The Town named after a Semi-circle in the Kongu region
Coimbatore: The hill, whose foot houses a cave temple and its top a fort, looks like a semi circle. As read from the history of Tamil Nadu, it was a practice to name places after their landmarks, and the city Namakkal is no exception to this tradition. So, stone inscriptions of ancient times call the place as ‘Aaraikkal’, with ‘Aaram’ meaning a semi-circle and ‘Kal’ a rock.
“The Narasimhaswamy cave temple, with its magnificent rock-cut sculptures at Namakkal of the Kongu region is mentioned as ‘Singaperumal Koyil’ in stone inscriptions of the yore. The cave shrine has a strong historical connection with the Tamil Sangam age, as it was built by king Gunaseelan of 8th century CE, a descendant of the Athiyamans – the chieftains who were praised for their valour and philanthropy in the lyrics of Sangam literature†says R. Jegadeesan, a city-based epigraphist and author of the book Kongunattu Kalvettukkal – Koyamputhur Vattam (Inscriptions of Kongunadu – Coimbatore circle)â€
“One of the inscriptions found on the corbels of the pillar is in the Grantha Script. It informs that the cave known as Atiyananta-Vishnu-graham was made as a shrine to Vishnu by king Gunaseela, the descendent of the Athiyamansâ€Jegadeesan points out.
“Though ancient stone inscriptions refer Namakkal as ‘Aaraikkal’, the word, later witnessed an alteration and became ‘Thiru Aaraikkal’ with the prefix ‘Thiru’ adding esteem to it.†adds the epigraphist.
Jegadeesan says that the hill also had other names as ‘Nagagiri’and ‘Nagamalai’
“With ‘Nagam’ meaning ‘cobra’, the name throws light on the tribal tradition of worshiping cobras. With cobra worship being popular once in this region, the cave temple must have been once a place of tribal worship and later converted into a Vaisnava shrine†informs Jegadeesan.
Emperor Asoka the great, who ruled almost the entire sub-continent in 3rd century BCE, mentions the Tamil chieftains Athiyamans as ‘Sathiapudho’ in his edicts. Supporting this fact, a Tamil stone inscription discovered in a cave at Jambai in the erstwhile South Arcot district at a later period. The inscription has registered that a chieftain of the Athiya dynasty calling himself as ‘ Sathiapudho Athiyan Nedumaan Anji…â€
Athiyamans, despite being chieftains, were close relatives to the Chera kings. Throwing light on their agnate relationship with the Cheras, another stone inscription discovered at Polur in the erstwhile North Arcot district contains record of an Athiya king calling him as ‘Chera Vamsathu Athigamaan’(Athiyaman from Chera lineage) and ‘Vanjiyar Kulapathy’ (Head of ‘Vanjiyar’ –the Cheras, who ruled with ‘Vanji’ (Karur) as their capital )
“Since the Cheras were followers of Vaisnavism, the Athiyamans too, being agnates to them, followed the faith. The magnificent Narasimhaswamy Temple, a Vaisnava shrine built by king Gunaseelan of the Athiya dynasty, stands testimony to their faith†says Jegadeesan.
Beside the sanctum sanctorum of the Narasimhaswamy Temple, stand the two life-like carved images of Lord Vishnu in His avatars of Varaha and Trivikrama.
“The fort atop the mountain was built by Ramachandra Naicker, the polygor of Senthamangalam in the 18th century. The fort houses a granary for grains and a godown for storing explosives. The fort has battlements to fire missiles. They are strategically positioned to direct fire at any direction on necessity, undetected, on the advancing enemy forces" adds Jegadeesan.
“The Narasimhaswamy cave temple, with its magnificent rock-cut sculptures at Namakkal of the Kongu region is mentioned as ‘Singaperumal Koyil’ in stone inscriptions of the yore. The cave shrine has a strong historical connection with the Tamil Sangam age, as it was built by king Gunaseelan of 8th century CE, a descendant of the Athiyamans – the chieftains who were praised for their valour and philanthropy in the lyrics of Sangam literature†says R. Jegadeesan, a city-based epigraphist and author of the book Kongunattu Kalvettukkal – Koyamputhur Vattam (Inscriptions of Kongunadu – Coimbatore circle)â€
“One of the inscriptions found on the corbels of the pillar is in the Grantha Script. It informs that the cave known as Atiyananta-Vishnu-graham was made as a shrine to Vishnu by king Gunaseela, the descendent of the Athiyamansâ€Jegadeesan points out.
“Though ancient stone inscriptions refer Namakkal as ‘Aaraikkal’, the word, later witnessed an alteration and became ‘Thiru Aaraikkal’ with the prefix ‘Thiru’ adding esteem to it.†adds the epigraphist.
Jegadeesan says that the hill also had other names as ‘Nagagiri’and ‘Nagamalai’
“With ‘Nagam’ meaning ‘cobra’, the name throws light on the tribal tradition of worshiping cobras. With cobra worship being popular once in this region, the cave temple must have been once a place of tribal worship and later converted into a Vaisnava shrine†informs Jegadeesan.
Emperor Asoka the great, who ruled almost the entire sub-continent in 3rd century BCE, mentions the Tamil chieftains Athiyamans as ‘Sathiapudho’ in his edicts. Supporting this fact, a Tamil stone inscription discovered in a cave at Jambai in the erstwhile South Arcot district at a later period. The inscription has registered that a chieftain of the Athiya dynasty calling himself as ‘ Sathiapudho Athiyan Nedumaan Anji…â€
Athiyamans, despite being chieftains, were close relatives to the Chera kings. Throwing light on their agnate relationship with the Cheras, another stone inscription discovered at Polur in the erstwhile North Arcot district contains record of an Athiya king calling him as ‘Chera Vamsathu Athigamaan’(Athiyaman from Chera lineage) and ‘Vanjiyar Kulapathy’ (Head of ‘Vanjiyar’ –the Cheras, who ruled with ‘Vanji’ (Karur) as their capital )
“Since the Cheras were followers of Vaisnavism, the Athiyamans too, being agnates to them, followed the faith. The magnificent Narasimhaswamy Temple, a Vaisnava shrine built by king Gunaseelan of the Athiya dynasty, stands testimony to their faith†says Jegadeesan.
Beside the sanctum sanctorum of the Narasimhaswamy Temple, stand the two life-like carved images of Lord Vishnu in His avatars of Varaha and Trivikrama.
“The fort atop the mountain was built by Ramachandra Naicker, the polygor of Senthamangalam in the 18th century. The fort houses a granary for grains and a godown for storing explosives. The fort has battlements to fire missiles. They are strategically positioned to direct fire at any direction on necessity, undetected, on the advancing enemy forces" adds Jegadeesan.