Of the Gifts Made to Ancient Perur Temple

Coimbatore: 'What will you do when you visit a temple?'

'We will buy tickets for Archanai and worship the deity'

'After that?'

'We will sit in the temple Mantapa and eat the coconut'

Another student quipped in:

'Sir, we will also buy Pori Kadalai (puffed rice and groundnuts) to be eaten with coconut'

But, Ganesan was not disappointed with his answer, as he had known well that the sense and flair for their region's history are little not only among the students but even devotees. Nevertheless, the ancient Patteeswarar shrine, in many of its inscriptions on its walls and pillars, has documented the names of the persons and the gifts made by them.

An epigraph, which dates back to 11th century AD, says that the persons Muttathu Vyapari Pattiyaan Dhanapalan, Genapaatti Asaandan and Veerasekaran Devan Agamudayaal Devi presented a pillar to the temple. The inscription also informs that the beam of the temple's Mahamantapa was donated by one Perur Mandradi Thiruvenkaavudayanana Veera Gangan.

Another inscription dating back to the period of king Veera Chola (1183-1206) says that a person by the name Saaththillai Nayagam Moovendha Vellalan presented rice to feed 100 Tapasis (Religious mendicants) and Brahmins in Perur.

Following the modern age trends of revisiting tradition, parents from the middle and upper class get their children enrolled in various Bharathanatyam schools functioning in the city today. However, most of them know little that the classical dance form takes its roots from Sathir, a kind of dance performed by Devadasis ( Girls dedicated to temple) in the shrine. And an inscription in the Patteeswarar temple has recorded that a philanthropist presented paddy to a Devadasi in Perur.

Reminding the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, a Vishnu temple, which is said to have been built in front of the Shaivite Patteeswarar shrine by the Pandya king Maran Sadayan, is found nowhere today. But, only the idol of the Vaishnava deity Lakshmi Narayana Perumal is seen in front of the temple, negligently exposed to heat and cold.

Though Perur once flourished as 'Perur Nadu' (The Perur country) comprising even Coimbatore ( Kovanputhur) as one of its villages, long ago, it had been a forest of Peepal trees and appropriately called Arasavanam. However, like the Sanskritization of many other place names in Tamil 'Arasavanam' too became 'Peepalaranyam'!