TRICHY: A 12th century CE Chola inscription was discovered at Singalanthapuram, a remote village near Kalippatti on the Trichy-Thuraiyur highway , by a group of college teachers while assisting a student on an MPhil dissertation. The records were found engraved on the middle square portion of the ornamental pillars that support larger mandapas of the temples."It is understood from the pillar inscriptions that a hundred-pillared mandapa was constructed on the premises of the Singalantapuram Siva temple by residents of different villages included under Valluvappadi nadu in present day Perambalur district," said a faculty member in history at Arignar Anna government arts college, Mu siri R Akila, who was part of the explorative study.The individuals who belonged to the Yadava community named the mandapa as Valluvappadi Nattan Nurrukkal Mandapam alias Amara Sundara Nayanar Nurrukkal Mandapam , she said.Head of the history department at Seethalakshmi Ramasami College M Nalini said the new records identified donors of the three pil lars found in the temple as Arasa Mikama Cholan of Giriyur, Kuncharamalla Cholakon, Periya Nattukkon, Cholakon of Kattur, Cheman Nayan Vallan of Chirukallikkudi, Araiyan of Kunrani, Nambi and Periyakon.While pointing out that the village was a well-known mercantile settlement during the Chola regime, director of the M Rajamanikkanar Centre for Historical Research Dr R Kalaikkovan said that "the village was named after one of the titles of the great king Rajaraja I, 'Singalathakan' which he acquired after the conquest of Sri Lanka."The earliest inscription copied from this place belonged to the 5th regnal year of Rajendra I, he said. The paleography of the inscriptions point to 12th century CE as the period in which this hundred-pillared mandapa was constructed.

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