I read that the cave temples in front of vijayalaya choleeswaram were built by mutharayars and one of the cave temples was called Pazhiyili Iswaram. Did you hear anything about this cave temple ?
I'm quite surprised that Ilango adhi araiyan inscriptions were found below dvarapalakas. That means, on what grounds are we assigning this ground to vijayalaya ? Did the temple exist even before vijayalaya came to power ?
>I read that the cave temples in front of vijayalaya choleeswaram were built >by mutharayars and one of the cave temples was called Pazhiyili Iswaram. >Did you hear anything about this cave temple ?
Oh yes....we did. I didn't give the name 'Pazayili Iswaram', however. (I thought the travelogue might be too long, if I had to go into such minute detail).
We didn't, however, give it more than a passing glance- we looked more into 'Samanar Kudagu'.
>I'm quite surprised that Ilango adhi araiyan inscriptions were found below >dvarapalakas. That means, on what grounds are we assigning this ground to >vijayalaya ? Did the temple exist even before vijayalaya came to power ?
Yes...it *is* pre-Vijayalaya. I've mentioned that narthaamalai was under the Mutharaiyars, before it was conquered by Vijayalaya Chola.
The word 'Ezuppappatathu' wasn't correct though. I should have said, it passed into the hands of Vijayalaya and was named after him when he conquered the region.
But it was added to after Vijayalaya's reign, however.
I quote from www.pudukottai.org website:
"...An inscription under one of the Dvarapalaka-s says that Sattan Pudi, also called as Ilangodi Araiyar, originally built this temple and when the original temple was damaged by rain, Mallan Viduman (also called, Tennavan Tamiladi Araiyan) repaired it. He might have repaired it in the reign of Vijayalaya and since the temple is named Vijayalaya Cholisvaram. "