Chapter 5

Accretion of Temple’s Centrality:

Searching the Tiruvalla Copperplates

• The Temple of the Locale

• The Tiruvalla Copperplates
• Centrifugality of the Temple
• Modes of Centrifugality
a) The Temple Rituals and Endowments
b) Endowments
c) Tiruppaļikkuŗuppuņaŗtu and Pantīraţi pūja
d) Daily, Fortnightly, Monthly and Yearly Festivals and
Occasional Observances
e) Matters of Ōņam
f) Lamps to be Lit
g) Akkiram and the Reciting of the Mahabharata
h) Centrifugality and the Working of Gaņam-s
i) Consecration and Hierarchies of Idols
• The Temple: A Managed Object
 158

Temples were enduring and imposing monuments out there, commanding

the attention of many and inspiring architectural imagination for over a
millennium.1 Their emergence and gaining of dominant role in regulating human
relations in South India have been topics of serious study by scholars on a host
of disciplines. It has often been viewed as an axis that governed the economic
life of the locality, as a ritual centre, as the chief venue of festivals and also as
the hub of political disposition—the list is endless.2 Scholars have found a
direct relationship between the growing monumentality of the medieval South
Indian temples and their growing influence on the lives of the people. The
relationship was such that they could not be dealt with in mutual exclusion.
These scholarly engagements that lasted for about two and a half centuries or
even beyond, involved the use of varied source materials and application of
diverse methodological tools for understanding the complexities involved in
the relationship.3 At times temples have been depicted as the complex and
transitory outcome of an extraordinary range of relationships, interactions and
transactions and certain historians viewed them as a statement of their
constituent social groupings,4 but then, the fluidity of their history evaded
those depictions and views.

Construction of continuity and fixity in the historiography of the

temples takes place by anchoring their history into some or other origin;
thereby it lends service to fixity. Prof. Elamkulam P N Kunjan Pillai has
viewed the construction of numerous temples and the rise of Brahman

1
See Burton Stein, “Introduction” in Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol. XIV, No.1,
Jan-March 1977, ff .
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid, pp. 1-3.
4
Ibid.
 159

ascendancy in the period after the ninth century as a significant development.5

But it is in the writings of M G S Narayanan that the notion of ‘temple-centred
Brahman settlements/society’ becomes an overpowering assertion in historical
writing. He traces the origins of the temple settlements to the ‘post-Sangam’
period and finds the Brahmin chronicle, Keraļōlpatti as providing the crucial
clues to bring out the antecedence of the Brahman settlements. He suggests
that several Brahman settlements must have been existing even before the
Cera Kingdom of Makotai.6 The premise is that the original charters or
endowments of the major Brahman settlements have not come down to us,
very much in variance with the case elsewhere in South India.7 He regards the
period of the Cera rulers as a crucial phase and as a unique case, wherein the
“strong, well-organised and self-conscious Brahman community, ruling over
the territory of Kerala” had been “using the Perumal, a Member of the ancient
Cera dynasty, as a ritual sovereign to ensure legitimacy and unity among the
nāţuvālị̣̣-s who were powerful in their own right in different parts of Kerala”.8
However the cases of the charters of some smaller Brahmin settlements such
as Cokiram and Panniyur as given by the local nāţuvālị̣̣-s and registered in the

5
The emergence of regular mechanisms for the administration of temples, the framing of codes of
conduct for regulating the actions of the urāļaŗ, the place of distinction occupied by them in the
‘cultural progress’ of Kerala , their unique status as centres of education etc. has been
highlighted by Prof. Elamkulam P N Kumjan Pillai. See his “Raņdām Cera Samŗājya kālam” in
Elamkulam P N Kuňňan Pillayuţe Tirnanjeţutta Kŗitikaļ., N Sam (Ed.), 2005,
Tiruvananthapuram, pp.536-537. See also his “Janmi Sampradāyam Keralattil” in Ibid.
6
See M G S Narayanan, Op. cit, pp. 141-142. Kēraļolppatti mentions Parasurama as the patron
of the Brahmins and Ahichchatra as their ancient abode. It gives a list of 64 settlements founded
by their patron, of which 32 are in the Tulu nadu and 32 in Kerala. In turn, all of them originally
had their homes in Vellappanad, identified with Chalukya kingdom. Also see his “Kēraļolppatti:
A New Reading of the Old Chronicle- I”. Keynote Address, Sameeksha, Tapasam Seminar,
Kalady, Kerala. Oct 2003.
7
See M G S Narayanan., Perumals of Kerala, p. 109.
8
See M G S Narayanan., “The State in the Era of Ceraman Perumal” in State and Society in South
India, Champaka Lakshmi et. al, (Eds.), pp. 115-116. He clarifies that he uses the expression
“ritual sovereignty” is used much different from the way it is applied by Burton Stein to explain
the notion of ‘Segmentary State’ in South India.
 160

inscriptions have been pointed out.9 The manner in which urāņmai rights have
been bestowed on Brahmins by the naţuvāli-s in Tiruvadur10,
Devideveswaram11 and Tiruppalkadal12 have been highlighted to show how
the Brahman settlements proliferated and prospered around temples during the
period of the Ceras and beyond. Subsequently the notion of temple centred
Brahman settlements came to be dealt with as the bedrock of scholarly
preoccupation in the historiography of early medieval Kerala.

It is along the same lines that the rapid expansion of the Brahman
settlements ‘all over Kerala’, have been traced by Kesavan Veluthat.13 He
adds that the temple worked as a Brahmin centre and also as the pivot around
which the village community revolved and each observed the same rules of
conduct regarding the organisation and administration of the village properties
and allied matters.14 It is further argued that the village community itself was
re-oriented in such a way that a temple-centred, semi-autonomous, agrarian,
caste society supplanted the semi-tribal social structure of Kerala.15

Rajan Gurukkal goes even further and dwells upon the status of the
temple as the largest of the landed magnates of the time16 and emphasises the
role of the rituals, festivities and other celebrations in the growth of the temple
settlement and its cult. The temple is also argued to have played a significant
role in the integration of the society by employing a large number of people in

9
See M G S Narayanan., Perumals - - -, p. 109.
10
Index B. 16.
11
Index B. 15.
12
T A S. Vol. V, pp. 63-86.
13
Kesavan Velutaht, Brahman Settlements in Kerala , (1978), Sandhya Publications, Calicut, p. 39.
14
Ibid.
15
Ibid.
16
See Rajan Gurukkal., The Kerala Temple, Chapter on “Temple and the Agrarian Economy”. ff.
 161

its ritual and other services and by harnessing the intermediaries, lease-holders
and actual tillers.17

With respect to each of the positions outlined above, one cannot

underrate the place and significance of the temple among the settlers and their
allies through its rights over the landed property and its produces, the rules of
conduct framed for the organisation and administration of the above
properties, the place of the rituals in the growth of the temple settlement and
so on. These are specific areas where the loci of power of the temple are
identified by the historians on the basis of documentary evidence. The
descriptions applicable to the specific loci of power of the temple are then
synecdochically extended to the whole of the social and spatial continuum.
Such a generalisation of the construct, ‘Brahman settlement’ was indeed
persuasive. We find the same metaphor at work over an array of other things
too. The history of Brahmin settlements is generalised as that of the society in
the hitherto existing historiography. The nature of control of the Brahmans on
the temple and the rituals traceable in inscriptions came to be posited on their
relations with other institutions and with other groupings of people.

What is meant is that the temple may be central to the Brahmins. But
they constituted only a small fraction of the entire population. In other words,
the temple was certainly not central to a predominantly non-Brahmin
population who inhabited in the given spatial continuum and who also had
control over large areas of land. If this had been the case, then any conception
of the ‘temple centred society’ is only metaphorically arrived at. This can be
explicated by seeking explanations to the following queries:

17
Ibid, p. 50.
 162

(1) Can the increase in the endowments for the temple-rituals attribute
centrality to the temple?

It is true that large areas of property had been endowed for

specific rituals in the temple and that Brahmins had control over the
people dwelling therein. But these are not evidences sufficient to
conclude that the temple was central to all the land and people.

(2) This takes us to a more baffling question—is the temple the exclusive
mediating agency for the entire sweep of power relations, even, within
the ‘settlement’?

There is seen, within the immediate precincts of the temple,

strong groupings of people such as the producers and dealers of pepper,
based in the red soil terraces adjacent to or enmeshing the wet-rice
regions. The TCP itself registers the presence of ańādis at least in the
adjacent Vempolinadu18 which were not under the control of the temple
until it was given over to be kept under the protection of the temple.
There are also numerous groupings of people in the cult centres along
the course of River Manimala and even within the vast zones of
agricultural lands listed in the TCP as fields endowed to the temple.19

(3) There is an even more absorbing question—even for those people to

whom the temple was the centre—was this a centrality that revolved on an
exclusive ‘Brahman’ axis? In other words, was the notion of centrality
totally devoid of all non-Brahmanical non-temple associations?

