Whenever you reach Singanallur Bus station to take a bus for your travel till Tiruchirapalli, have you ever felt that a Chola queen, who came from Trichy, was the reason for founding“Singanallur” and became part of the place name?
Whenever you reach Singanallur Bus station to take a bus for your travel till Tiruchirapalli, have you ever felt that a Chola queen, who came from Trichy, was the reason for founding“Singanallur” and became part of the place name?
Legend has it that Worayur, the capital of Chola country was submerged by a “Manmari” (rain of mud) which was a punishment from God for King Uthama Chola’s deviation from the faith of his ancestors. Following the calamity, Singammal and Shyamalammal, the two wives of Uthama Chola escaped to Kongunadu and were working as daily wage labourers. As Singammal was pregnant when she reached Kongunadu, she gave birth to a baby boy, who was later crowned as King Karikala.
In memory of his mother Singammal and aunt Shyamalammal, Karikalan created two new villages and named them relevantly as Singanallur and Shyamalapuram. He gifted the two villages to the Brahmins as Sathurvethimangalams. Moreover, he constructed hundreds of Shiva shrines in Kongunadu and as many as 32 check dams across river Noyyal.
Cholan Poorva Pattayam, an anonymous book published by Kovai Kizhar C.M Ramachandran Chettiar, the first historian of Coimbatore, mentions the chain of events from the destruction of Urayur to the gifting of the Sathurvedhimangalams. Bearing testimony to the fact in the book, a stone inscription discovered by Epigraphist D. Sundaram at the Perumal temple in Samalapuram, mentions the name of the village as ‘Samalapuram Sathurvedhimangalam’.
The damaged inscription, which dates back to 13th century A.D., has recorded that the members of a Naattusabai (A local administrative body) in Vayaraikanaadu, a division of ancient Kongunadu, had made a gift to the Perumal temple. The mention of the village as ‘Samaladevi Sathurvedhimangalam’ proves the point that Samalapuram was an Agraharam or the colony of Brahmins.
Cholan Poorva Pattayam has recorded the history of Karikalan’s constructing numerous Shiva shrines and dams. According to its inscriptions, King Karikalan was ailing from a disease called “Pithanoi” which was a divine effect against his killing of his son for the latter’s crime of slaying a calf by running his chariot over the animal. As the illness afflicted Karikalan, Goddess Kamatchi appeared in his dream as a Kurathi (A woman soothsayer) and advised him that he ought to migrate his people to Kongunadu, create cities and construct numerous Shaivaite temples there to get cured of the illness.
Karikalan set out to Kongunadu, accompanied by Samayamudhali, Kasthuri Rangappa Chetty and Sadayappa Vallal. As the place was a wilderness inhabited by tribes having their own Gods and culture of worship, they protested the Chola King’s imposition of the new Saivite deity Lord Shiva in their land. However, the diplomatic Samayamudhali promised the tribes that temples would be constructed for their deities too and made easy the spread of Saivism in the region.
The Cholan Poorva Pattayam also says that human sacrifice was in vogue at places like Chennimalai, Avinashi, Perur and Annur surrounding today’s Coimbatore. To honour the person sacrificed for the deity, a hero stone called “Saavaarakal” was erected in his memory at the temple.
A stone inscription dating back to 14th century AD at Arakanda Nallur, records that Ilavenmathi Soodinan, a son of Ponnandi, a Devadasi, was beheaded for the auspicious construction of a temple mandapa in the Pandya country. However, this violent practice was later replaced by offering “Muppali” to the deities (Sacrificing goat, hen, and pig).