Four new inscriptions, two of them belonging to the period of Kulottunga Chola III, have been copied from Somisvarar Temple at Alagarai village near Manamedu on Musiri-Thottiyam Road by research scholars of Dr. M. Rajamanikkanar Centre for Historical Research, Tiruchi.
The discovery was made during a study taken up by R. Akila, Professor, Department of History, Arignar Anna Government Arts College, Musiri, who copied them with the help of M. Nalini, Head, Department of History, Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College.
In a release, R. Kalaikkovan, Director, Dr. M. Rajamanikkanar Centre for Historical Research, said two of the four new inscriptions belonged to the period of Kulottunga Chola III (C. E. 1178-1218) and provided vital information about the builder of the temple.
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An inscription copied from the basement of the sanctum identified the village Alagarai as a pidagai (satellite village) of Mimalai alias Jayamkonda Chola Chaturvedimangalam.
Temple construction
Kuladipa Nadalvan of Chennivalkkai, a local chief, had built a stone temple at Alagarai alias Kulottunga Chola Nallur and named it as Semisvaram. He had purchased land for building quarters for temple workers and gifted some wet lands to the temple.
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Names of several irrigation channels such as Valavan vaical, Jayamkonda Chola vaical, and Thiruchitrambala vaical were recorded in the inscription. A portion of inscription belonging to the 13{+t}{+h}regnal year of Kulottunga Chola III (C. E. 1190) engraved on the south and north walls of the entrance was read and published in 2000 by P. Shanmugam. The left out portion on north wall was copied now.