18
TCP is to the surrender of the place called Kutavur, 18 varies belonging to Kutavur and the
angadi therein as kīļīţu to the temple of Tiruvallavāļ for which he also pays protection fee or
rakshabhogam to the temple. TCP.,ll. 331-335. Vari could mean market duties or taxes. This
could also mean 18 types of craft groups residing in Kutavur such as carpenters, blacksmiths,
goldsmiths, rajakas. Malakaras, potters, bronze smiths, leaf dealers, salt makers, traders, etc. See
P U Nair, Sŗī vallabha Maha - - -, p. 420.
19
For an idea of the non-brahmanic and non-exotic religious practices see Chapter II.
 163

It is significant that several non-Vedic and non-Brahman

elements and expressions are discernible amongst the conglomeration
of deities consecrated inside the temple and the prescriptions made in
the TCP for their veneration and propitiation.

It is a well acknowledged fact that epigraphic records available for the

study of early medieval Kerala are mostly records of ‘Brahmin village
settlements’ and West Asian or native trade centres and that their chief
limitation is that they refer only indirectly and infrequently to conditions
outside them, thus keeping the Dravidian part of the society practically out of
the picture.20 It has also been conceded that original charters or endowments
given to the major Brahmin settlements have not come down to us21 making it
difficult to trace their individual trajectories from their origins. Amidst these
lacunae, inscriptions such as the Tiruvalla Copperplates have been used as the
major source material, to make conclusions about the various aspects of the
temple. Among the inscriptions thus used for historical reconstruction, the
status accorded to the Copperplates is that its contents have widely been made
use of to lend greater visibility to the centrality of the temple to the settlement.
Certainly it is not exclusive to the Brahman settlement of Tiruvallavāļ.
Moreover, contents of the TCP are viewed as representing a common pattern
of the centrality of the temple to Brahman settlements everywhere in Kerala.
Thus to a vast body of historical representations which hold that there was a
general pattern of development of the various Brahman settlements, the Vişņu
Temple with its rich fund of historical sources is an exemplar.

20
M G S Narayanan., Perumals- - -, p. 141.
21
Ibid,pp. 144-147. Also Kesavan Veluthat., Brahman Settlements…, pp. 39-48. Rajan Gurukkal,
The Kerala Temple …, pp. 50-51.
 164

An interrogation of the various source materials relating to the Temple

of Sŗī vallabha for the period from c.800 AD to c.1400 AD leads us to
inferences that would necessitate a re-problmatisation of the well-set notions
of ‘centrality’ of the temples to the settlements and also to the society.

In the first place it is seen that the extent and effectiveness/

affectiveness of the temple’s ‘centrality’ did not remain the same and that its
position and social functions varied significantly during the period mentioned
above. We feel that it is incredulous to treat the notion of the temple’s
centrality as having immutable and unchanging features and traits. As against
the commonly shared presumptions of a fore-grounded notion of temple-
centrality, what can be seen is temple gaining centrifugality through constant
articulation and re-articulation of power relations.

Secondly, temples also had history in the same way as settlements or

political institutions had. But in historiography, they were dealt with as
derivative or residual. On the contrary temples can be reckoned with as prime
sources of information which could be squeezed for historical reconstruction
in the same way as literature, inscription or archaeological materials. We
intend to deal with the temple as a crucial site that enables us to prise open the
temple’s intrinsic relations with both the Brahmin and non-Brahman
constituents and socio-cultural elements in the settlement, which has hitherto
eluded historiography. Here, centrality of the temple is not conceived of as
something being brought about through the exclusive and superfluous
engaging of Brahmin tenets, rituals and system of beliefs in the temples. We
find that non-Brahman and non-exotic deities and practices also made their
way into the temple.
 165

Thirdly, it is also shown that the history of the temple cannot be

generalised as the history of the region, locale, society etc. Nor can the history
of the region be considered as reducible to that of the temples located in it.
This is mainly because the power effects of the temples influenced only
certain sections of people who were related directly or indirectly to them,
leaving out probably a vast body of people inhabiting the places around. It is
significant that even for those people who come within the effective/affective
fields of the temples, their life world were not fully governed by them. Even
among those who were influenced by the power effects of the temples, it did
not work uniformly. Therefore we intend to set aside notions of permanence
and immutability of the generalisable centrality of the temples by interrogating
the copperplates associated with the above temple. ‘Centring’ of the temple to
the settlement is understood here not as a preset condition stretching from the
day of the temple’s inception but as an ongoing process. In other words, it is a
notion of centrality that had been undergoing changes continually with the
addition of new expressions, practices and observances. We assume that
marginalisation is inherent in any process of centralisation.

Imaginations, recollections and conventions surrounding the temple as

captured in literature are dealt with separately in the ensuing chapter. But for
the present it may be necessary to state that it is the idol or deity which
assumed the central place in āļvāŗ poetry composed some time before the
period of the copperplates. But in the Tiruvalla Copperplates, it is the temple
that occupies this position—a position which it retained till the nineteenth
century or even beyond. In variance with the conception of homogeneity and
continuity of the temple, what we find is the altering status of the idols and
their pedestals; deities included in the pantheon had variable composition over
the period.
 166

The Temple of the Locale

Located in an elevated place, the temple is linked to the Manimala with
canals; it had waterways on all sides, which in turn, provides access to the
waterlogged regions on the west and the difficult terrain on the east. It has
been pointed out that ‘waters’ are constantly linked with cosmic Narayana and
that the early shrines of the period of the āļvāŗ poetry are located either on
river banks or in the fork of a river or on the sea coast.22 By all standards this
is a prime location. The location of the temple itself is a key factor in wresting
its centrality. Added to this is the temple’s splendid structure and its
consequent renown, enticing to the eye of every passer by. Small wonder, the
temple had been a significant landmark and a stopover in medieval times. This
has been well charted in the medieval sandeśa kāvya—Uņņinīli sandēśam.23
Much had been claimed of the antiquity of the temple24; nevertheless, there is
still indecisiveness about the precise period of its origin. However, it is
possible to convincingly propose that it must have existed as a folk cult site
prior to the Tiruvalla Copperplates which will hereafter be referred to as TCP.

The general assumption is that the place name is associated with Sŗī
Vallabhavāļ Appan, the deity of the temple and the literal meaning is “the

22
R Champakshmi., “The Sovereignty of the Divine: The Vaişņava Pantheon and Temporal Power
in South India” in H V Sreenivasa Murthy et al.(Eds)., Essays on Indian History and Culture,
New Delhi, Mittal Publications, 1990, p. 55.
23
Sooranadu Kunjan Pillai (Ed.)., Unnunili Sandesam, Kerala Bhasa Institute, Trivandrum, Stanzas
120 to 123 gives us significant insights into the various things in Tiruvallavāļ that caught the
attention of any outsider during the medieval times. These included the Temple of Tiruvallavāļ,
its trustees, the flagstaff and the market of Karayanattu kavu.
24
The date assigned to the dedication of the Sŗī Vallabha (Vişņu ) temple is 59 B C. See K N
Daniel, “Vira Kerala Chakravarti” in Kerala Society Papers, pp. 95-98. But the material/cultural
milieu of the region during the above period does not warrant the possibility of such a shrine to
have been constructed during the 1st c. B C. Probably this was the site of a cult centre or a place
where a folk deity was consecrated.
 167

place where Sŗī Vallabha is present with distinction”.25 A widely shared

presumption in onomastics or toponymy is that the names of important
institutions, persons, occupational groups, major crops, resource potentials etc.
are prefixed, suffixed or attributed to places. This is quite conspicuous in the
observation of Ward and Conner—official surveyors of Travancore of early
19th century—that ‘Thiruvalla’ the “capital of the district” (of Tiruvalla) …
has been “deriving its celebrity from a large antique pagoda which in
magnitude and sanctity is only exceeded by that of Trivandrum”.26 Even a
cursory reading of the manuscripts/palm-leaf documents associated with the
various elite families and the temple-related documents would reveal that the
place name had been synonymous with the Vişņu temple of Srī Vallabha. The
documents relating to the temple apply the name Sri Vallavāl Matilakam to
denote the temple complex encircled by the wall.27

Besides its monumentality, one finds the temple, growing into the
ideological/ spiritual core of the representations of the Tamil devotional
poets.28 It is possible for us to glean the crucial ways in which the temple was
made an ideological/spiritual core in the TCP through the perpetuation of
multifarious rituals in accordance with the Purāņic tradition. The inscription
gave permanence to them as well.

