Paluvettaraiyar

They were petty chiefs who ruled the present Kila-Paluvur and Mela-Paluvur, in the Udaiyarpalayam taluk of the Tiruchirapalli district, during Chola kingdom with the title Paluvettaraiyar. They were responsible for a number of benefactions to the temples at this place and were known to have been related to the Cholas by marriage. About a dozen records pertaining to this dynasty have been found.

Reference in south Indian inscriptions

Paluvettaraiyar, a Chera Mutharayar figures largely in the inscriptions copied at Kila-Paaluvur and Mela-Paluvur in the Tiruchchirappalli District. A.R. No. 231 of 1926 dated in the 12th year of Parantaka, that Paluvettaraiyar Kandan Amudanar fought, on behalf of his Chola overlord, a victorious battle at Vellur against the forces of the Pandya king and his Ceylonese ally, in which the Pandya lost his life. To commemorate this success the Commander Nakkan Sattan of Paradur made a gift of a perpetual lamp to the temple of Tiruvalandurai-Mahadeva at Siru-Paluvur.

It is perhaps this Amudanar who is referred to in the Anbil Plates of Sundara Chola as a Kerala prince whose daughter was married to Parantaka I and bore him prince Arinjaya By ‘Kerala prince’ should be meant a relation of the Chera king.^[1]

Periya pazhuvettaraiyar based on udaiyargudi inscriptions: we need to refer "Pazhuvoor Pudhaiyalgal" by Dr.R.Kalaikkovan before speculating further. The last few pages of the book give a detailed chronology along with years. In the book, there are names like Kumaran Maravan, Maravan Kandan etc. - all taken from names mentioned in epigraphs found at Avani gandarpa easwaram temple at pazhuvoors. The person we are talking about was a mutharaiyar chief as evident from title "sozha ( Chola) mutharaiyan". Pazhuvetaraiyars bore the title "Pazhuvetaraiyan kandan maravan" etc.

Three other members of the family mentioned.

Kandan Maravan figures in two inscriptions, dated in the 4th and 7th years of Rajakesarivarmna identified with Rajaraja I, and is also mentioned in two epigraphs of the 15th and 16th year os Parakesarivarman Uttama-Chola, similarly records are found of Maravan kandan covering about the same period in the 10th and 12th years of Rajakesarivarmn Sundara-chola. and between the 9th and 15th years of Parakesari Uttama-Chola. It appears as though these two chiefs were brothers who are stated in a record of the 12th year of Parakesari (Uttma-chola) from Udaiyargudi to have made a gift of land to the temple on behalf of his own younger brother Kandan Satrubhayankaran. It is also likely that he was known by the name Vikramaditya, whose wife Raman Koviyar is recorded to have made a gift of sheep for a lamp to the temple at Kila-Paluvur in the 8th year Uttama-Chola Parakesari.^[2]

References