra I, as seen in his Brhadisvara temple at his capital town of Gangaikondacholapura datable to c. 1014-25 A.D.  The advent of Tirukkamakkottam, as it is always called, in the Abhimuktesvara temple at Kodanur, is thus of a piece with this trend in Tamilnadu.  The fact that the donor for this addition hailed from Madurai is itself significant, as even the expansion of the Original Sundaresvara Temple there into the Minakshi-Sundaresvara complex of twin enclosures, was essentially a development of the 13th century A.D.  Kodanur was in step with the feature of Siva temples, the name of this Devi addition as 'Angayarkkanni' is an appropriate diffusion of the Minakshi (the Sanskrit synonym to Angayarkkanni) form, from Madurai to other parts of Tamilnadu in the Pandyan period.  It is likely that this trend at Kodanur might have enabled the temple to perform the 'Tirukkalyana utsava' annually thereafter.

Given the riparian situation as nature gift and with residents imbued with Ubhaya-Vedanta traditions in the Srivaishnava agrahara, and in the Sankara matha established by the Sringeri Matha of Karnataka - the only one existing at that time in Tamilnadu - in the Smarta East street, there was a spiritual, intellectual ambience at Kodaganallur in the 14th century A.D. and thereafter, which was reflected in its having produced men of god like the Sundara Swamigal, aesthetic like Sundara Bhagavatar proficient in both gottuvadya and vocal music, and traditional masters of Vedic learning like Sundara Ghanapatigal of west street - on among the few experts in Ghanapatha of the Vedanga lore in the region then.  The temples and the Matha continued to be the chief rallying points for the resides for establishing their cultural identity and legitimacy to the ancient legacy.

AFTER-WORD

VI.

Kodaganallur, in its halcyon period from the beginning of the 12th century onwards, and for a long while, run by the Mahasabha of the Township was an archetypal 'Brahmadeya' center of some significance, which had a wide ambit of impact and influence in the neighbourhood and beyond, as with Tirunelveli, Madurai, Kanyakumari, and closely Seranmahadevi and Karisulnda mangalam.

It reflected every major stage in the development of Srivaishnavism and Smarta Saivism, in the main stream of both metaphysical and Pontifical kind.  The Periapiran temple carries six inscriptional records and the Abimuktesvara temple carries one, of the time range of circa. 1165 A.D. to around c. 1230 A.D. (noticed in the Annual Reports of Epigraph of the year 1933, Nos. 203-209 - well before in time to the renovation of the Vishnu temple decade).  The chronological data followed in this Brochure is essentially following the best, updated and perceptive work on the 'Imperial Pandya' by N. Sethuraman in 1978;  and for the analysis of the data is indebted to the studies on the inscriptions of the place; besides those at Karisulndamangalam, Mannarkoil etc., by my respected friend and scholar, R Tirumalai (of the I.A.S. Retd.).

An explanation to one term, namely Vira Pandyan kol, noticed in the inscription might not be out of place, owing to its wide implication in temple art.  Such a term for the linear measure current in the realm was common from the Imperial Chola times and are often met with, like 'Raja rajan kol', 'Kulottunga kol' etc., not only in inscriptions but was also engraved, to a prescribed length, on one of the stone mouldings of the plinth of temples.  It became the yardstick, as it were, for the preparation of the ground plan and the elevational dimensions of temple construction, as the South Indian 'Vimana' order of temple is noted for its proportionate measurements of its various parts in plan and elevation.  This is why it had been engraved on the temple itself, with a label in words as 'Kulottungan kol' etc. also written on it alongside, in some cases.  While the reference to the 'Virpandyan kol' in the Kodaganallur inscription was to the linear measure for ad measurement lands, for revenue purposes, the same was often made to apply to temple constructional situation as well.  Incidentally, the references to 'Vira Pandyan kol' here, would relate to the king of the same name in the 10th century A.D., and not to the 'Vira Pandya' who succeeded (in the civil war years between 1179-1187 A.D.)  Kulasekhara/under our reference, since the record where this term 'Vira Pandyan kol' occur is of the time of this earliest Kulasekhara who was closely associated with Kodanur and renamed it as Kulasekhara Chaturvedi Mangalam.  The other term for 'volume' measure which designated as 'Kulasekharan' is the record, belongs to the donor king Kulasekhara himself.

A gradual urban-ward migration in the late Colonial times had led to the depletion of the Srivaishnava population in the village, as compared to the Smarta gentry in the East Street of the village, whereas the inscriptions in the Periapiran temple consistently attest to a well populated Srivaishnava land holder-scholar families across the centuries upto the end of the 15th century.

- K. V. Soundara Rajan 

Additional Director General (Retd.)

Archaeological Survey of India