Once the temple started becoming a prominent receiver of endowments

in the form of vast areas of landed property and produces, it also started
growing into a canonising institution for regulating, standardising and

25
Other opinions regarding the derivation of the place name may be found in Nalankal Krishna
Pillai, Maha Ksetrangalute Munnil., (Malayalam), 1969, III Edition, 1997, p. 668. Also see P
Unnikrishnan Nair, Op. cit, pp 5-7.
26
Ward and Conner., Memoir of the Survey of the Travancore and Cochin States, p.157.
27
See for instance the reference to the temple in the document cited by T K Joseph, Kerala Society
Papers, Series 2, (1929), pp. 93-94. This is the referent found in various manuscripts in.
28
The notion of the “temple region” worked out by the Āļvaŗs has been dealt with detail in the
ensuing chapter.
 168

initiating the thoughts and actions of the various segments of the people in
diverse ways. Concomitantly, the economic and human resources of the
temple also have been rapidly increasing over time. In addition to the
devotees, subjects and activists already available for the temple, the TCP
points to the progression of the temple’s control over land and people. Their
status and existence comes to be recognised from the vantage point of the
temple. This would mean that a new social space came to be constituted
wherein the temple had centrality. The new social space consisted of a
significant workforce ranging from the temple priests and the trustees to
maidservants, who had their respective services, roles and statuses specified to
correspond to the widening scope of the temple.29

The Tiruvalla Copperplates

This set of copperplates is often regarded as a classic specimen of
medieval documentation in Kerala. Early scholars such as Elamkulam P N
Kunjan Pillai would date the document to the fourth century of the Malayalam
Era, corresponding to the twelfth c. A D and calls it “the first book in
Malayalam language”.30 The earliest epigraphic reference to the temple
available as of now is found in the Tiruvalla Copperplates (TCP) otherwise
called the Huzur Office Plates. This has been published for the first time in the
Travancore Archaeological Series.31 We consider this set of copperplates as
an important specimen that throws light on how certain key documents were
29
Later documents recovered from the region, not necessarily of the temple but related to the tantŗi
families of the region conform to the specifications laid down in the TCP. See P Unnikrishnan
Nair, Tiruvalla Grandhavari Vols. I&2, (1998 - 1999), M G University, Kottayam.
30
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai., Kerala Bhasayute Vikasa Parianamangal¸(Mal.), (1953), N B S,
Kottayam, p.96.
31
T A Gopinatha Rao., TAS. Vol II Part III, Also see for a discussion on the date and contents of
the document Kesavan Veluthattu, Brahman Settlements in Kerala., (1978), Sandhya
Publicastions, Calicut, pp. 39-51, P Unniktrishnan Nair, Sŗī Vallabha Maha Ksetra
Caritram(Malayalam), (1987), Tiruvalla, pp. 413-440. Several volumes of Grandhavaris of
Tarayil Kuzhikkattu Illam referring to the Sri Vallaval matilakam of the period since the 14th
century have survived to this day.
 169

created and maintained. These in turn generated new documents that refer to
the ways in which people were related with these documents. For instance,
several Granthavari-s in the Kulị̣kkattu Illam—a prominent tantŗi family
associated with the temple—are found to have been following the dictates
inscribed in the TCP.32 Historians have tried to fix the date of some of the
important events recorded in the inscriptions on the basis of historical events,
astronomical data as well as personal names figuring in the document as
benefactors or donors. Certain sections of the document were certainly written
during the tenth century.33 This date is arrived at on the basis of references
made to certain benefactors such as Vira Cola.34 However certain sections
could be assigned dates as late as the twelfth century or even slightly later.

It is presumed that the document contains an update of the various

endowments made from a period prior to the tenth c. and proceeding beyond
the eleventh century. Editing and codifying endowments in the document
appears to have been made from time to time. As such the document can be
taken as shedding light on the character of the temple society’35 In other
words, the document has been viewed in historiography as a unique collection
of copperplates providing the historian a chance to see at a glance, the whole
development of a representative Grāmakşetŗa which was also a significant
Vaişņava centre, through the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries.36

The central concern of the TCP is the management of resources for

specific rituals instituted in the temple from time to time, rather than

32
See docs in P U Nair., Tiruvalla Granthavari, Vol. II., 1999, M G University, Kottayam.
33
See Index A 80. Also Kesavan Veluthat., Brahman Settlements in Kerala., (1978), Sandhya
Publications, Calicut, p.40.
34
Kesavan Veluthat., Brahman Settlements- - -, p. 41. The above presumption is based on the
personalities whose dates are already ascertained, the earliest being the Cola ruler Vira Cola (907-
955 AD) and the latest being the Cera ruler Manukuladitya (962-1021).
35
Idem.
36
Index. A.80, p.88.
 170

doctrinal/scriptural aspects related to the temple. However it has to be

conceded that the former could be made use of to throw light on the latter.
Some of the important rituals in the temple are found to be missing in the
TCP. For instance, of the five pūjā-s that are traditionally performed in the
temple, we have detailed information only on the second pūja called the
Pantīraţi pūja, in the document. It may be taken into consideration that not
less than seven plates in the collection are missing. One doesn’t know whether
the missing plates contained information on the other rituals or on other
aspects relating to the temple and the deities. But we are in receipt of materials
which would bring out stark discrepancies between the prescriptions of the
TCP and the rituals and their procedures found in later periods.

On the basis of the themes and topics in the TCP, Gopinatha Rao has
classified its contents into twenty-five sections. For the sake of convenience
this classification is being followed, for examining the manner in which
actions and observances have been ordained for organising and managing
people and property. They comprise the instituting of a wide range of rituals
and celebration of periodic festivals, the running of institutions such as the
sālai and atirasālai, the working of the dwādaśi gaņam—the unique
mechanism for the supply of oil to the temple, the payment of fine and the
surrender of land and its income as sacred offering by the offender, the
assignment of land for various functionaries and so on.

It has been found that certain practices prescribed in the TCP were
discontinued by the time of the emergence of Stalapurāņa. Moreover, subtle
differences are also found between the TCP prescriptions and those in the
Stalapurāņa. It is contented that these variations vouch for the altering
dimensions of temple’s centrifugalising power imparted by the two
documents. To put it differently, the documental difference indicates the
 171

historicity of the temple and its centrifugalising power. The implications of the
same will be discussed in the ensuing chapter.

Centrifugality of the Temple

In the present chapter, the observances and practices figuring in the
TCP are being viewed as crucial activities of centralisation. Obviously this is a
process of centralisation that is made along different channels—devotees,
endowers/ donors, functionaries, workforce involved in the production of
resources for the temple, trustees etc. It was central to various sections of
people inhabiting the places figuring in the document in various ways and in
varying degrees. Incidentally this also included cult followers and religious
groups lying far beyond the confines of Vedic religious practices. We shall
now endeavour to recount the contents of the “Tiruvalla Copperplates”. In
addition to the details of the temple rituals and the endowments instituted for
the former, we may also look into the complex processes of idolisation, the
dominant role of the temples as the headquarters of the Brahmin oligarchic
corporations and also the ways in which the management of the temple
properties have been carried out with meticulousness.

Modes of Centrifugality

a) The Temple Rituals and Endowments

As observable in the Bhakti literature, the TCP also shows that rituals such
as instituting temple rites, lighting lamps, celebrating festivals, running
institutions such as the atirasālai and sālai etc. became vital constituents
animating the temple and simultaneously making it the ritual/sacred core of
the worldview of the Bhaktā-s37. From the standpoint of the Brahmins,
centrality of the temple and ritual/sacred activity in it might have been a

37
This will be discussed in detail in the next chapter.
 172

means of dominating the bhaktā-s. There is nothing which prevents us from

assuming that there was a purposive rationality on the part of the Brahmins in
getting the number of rituals enhanced. It can be argued that there was a dual
pronged strategy whereby the scope and range of the centre could be
perpetuated by the Brahmins through increasing the number of rituals on the
one side and by absorbing the local cultural elements into the Brahmanic-
puranic practices on the other. In the process, the local cultural elements and
idols associated with the non-Brahmins ceased to be alien or non-exotic to
those practices. We argue that it is by being drawn into the web of power
relations as bhaktā-s, donors, functionaries, trustees, producers of resources
etc. that the temple becomes central to them. The “centrality” of the temple
may be construed as constantly unfolding its ‘process of becoming’ rather
than transcending its perpetual ‘status of being’.

The TCP provides us with ample information on the various rituals

instituted in the temple and so too the offerings and provisions associated with
them. In addition to the daily pūjā-s there were also the monthly observances
and annual festivals. The inscriptions also point to the arrangements for the
supply of articles required for them, such as oil, incense, sandal, flower,
garlands, rice, coconut, plantains, ghee, food to the various deities, students
and Vaişņava Brahmanas, hospital etc. It was considered a mark of distinction
for people of consequence even from distant places to make endowments for
various rituals.38 The prominent among them are Vira Cola39, Kilan Atikal40,
Iramavatuka Muvar (of Kolathunadu)41, Eran Sankaran (of Puraikilnadu)42,

38
Kesavan Veluthat, Brahman Settlements in Kerala, pp.41-42.
39
TCP, ll.99-100.
40
Ibid, ll.109-111.
41
Ibid, ll.140-141.
42
Ibid, ll.150-151.
 173

Vaniyan from Ilam (a merchant from Ceylon)43, Raman Kotavarma

(Munninadu)44, Raman Matevi45, Munnimarayar46, the Sennithalai Atigal
Irayasegaran47, Kumarati (of Muttarru mulayil), Nayar (of Komadu), Yakkan
Kodai (of Peruvayalur) etc. It has already been pointed out by historians that
the endowments to the temple date back to as early as the reign of Vira Cola
(907- 955) or even of a still earlier period.48 Significantly enough, many of the
persons mentioned in the document were of political significance—including
rulers of the Cera49 and Cola families and nāţuvālị̣̣s of Vanatu, Vempolinatu,
Muňňanāţu, Kīlmalainatu—to mention a few. We also learn from the above
acts of donations/endowments, the pattern/manner in which they are ordered
to conduct themselves as subjects of Bhakti. The commitment to conduct the
rituals, and responsibilities and obligations attached to them, bind the bhaktas
with the temple and the temple begins to overwhelm their thoughts and
actions. They however may experience the effect of this centrality in varying
degrees.

b) Endowments
It is hard to think of the rituals and the endowments in mutual exclusion as
the two are invariably bound together in the TCP. Some general observations
on the centralising role of the endowments are being made in this section. The

43
Ibid, ll.250-254.
44
Ibid, ll.532-537.
45
Ibid, ll.537-542.
46
Ibid, ll.542-544.
47
Ibid, l. 102.
48
See Kesavan Veluthat, Brahman Settlements in Kerala, pp.41-42.
49
There could be some ground for T A Gopinatha Rao to think that the Sennithalai Atigal
Irayasegaran could be the Cera ruler Rajesekhara Varma of the Valappalli copperplate. There are
stories that associate Rajasekhara Varma with the Siva temple of Trikkandiyur. Tradition goes
that Rajasekhara Varma had been camping there at Sennithalai for supervising the renovation
activities of temple of Trikkandiyur. Tradition further associate Sennitalai with “eighteen
kshatriya families”. Another Cera ruler mentioned in the TCP is Manukuladitya.
 174

implications of endowments in relation to more expensive rituals/functions are

dealt with in the ensuing sections.

People from different walks of life made endowments for the various
rituals. These included prominent persons like the Perumāļ (Cera ruler),
Naţutaiyaŗvakaļ (the local chief) and even a Cola sovereign.50 A certain
vāņiyan or trader who came from—Sri Lanka—is registered to have made an
endowment for tiruvamiŗtu Īļam51. It is to be noted that the endowments were
invariably earmarked for a particular purpose or ritual. Endowments were
made for tiruviļakku, tiruvamiŗtu, akkaratālai, kūttu, tiruvākkiram, cāttiraŗ,
tiruveņņaiccilavu, tiruppukai, tiruccandanam, māņikkakkiņdi, Nayyamiŗtu,
veļļittaļiyai, paňcamasabda etc.52

Income from land thus endowed had received considerable attention in

historiography. It has been pointed out that a major part of the temple
properties comprised land.53 There were also endowments in gold. There are
instances of places along with their commercial resources being handed over
to the temple as kīļīţu. Two of such instances may be pointed out. The ruler of
Vempolinadu granted the village of Kutavur as kīļīţu for which the temple
corporation could collect eighteen kalaňcu of gold or 360 para-s of paddy as
protection fee or rakşābhōga.54 Again, the place called Valakamuttom with its
fields was placed as kīļīţu by the chief of Muňňanāţu from which 200 para-s
of paddy could be cultivated for procuring oil to the temple.55

50
For tables of the donors/endowers see M G S Narayanan., Perumals- - -, pp.145-147.
51
TCP., ll. 250-254.
52
For details with the nos. of lines in the TCP see M G S Narayanan., Perumals…, pp.145-147.
53
M G S Narayanan., Perumals- - -, pp.145-147. Also Kesavan Veluthat ., Brahmin Settlements- - ,
p. 42.
54
TCP, ll.331-336.
55
TCp, ll.533-535.
 175

The third plate of the TCP56 tells us that in addition to some garden
lands, paddy fields of 12634 kalam seed capacity have been endowed for
akkiram or for feeding the Brahmins.57 It is estimated that the lands set apart
for the lighting of perpetual lamps in the temple exceeded 2000 kalam seed
capacity of paddy fields while the expenses for the tēviyaŗnaţai works out to
over 5600.58 The expenses for the daily lamps, daily food offerings to the deity
and ghee to the temple were drawn respectively from the lands of 13685,
13500 and 1237½ kalam seed capacity.59 Still further there were substantial
endowments for various festivals and institutions attached to the temple.

Several hundreds of people worked for the provisions of the numerous

rituals, no matter whether they lived far away from the temple or had right of
entry into the shrine or whether they had even seen the temple at all. Despite
their spatial distance, their functionary roles as producers and suppliers of
resources for the performance of rituals and the animation of the temple
indirectly, made them parties in the running of the temple affairs.

c) Tiruppaļikkuŗuppuņaŗtu and Pantīraţi pūja

Of the various rituals listed in the TCP, some of them are highlighted here
to demonstrate their role in centralising the temple. Tiruppaļikkuŗuppuņaŗtu
otherwise called Tiruppaļļikkuŗuppu or paļļikkuŗuppu is a regular daily feature
of the temple and is only rarely found in other temples of Kerala. It is
practised as the symbolic waking up of the deity by blowing the conch
alternately in the eastern and western gateways.60 A ritual feed for the deity
called tiuvamiŗtu immediately follows it. Endowments are set apart for the two

56
TCP,ll.37-48.
57
Kesavan Veluthat, Brahmin Settlements- - -, p.42.
58
Ibid.
59
Ibid.
60
TCP, ll.438-439. For details of Tiruppaļļikkuŗppu see P U Nair., Sŗī Vallabha Mahaksētŗa
Caritram, p.263.
 176

in the TCP.61 The Pantīraţi pūja62—performed each day at five nāligai after
day dawn corresponding to 8.15 am—figures prominently in the TCP.63 In the
inscription sāntiyaţikaļ assumes a significant place as he is made responsible
for its regular and timely conduct. We glean this boundedness from the
statement in the inscription referring to the consequences of lapses; that is, he
was held responsible for non-adherence to the time schedule laid down and
shall pay a fine of 12 nāli of rice which would be appropriated by Pālāŗ
tiruvaţi. If the lapses were caused by the kīl sānti—another functionary—then
the same fine would be imposed on him as well. Fines for non-performance of
the drummer’s tasks would be collected from them by the kīl sānti. Fines for
the non-conduct of the ritual for a second day would attract a fine of double
the amount from the functionaries. The sāmāňjitan would ensure that the
expenses for the rituals were as per the prescribed scale to prevent any dilution
of the rituals. In his absence, the sāntiyaţikaļ would do the same. If the urāļaŗ
or the trustees tried to scale down the expenses and cause dilution of the ritual,
then they would be treated as having killed his father and married his mother.
His property would be confiscated and the proceeds shall be added to the
account of Turuvallavalappan. The strictness with which the stipulations are
spelt out regarding the expenses for the conduct of the ritual, the time
schedule, the specific responsibilities of the various functionaries etc. are laid
down, reiterates their immutability. While the document seeks to ensure the
uninterrupted conduct of the ritual, it makes the ritual the reference point from
which the agents mentioned above are categorised and hierarchised. What one

61
TCP, ll1438-439.
62
The ritual is called so since it is performed in the morning at the time when sun stands at such
altitude in the sky as to throw the shadow of a man to a length of 12 feet as measures by his own
foot. See note by T A Gopinatha Rao, T A S. Vol. II, p. 138. For details on the pūjā see P U Nair,
Op. cit, p. 267.
63
The details of the same in the TCP, are found in the lines from 1 to 36. Also see notes in T A S.
Vol.II p.136.
 177

can observe in this instance is that there is at one level, a linking of different
people to the activities of the temple and at yet another level, there is a binding
between people or functionaries.

A discussion on the date of this section in the TCP on the pantīraţi pūja
is important since we assume that the temple-rituals have been undergoing
changes from time to time and that the status accorded to various deities were
also changing.

We feel that this ritual was instituted during the early half of the ninth
century. The assumption is based on the striking resemblances between the
actions prescribed against the urāļaŗ in the present document and similar
documents belonging to the early Cera period found in various other temples.
The case of the Vālapaļļi Copperplate of the twelfth regnal year of
Rajasekhara—certainly of the first half of the ninth century, corresponding to
830 AD, is a case in point. While the above plate laid down that the offender
against the agreement shall be treated as one who married his mother64, the
TCP declaration goes still further to the assertion that the offender shall be
regarded as one who killed his father and married his mother and that his lands
and house shall be confiscated and utilised as the property of the deity of
Tiruvallavāļ.65

The offence of downgrading the ritual by slashing the expenses

earmarked for the purpose in the present document and mismanaging/stealing
the property of the temple on various other documents are equated with the
heinous act of killing the father or/and committing incestuous relation with the
mother. It is pointed out that this is a kind of phrasing made so as to create an

64
Index. 1.
65
M G S Narayanan., “Socio-Economic Implications- - -” Also his Perumals - - -, p. 116.
 178

awareness of what is conceivable as “Oedipus Complex” taken in the Freudian

sense of the term.66

The punitive measures prescribed for the above offences are argued to
have been envisaged to pre-empt violation of the agreements made by the
urāļaŗ on matters dealing with the management of temple rituals and temple
property. It is further presumed that certain rules regarding the management of
the temple at Mulikkaļam was framed by its council during the Cera period
and that it gained recognition as a model in several other settlements too; and
it came to be referred in various temple inscriptions as the Mulikkaļam
kaccam.67 The punitive clauses associated with the offences are confiscation
of property, excommunication, expulsion from important position etc. It is to
be noted that Mulikkaļam kaccam appears in an inscription at Tiruvanvandur68
of about the tenth century and in another inscription in Kaviyoor dated 4052
of the Kali Era corresponding to 952 AD.69

Given the fact that the inscriptions mentioned above are either within
the locale or in the temples lying in its immediate proximity, it may be
possible to trace the trajectory of the temple and the rituals and idols therein. It
seems likely that there is a small time lag between the period of that portion of
the copperplate in which the offences regarding the violations and the
formalisation of the punitive clauses in the form of the Mulikkalam kaccam.
Given the fact that the Mulikkalam kaccam has been evoked in another section
of the TCP,70 it is likely that the kaccam was not formalised when the

66
See M G S Narayanan., “Socio-Economic Implications of the Concept of Mahapatakas”, PIHC.
67
See Ibid. also his Perumals- - -., p. Also Kesavan Veluthat., Brahmin Settlements - - -, p. 58. Also
see Rajan Gurukkal., The Kerala Temple - - -, p.6.
68
Index.C.41.
69
Index. B. 6.
70
TCP, l. 390.
 179

specifications on Pantīrati pūja were laid down. Otherwise the document

would have specified the phraseology of the kaccam.

If the section on the Pantīrati pūja belongs to the early half of the ninth
century or before, then it is to be inferred that the procedures of the pūja
instituted as per the specifications laid down in the Āgamā-s are datable to the
above period. This would further lead us to the conclusion that worship of the
deities meant to be propitiated in the temple as listed in the same section of the
TCP may also be dated to the first half of the ninth century. The deities
referred to above are the Eastern Deity, Western Deity (Sudarsana),
Angadevatas (Varaha, Dakshinamurthy etc.), Viswaksena (Nirmalya devata,
or attendant deity of Vishnu) and Viswadevas (Vaisyam).71

This would lead us to a more complex problem of the changing status

of the deities.72 While T A Gopinatha Rao holds that the Eastern Deity is Siva,
T K Joseph maintains that in this Vişņu shrine there was no Siva on the
eastern side. But it seems likely that there had been an image of Siva on the
east and that it had been removed, about which no record is available as yet. It
is to be contented that the western deity (Sudaŗsanamūŗti or Vişņu in a serene
and tranquil form) and eastern deity (Siva) were treated as the principal deities
in the same sanctum sanctorum at the time of writing the document. Except
for this doubtful reference to the Eastern deity (to indicate Siva) and the
reference to Dakşiņa mūŗti among the various deities listed in this section of
the TCP, it is an all- Vaişņavite affair.

By the replacement of Siva by Sudaŗśanamūŗti (Vişņu) as the Eastern

deity, what is done is a further marginalisation of the Saivite component and
the consequent strengthening of the Temple as a centre of Vaişņavism.
71
For details of the Pantīraţi pūja see TCP, ll.1-36. Also see T A S II, pp.136-139.
72
For an idea of the positions of the various deities see Diagrams 1 and 2.
 180

Though there is no explicit reference in the TCP to Siva one could still argue
that Dakşiņa mūŗti (Siva) occupies a place among various other deities within
the sanctum sanctorum even today. But then one is in a position to maintain
that Visnu is consecrated on a higher pedestal than Siva.

A further point to be mentioned in this connection is the prescription

about Tiruvamŗutu or food offering as part of the Pantīraţi pūja. If this
offering could not be performed in the sanctum sanctorum then it has to be
conducted in the Maņdapam; further, if this could not be conducted there, then
it ought to be conducted at the temple at Toliyamalai, which is a Siva temple,
located on the most elevated part of the terrain of present day Tiruvalla.73
Gopinatha Rao, is of the opinion that the “peculiar language in which it is
expressed is not quite intelligible”74 But then, an overview of the conventions
associated with the rituals in the temple suggest that shifting the place of the
ritual would cause a diminution of the effectiveness of the ritual. But this
could be made up for by repeating the mantras and other procedures
associated with the ritual thus shifted, depending upon the distance it had been
moved away from the specified site.

The phrasing of the specifications with respect to the ritual is an act

involving the symbolic centring of the Sŗī Vallabha Temple and the
simultaneous subordination of the Siva temple of Toliyamalai by arranging the
sanctum sanctorum of the Sŗī Vallabha Temple, Maņdapam of the same
temple and the shrine of Toliyamalai along a hierarchy. However, it is to be
noted that despite its subordinate status, the Siva Temple of Toliyamalai still
had been accorded a place in the ritual scheme of the Sŗī Vallabha Temple. It
is significant that, despite its unique location and grandeur, the importance of

73
TCP, ll.26-28.
74
T A Gopinatha Rao., TAS. Vol. II, p. 136.
 181

the Siva Temple of Toliyamalai eclipsed and even came to be looked upon
disdainfully in the later centuries.

d) Daily, Fortnightly, Monthly and Yearly Festivals and Occasional

Observances

In addition to the panţīraţi pūja we may also seek centralising strategies in the
conduct of the fortnightly, monthly and annual celebrations— these generally
referred to as māsa viśēşangaļ, āņţu viśēşangaļ etc. Dwādasi festival is a
fortnightly observance falling on every 12th day after full moon and new moon.75
There were also celebrations on the asterisms of Aŗdra, Uttarasadha etc. and the
one falling on the 28th day on the asterism of Rohini. Though we are not in receipt
of information on the annual temple festival, there is a vital clue to the same. The
TCP carries a reference to the Tirunāļ kaņam which was the committee for the
conduct of the annual festival.76 What sets the rhythm of chronological time for
those linked to the temple and its property—directly or otherwise—is the
conglomeration of festivities associated with the temple or the occasions celebrated
on fortnightly, monthly or yearly basis, without obstruction. In other words, for
those committed to the celebrations and observances cited above, the perception of
time gets preset. ‘Chronological time’ as conceived by the subjects of the ritual has
the temple as the referent. Thus by extending the temporal dimensions of the
temple-rituals over a given geographical space and the people living therein, it
combines these entities within the former’s power relationships.

e) Matters of Ōņam
One of the important annual festivals figuring in the TCP is Ōņam,
celebrated in the Āvaņi month of the Kollam Era.77 The expenses in
connection with the celebration were drawn from two places—Veliyanarkadu

75
See Kesavan Veluthat, Brahmin Settlements- - -, pp. 43-44.
76
TCP., ll. 607-608.
77
See TCP, ll. 403-438. Also see T A S. II, pp. 149-150.
 182

and Tiruvonakkarai endowed by Edasseri Chennan Kesavan. Of these, we are

not sure about the location of Veliyanarkadu and Tiruvonakkari. Nevertheless
we learn that it was the chief of Muňňanāţu who made the endowment. It has
been pointed out in an earlier chapter that there is no trace of Muňňanāţu in
the post-Cera period.78 This could suggest that the celebration as laid down in
this section was added during the period of the Ceras. It is to be assumed from
the allocation for the Ōņam festival that it was meant to be celebrated with
great pomp. 230 parai seed capacity of land was set apart for the festival.79 It
is worked out that 405 parais of rice was to be spent on that day.80 We find
special allotments made for the burning of ghee lamp, lighting of camphor,
use of sandal paste, agil for burning incense etc. In addition there are other
items for which expenses are earmarked, such as ghee, oil, asafoetida,
coconuts, plantains, green gram and betel leaves.

We also get a list of the deities venerated in connection with the

Ōņam festival81 and so too on the allotments to each of the institutions and
gods which could be listed as follows:
1. Eastern and Western deities 700 nāļī-s of coked rice
2. Varāhappan 4 nāļī-s of rice
3. God of Tiruvambadi (Krishnan) 4 nāļī-s of rice
4. Atira sālai (Hospital?) 4 nāļī-s of rice
5. Arya/Sāsta (Aiyappan) 4 nāļī-s of rice
6. Bhutabali 12 nāļī-s of rice
7. Māyi yakki, Kuravaran and Amandaiyūŗ 16 nāļī-s of rice

78
See M G S Narayanan., Perumals - - -, p.101.
79
See Ibid, pp. 168-170. Also Kesavan Veluthat, Brahmin Settlements- - -, pp. 44-46. Also
80
Kesavan Veluthat , Brahmin Settlements- - -, p. 44.
81
See TCP, ll. 403-438.
 183

The occasion is also important for various types of functionaries. The

inscription insists that the tasks and functions as laid down are to be followed
by the temple authorities, priests and devotees scrupulously. The personal
services rendered by various functionaries bond them with the temple and in
turn defined their mutual relationships. The services that each of them is
supposed to render and the special remuneration for them are well laid down.
The positions of these functionaries are categorised and arranged along a
hierarchy. Over 100 functionaries are mentioned in it and the important ones
among them were mēl emberummakkaļ, sāntikkāŗ, kīl sānikkāŗ, bhattaŗ-s,
Ayyappan emberumān, kīl sāmāňjitan, bhaņdāri-s, suppliers of leaves, guards,
drummers, Veļichappādu, sweepers, suppliers of firewood, potters,
accountants, suppliers of garlands and flowers, dancing girls, musicians and so
on. It is observed that remuneration to temple functionaries were made in two
ways—in gold and rice and in the form of land assignment82. Payments in land
and gold were called jīvitam (cīvitam)83 and the land assignment was called
virutti84. The meaning of both the expressions is livelihood. The expressions in
the TCP to such remunerations are Ayyappnu panikku cīvitam, Nirāŗŗupaļļikku
koţţikaļku cīvitam, Paŗayanavirutti, Kāval virutti, sāntivirutti etc.

The section of the TCP dealing with the remuneration to the

functionaries demonstrates that it is ipso facto that they conduct themselves
only within the power relations of the temple authorities. It also demonstrates
that even within a caste-based hierarchy there were sub-stratification and
hierarchisation that determined the mutual relations among the functionaries
in terms of the services rendered.

82
See M G S Narayanan., Perumals- - -, p. 171, Kesavan Veluthat, Brahmin Settlements- - -, 46.
Rajan Gurukkal., Kerala Temple…, pp.39-40.
83
TCP.,ll. 355,616,619.
84
Ibid, ll. 88,276, 307, 551.
 184

f) Lamps to be Lit
Instituting of lamps occupies a prominent place in the TCP. We get a list
of over 150 donors who are listed continuously from the eighth to the fifteenth
plate85 making it a total of 8 plates. Two plates preceding the above set of
eight plates and the plate succeeding the above set are missing. It is likely that
the missing plates could be bearing more names of endowers of lamps. There
are references to lamps in other plates too.86 The various expressions used in
the document are Viļakku, Tiruviļakku, and Nandāviļakku. We are not in a
position to pin point places where these lamps were placed. However
Nandāviļakku were the perpetual lamps kept in the important places in the
temple.

It is also seen that endowments for the various rituals were made by
prominent people from far off places such as the Cola ruler Vira Cola,87 Kilan
Atikal,88 Iramavatukar Muvar of Kolathunatu,89 Kumaran Yakkan of
Venpalanadu,90 Eran Sankaran of Puraikilnatu,91 etc. It may be difficult to
capture the significance of the endowments for lamps exactly for the manner it
was inscribed in the TCP.

The lamp in the temple must have symbolised several things such as
wisdom, truth and divine power and its presence. There are several
endowments for the perpetual lighting of the lamps. Lighting a lamp or
carrying oil to the temple for the same continues to be a ritualised custom and
is regarded as one of the simplest means of paying reverence to god. From the

85
Ibid., ll.55-199.
86
See Ibid, ll345-349, registers the endowment by chief of Thekkinkur and ll. 555-557 registers the
endowment by Vanralaicherry Kota Ravi.
87
Ibid, ll.99-100.
88
Ibid, ll.109-111.
89
Ibid, ll. 140-141.
90
Ibid, ll.345-349.
91
Ibid, ll.150-151.
 185

point of view of the temple, it demonstrated the majesty of the shrine. One is
not in a position to state the precise occasions when the various benefactors
made the endowments. However it must have come as acts of thanksgiving for
some favour/s received or as acts of wielding political power or as acts of
bhaktas. In any case temples were at the receiving end of endowments.

g) Akkiram and the Reciting of the Mahabharata

The fifth plate of the TCP gives details of Akkiarm or the arrangement for
the ritual feeding of 25 Sri Vaishnava Brahmins on a daily basis.92 Opinions
vary as to whether the beneficiaries were students attached to the temple or
residents of the boarding house for travellers.93 In any case it is obvious that
the arrangement for the ritual was well endowed. A question that might arise
is, to what extent were the Vaişņava Brahmins favoured by the endowment?
The answers could be anywhere in the spectrum between the two extreme
positions: (1) the extent of support rendered by the ritual feed was only marginal
when compared with the total number of Vaişņava Brahmins. (2) That it was
mandatory for the temple authorities either to go searching for the required
number of beneficiaries to fulfil the daily obligation to augment or to maintain
a steady Vaişņava Brahmin population. This could add to the importance of
the ritual and in turn to the temple. In any case this is an act of prerogation of
Vaişņava Brahmanas and their patronisation. It has to be concluded that even
as the temple remained centrifugal with respect to several caste and
occupational groups, there were sub-stratification and hierarchisation that
determined the mutual relations among the Brahmins themselves in terms of
their status vis-à-vis the ritual.

92
Ibid, ll.37-48.
93
See T A Gopinatha Rao., TAS, Vol. II. pp 139-140.
 186

The provision for the reciting of the Mahabharata was a general feature
in most of the prominent temples in early medieval Kerala94 and the TCP also
provides information about the special remuneration as part of the Ōņam
celebration to the bhaţţaŗ who interpreted the Mahabharata.95 It is argued that
the above practice was an institutional device of the temple for educating and
entertaining the devotees and also for popularising the purāņic religion.96 This
had special significance in the context of the sacralisation of geography
whereby the temples and the places around them came to be linked to the
grand purāņic narrative.

h) Centrifugality and the Working of Gaņam-s

The working of various committees called gaņams was an important factor
that attributed centrifugality to the temple. Gaņam or kaņam functioned as
trusts for the purpose of conducting special feasts and festivals. The gaņam-s
are argued to have been the specific groups of people entrusted with the land
by the rich donors to get them cultivated and pass on the rent to whosoever is
authorised to make arrangements for the conduct of a specific ritual. Its
members were the kaņattāŗ or gaņattaŗ.97 A number of such kaņams/gaņams
figure in the various inscriptions in connection with the performance of
rituals. Thus we have the Uttira kaņam (for the conduct of the Uttiraviļa in
the Trikkadithanam temple)98 and Tirunāļ kaņam (for the conduct of the
annual festival in the Perunna temple)99 etc. Severe punishments are
prescribed in the inscriptions to those kaņatttāŗ for breach of conduct or for
failing to carry out the specific tasks assigned to them.

94
See M G S Narayanan., Perumals…, pp. 190-19. Rajan Gurukkal., Kerala Temple…, p. 65.
95
TCP, l. 435.
96
Rajan Gurukkal., Kerala Temple- - -, p.65.
97
M G S Narayanan, Perumals - - -, p.195.
98
Index A 32, M G S Narayanan, Perumals - - -, p.195.
99
Index C 42.
 187

The most important of such gaņams or kaņams, about which we have

information in the TCP are the Tirunāļ kaņam (committee for the conduct of
the annual festival)100, Tiruvātira kaņam (committee for arrangements in
connection with the Tiruvātira in Tiruvallavāļ)101, Uttira kaņam (for the
conduct of the Uttiravila)102, Tiruvōņakkaņam (celebration of the Tiru Ōņam
festival in Tiruvallavāļ) etc103. The gaņā-s were entrusted with the land by the
rich donors to get the lands cultivated and to pass on the rent as well as to
make arrangements for the conduct of a specific ritual. Its members were
called the kaņattāŗ or gaņattāŗ.104 The way in which the gaņam or kaņam
functioned in the various temples in Kerala has already been discussed in an
earlier chapter.

The most conspicuous of such gaņams in the TCP is the dwādasi

gaņam which had been envisaged to supply oil to the temple without any
interruption.105 As far as we know this is the only temple in which such a
dwādasi gaņam has been put in place for ensuring the supply of oil. In all
probability the oil that is meant to be procured and supplied by dwādasi
gaņam is the coconut oil required for lighting and cooking purposes associated
with the temple. The reference to the Mulikkaļam kaccam would suggest that
this was a mechanism made during the time of the Ceras, since the above
Kaccam is not referred to in any of the inscriptions either before or after this
period.
As per the resolution those who have bound themselves to supply oil
were divided into twenty padagāram or divisions and each of them had
100
TCP, ll. 607-608.
101
TCP, ll.615-617.
102
TCP, ll. 618-619.
103
TCP, ll, 615-617.
104
M G S Narayanan, Perumals - - -, p. 195.
105
See for details of the system TAS. Vol II, ll. 360-391. Also see P U Nair, Sŗī Vallabha- - -, pp.
421-422.
 188

eighteen pangu or shareholders. Thus the total number of shares worked out to
360 and the mechanism sought to ensure the supply oil for 360 days. These 20
divisions of suppliers were divided into two halves. While one group supplied
oil in the first half of the year, the other received it and the order was reversed
in the second half of the year. Default in the case of supplying the oil was
regarded as the violation of the Mulikkaļam kaccam and deterrent action was
specified for default to ensure the uninterrupted supply. The groups divided
into two halves are as follows:
First half Second half
1. Mundaippalli 1. Madaman
2. Makazhancheri 2. Peringola Makazhancheri
3. Thamaraikkulam Thengaman 3. Kariyanattu Thengaman
4. Tevarpalli 4. Idaicheri
5. Punnaicheri 5. Chennettu thuruthi
6. Kattoor Thengaman 6. Mundaippalli
7. Neduveli 7. Kurichi
8. Mangalacheri 8. Narayana Mangalam
9. Manikkamangalam 9. Puchaippadakaram
10. Ilaman 10. Parambu

A cursory look at the list given above would indicate that they are the
names of the various Brahman families related to or settled in the locale. We
understand that it is not just the moral and legal obligation of the Brahmin
families alone but the obligations of the various communities cultivating the
lands to pass on the produce to those from whom the respective lands have
been held. It is to be presumed that these were affluent families and possessed
lands located in different places around Tiruvallavāļ. The arrangement of the
 189

dwādasi gaņam sought to define the status of these properties in terms of the
particular gaņam and so too the workforce associated with the same. The
functioning of the dwādasi gaņattāŗ here presents a case of how the
centrifugality of the temple devised a coherent mechanism wherein the
disparate families get integrated and mutually accountable in the maters of the
temple. Still further, the huge workforce associated with the endowed lands
also gets indirectly linked to the regulations and requirements of the temple.
This argument applies to the various other types of property endowed for the
various rituals and services of the temple.

i) Consecration and Hierarchisation of Idols

Idolisation inside the temple is one of the important factors which effects
centrality. What is meant is that idolisation operates as a strategy wherein a
dual process of exclusion and inclusion can be found. It involves perpetuation
of the already existing idols within the temple and not by the indiscriminate
erasing of the non-Brahmanic elements. The nature of idolisation presented in
the TCP reinforces this argument about the way the ‘Brahmanical life world
takes care of what is outside it’. It advances “through an absorptive and
assimilative process that is significantly different from the European pattern of
homogenising and erasing little traditions”.106 Exclusion of certain deities is
certainly found in the process of idolisation. But it has to be proposed that
devastation and obliteration of what is not theirs was not the strategy opted. In
other words, what is manifest in the TCP is not the complete elimination of
the non- Vaişņava Brahminical practices and idols, but a rather selective and
judicious accommodation of those elements which would enable the Vaişņava
Brahmins to reach out.

106
M Muralidharan., Community Formation, Colonial Habitus and the Brahmanical Lifeworld” ,
Haritam, 5, 1996, p.30.
 190

For a clearer understanding of the phenomenon, it is imperative for us

to look at what Kunal Chakrabarthi calls the “Puranic Process”.107 The study
of the Purāņās has been used as strong ground-rules for explaining the
rationale of the Upapurāņa-s that have come up in Bengal. He elaborates the
different ways in which scholars have been trying to trace the development of
the religious sects in India and recapitulates their observations separately
about the period of the Vedas, the period of the Purāņā-s and the period of the
Bhakti. One could certainly find elements of discontinuity between the phases
mentioned above. But together they are argued to have constituted a cultural
continuum.108 Based on R C Hazra’s109 formulations on the emergence of the
Purāņic tradition, Chakrabarti argues that the Purāņās emerged at different
periods with the explicit purpose of containing the anti-vedic,110 semi-vedic,111
and non-vedic112 religious sects which had been coming up since the post-
Vedic phase and which were hostile to the two essential constituents of the
Vedic-Brahmanical religion, viz., recognition of the authority of the Vedas
and the supremacy of the Brahmans.113 Chakrabarti adds that assertions are
seen in the Purāņās themselves, justifying the periodic revision to keep pace
with the social change.114 Chakrabarthi maintains that the Purāņās have
succeeded in revitalising the Brahmanical social order which was seriously
undermined during the early centuries of the Christian Era by drawing people

107
See Kunal Chakrabarthi., Religious Process: The Puranas and the Making of a Regional
Tradition, 2001, OUP, Delhi, ff.
108
See Ibid, pp.4-5.
109
See R C Hazra., Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs, (1940), Motilal
Banarsidass, Delhi and also his Studies in Upapuranas, Vols.I &II, (1963), Sanskrit College,
Calcutta.
110
Hazra considers Buddhism, Jainism and Ajivikism as the anti-Vedic sects.
111
To Hazra, Vaisnavism, Saivism and Brahmaism comprised the semi Vedic sects.
112
Sakteism is taken to belong to the non-Vedic category.
113
See Kunal Chakrabarthi., Religious Process- - -, pp.45-46.
114
Ibid, p. 45.
 191

from the non-Brahmanical fold into their sphere of influence.115 This,

according to him, necessitated a profoundly high degree of tolerance and
assimilation of the non-Brahmanical elements. Hence to Chakrabarthi, the
Purāņic religion is “by its very nature and motivation assimilative rather than
exclusive, it accommodates rather than rejects.”116.

For an understanding of the religious practices pertaining to

Tiruvallavāļ we need to recognise this assimilative strategy of the Purāņic
religion. It can be found operational in different facets of religious expression,
ranging from the identification of Vişņu as Tiruvallavāl Appan and the
accommodation of various non-Vedic and anti-Vedic deities. They are well
charted in the TCP. But it is very much a fact that the Brahmins despite their
knowledge of the Vedas, sāstŗās and the technology that it entailed, and above
all their techniques of social organisation, they lived in fear of a
predominantly non-Brahmin population. Even a cursory reading of the
Keraļōlppatti would suggest that the early Brahmin immigrants to Kerala
lived in constant fear of the non-Brahmin divinities and serpents. This
dimension of fear could bring in a perception of cultural rendezvous and
accommodation of non-Brahmanic divinities and practices as different from
the strategic view outlined in Chakrabarti’s thesis of “Puranic Process”

It is found that not all the deities mentioned in the TCP are Purāņic.
Significance is extended to the veneration of the non- purāņic/local popular
divinities along with the Purāņic deities. This adds impetus to the
centrifugality of the temple. It is possible to argue that the veneration of
local/non-purāņic divinities inside the temple complex works as an act of
‘inclusion’ as part of the purposive rationality of the Brahmins to extend their

115
See Ibid.
116
See Ibid, p. 53.
 192

field of operation and widen their mass base. The argument is significant,
given the fact that it was possible to remove the above idols, which further
served to strengthen the purāņic religion and to perpetuate Brahmanic
authority. One could find that in this dual process of inclusion and exclusion
of local cultural symbols, there is the incorporation of the non- Brahmanic
elements into the Brahmanic-Puranic field of power. This needs to be
elaborated in the light of the TCP references.

We will now proceed to an evaluation of the various non-purāņic

deities/divinities figuring in the TCP to see the extent to which they are in
variance with the widely recognized understanding of the Hindu pantheon and
we shall also endeavour to examine their changing fortunes.

The various traditional Purāņic idols worshipped in the different Hindu

temples could be found in such texts as the Prapaňca-sara Tantra of Sankaracarya
(ninth century), Isānasiva Gurudēva Paddhati of Isanasiva (twelfth century),
Tantŗa samuccaya of Chennas Narayanan Nampoothiripad (fifteenth century),
Śēşa Samuccaya of Chennas Sankaran Nampoothiripad (fifteenth century),
Silpārādhana of Sreekumar (sixteenth century) etc. Such deities mentioned in
various lists of the TCP and the Kulikkāţţu Illam Granthavari as the Ārya Śāsta,
Kuravaran, Ayala Yakşi, Māya Yakkki, Amandaiyūr etc. do not fall in line with
the kalpa classification in the books mentioned above. On the contrary popular
traditions seem to portray them as local non-Vedic deities. It could be claimed that
Kuravaran or Kurayappa Swami is one of the deities in the Hindu pantheon, but
one can as well look for the identification of this deity either with the Buddha or
with a Jain Tirthankara.117 The place where the deity is enshrined is referred to as
the Kurayappan Madham.118

117
For some of the arguments, see P Unnikrishnan Nair, Sŗī Vallabha - - -, Chapter 20.
118
Ibid, p.253.
 193

It is in the same manner that Varāhappan—though considered as an

incarnation of Vişņu, occupied a place in the sanctum sanctorum, but at present it
has been moved to the chest of the temple along with a few other non- purāņic
idols. This drives home the idea that Varāhappan ceased to be an inevitable sub
deity in later times.

The deities Māyi yakki, Kuravaran and Amandaiyūŗ clustered into one
group in the above list, present a case of non-brahmanic local deities being
enfolded by the purāņic- scheme. Māya yakki, mentioned in the above cluster
could be the same as Mahā yakşi figuring in the story of Vişņu subduing her in the
premises of the shrine of Karayanāţţu kāvu. Amandaiyūr according to local
tradition is also known as Ayala yakşi.119 It is pointed out that this deity is not
found anywhere else and hence may be considered an adoption of the local
deity.120 There is no image of the yakşī-s in the temple now, but there are two
lamps symbolising the two. These two lamps now find their places inside the
gateway of the temple.121 It is to be taken into consideration that the practice of
honouring the yakşī-s continued even in 929 M E and has been recorded in a
Tharayil Kulikkattu Grandhavari of the said year.122

It is also important to refer to the Theviyāŗ naţai mentioned in the TCP.

An endowment of 5600 kalam seed capacity of lands were set apart for the
same.123 There is a view that the Tēviyāŗ is goddess Lakshmi.124 This is based
on the assumption that the Stalapurāņa speaks of the consecration of goddess
Lakshmi in the Vāyū kōn (north western corner). It is likely that this reference

119
Ibid, p. 256.
120
Ibid, p. 256.
121
Ibid, p. 256.
122
P U Nair, Tiruvalla Grandhavari, p.84.
123
See TCP, lls. 214, 303-304, 307, 324-325.
124
See P U Nair, Sŗī Vallabha - - -, p. 258.
 194

in the Stalapurana must be a case of conversion of a non- purāņic deity into a

purāņic one.

The place of Veļiccappāţu as one of the functionaries in the temple to

whom payments are set apart in connection with Ōņam celebration presents a
clear case of accommodation of non-Brahmanic personnel into the temple
system. Veļiccappāţu is the oracle which is found in several parts of the sub
continent. It is contented that their roots could be traced to the practices,
shrines and cult centres of the pre-Brahmanic phase and are predominantly
associated with the dēvi temples of the present day. This gives an indication of
how the centrifugal forces of the temple of Sŗī Vallabha were brought about
by the integration of pre- Brahmanic celebrities into the temple scheme.

The argument may be extended to explain the status accorded to

Ayyappan emperuman mentioned in the document. Here it is the
accommodation of Buddhist elements into the temple rituals, which were
immensely strong in the Kavumbhagom- Peringara areas, lying in the vicinity
of the temple. It has already been argued in an earlier chapter how
Kavumbhagam-Peringara areas reveal the strongest and the most enduring
traces of the veneration of yakşā-s, yakşi-s and nāgā-s.

The process of incorporation of non-purāņic elements and deities into

the temple routine could be cited as instances of accommodation and
absorption, through which those controlling the temple had been able to bring
as many local components within the gamut of temple rituals. It is significant
that the deities are invariably ordered along a hierarchy wherein the puranic
elements are invariably prerogated over the newly incorporated ones. Two
sections in the TCP—those dealing with the Pantīraţi pūja and the Ōņam
 195

celebration—place Vişņu or Sudarsana Murthy as the prime deity, while the

Māyi yakki, Kuravaran and Amandaiyūŗ are accorded the status of sub deities.

Of all the sub deities mentioned in the previous sections, it is about

Kuravaran that we have more compelling arguments regarding their pre-
Brahmanic and non-puranic features. Malayinkīl and Meenachal—both
located south of Neyyattinkara in Travancore—offer a number of parallels.
Not only are the names of the temples same, but the images and the offerings
in these temples are alike.125 Moreover the temples at both Malayinkīl and
Meenachal, although located far away from our locale, are replications of the
Tiruvallavāļ Vişņu temple and replications take place only in a succeeding
manner.

How such a replication took place is a question to be addressed. Before

that is done, it has to be stated that devotion to Vişņu at the local level did get
replicated at far removed places. Miniature temples of grand temples can be
found in other places as well, but replication of these localised specificities is
difficult to find unless there has taken place migration from the locale.

A possible explanation for the striking resemblances is that a batch of

Poŗŗi Brahmins migrated to Malayinkil and a new settlement was established.
It is argued that when a new image was made for Tiruvallavāļ, the original one
was transported to Malayinkil to be consecrated there instead of discarding it
for jalādivāsam.126 The status that is accorded to the Kurayappa in Malayinkil
may be taken as a key to answer the questions regarding the deity’s non-
purāņic status at its place of origin. In both the shrines, we have Kurayappa

125
K S P, pp. 71-72.
126
V R Nambiyar, “Annals and Antiquities of Tiruvalla” in T K Joseph (Ed.), K S P, p. 71. Also see
details given about the image of Sŗī Vallabha in S Jayashankar, Temples of Kerala, p.127. It is
shown that the image was made of a mixture f Anjanakkall, mud, darbha, and a peculiar kind of
resin.
 196

consecrated in identical locations. But in Malayinkil the deity is distinctly

named as Kurayappa Śāsta. Observances in connection with the holy month of
Vŗicchika such as the kaļameluttu and the ritual singing of the Śāsta songs in
Malayinkil are arguments that strengthen the assumptions regarding their pre-
Brahmanic and non- purāņic features.

Coming back to the situations in the Vişņu temple of our locale, there
is a definite ban on mēl sānti-s, kīl sānti-s and the other high ranking
Brahmins and temple functionaries from entering the precincts of the deity of
Kuravaran or Kurayappa Swami,127 which indicates nothing short of the
deity’s disparaging status. In place of the high-ranking Brahmins, there is a
separate sānti and kīl sānti for the performance of rituals and sacraments to
Kurayappa Swami. It is being pointed out that within the sankēta of
Tiruvallavāļ, there are three houses of Malayaļī Temple Castes called Mūttatu,
Iļayatu and Cakkiyāŗ and that the mēl sānti-s of the Kurayappan shrine are
selected from two of the above houses.128

What we find in the veneration of the non-purāņic pre-Brahmanic

deities in the temple complex is their absorption into the Brahmanic pantheon
but treating them as lower notations of the pan-Brahmanic order.
Centrifugality of the temple is thus made up in this dual process of
accommodation of non- purāņic local deities/divinities and their sustenance as
lower notations in the pantheon. Which are the idols to be worshiped and
which are to be taken away and which are to be stored in darkness are
negotiated in the fabric of the power effects of the idols, and the temple gets
centralised around the idols and their worship.

127
P U Nair, Sŗī Vallabha - - -, p. 254.
128
V R Nambiar, “Annals and Antiquities of Tiruvalla” in K S P, T K Joseph (ed.), pp.76-77. Also
see P Unnikrishnan Nair, Sŗī Vallabha Maha Ksetra Mahatmyam ,p.252.
 197

The Temple: A Managed Object

We have already examined some of the major sites that enable us to
prise open the temple’s intrinsic relations with both the Brahmin and non-
Brahman constituents and socio-cultural elements. We have also examined the
ways in which the temple became the centre to several people as bhaktas,
functionaries, members of the various gaņams, the labour force involved in
the production of resources for the various rituals and services and so on.

In historiography the temple had been viewed as a centre by virtue of

its status as a landed magnate, as the ritual centre, as the largest employer, as
the place of management of the Brahmin settlement, as the place of festivals,
the venue for the staging of literary and artistic performances and such cultural
activities, entertainment and so on. On the contrary, our concern for the
present is to focus on the temple as the hallowed venue that bestows divine
authority on all deliberations for the management of men and material
transacted on behalf of it. We shall look into a few deliberations to show how
the venue serves to pivotalise the temple.

The Naţuvāli of Vembolinadu, Iravi Srikantan, gives the temple in

aţţippēŗu of his land named Muttaru, which he paid for and purchased.129 Iravi
Srikantan and his descendents henceforth retained karanmai rights over the
land.130 The yield from the said plot is put at 3500 kalams of paddy. The
endowment itself is sizeable by all means, but the manner in which the deal is
made is even more significant. On the auspicious day of Sankŗānti, Iravi
Srikantan makes the endowment before the ‘yāga maņţapa’ of the temple of
Tiruvallavāļ Appan. The act of endowing itself is carried to the status of a
ritual performed in the presence of the urāŗ and the tiruvaţimāŗ. We are given

129
TCP, ll,48-54. Also T A S. Vol II, p.140.
130
T A S. Vol II, p.140.
 198

to understand by the inscriptional reference that ‘yāga maņţapa’ was located

in front of the Turuvallavāl appan. However despite the reference to the ‘yāga
maņţapa’ in the TCP, there is no ‘yāga maņţapa’ within the nālampalam in
the Sŗī Vallabha Temple. Some of the arguments that have been raised by
historians on the expression yāga maņţapa are noteworthy. One of the
arguments is that the expression ‘yāga maņţapa’ was confused with the mukha
maņţapa of the present day.131 This argument is based on certain conventions
and practices of special offering made in front of the mukha maņţapa for the
Utŗa sŗībali festival celebrated in the month of Mīnam.132 A second argument
that has received much attention is that this had been a case of wrong
decipherment of the original text by the Government epigraphist.133 It is
observed that there is no scope for a yāga maņţapa within any temple complex
in the canons of temple construction. On the contrary it is argued that
normally the assembly met in a particular place inside the temple called
mukkālvaţţom and in the case of the Sŗī Vallabha Temple, the yōga mandapa
mentioned in the TCP is a place specifically meant for the purpose.134

The virtual control over the said land rested with the donor
Vembolināţu both before and after the act of endowing, but the ritual of
endowment elevated the status of the endower, the temple and their mutual
relation. While managing the property, the endower as the kārāļan is virtually
empowered to manage the property as the representative of Tiruvallavāļ
Appan. While passing on the surplus produce from the endowed land to the

131
The information has been passed on by Sri. P Unnikrishnan Nair whose book on this Temple had
been widely acclaimed as an authentic source material.
132
We don’t come across any reference to this festival in the TCP. Probably this was a later addition.
For details on the Uthra Sribali festival celebrated in the month of Meenam see P Unnikrishnan
Nair, Sŗī Vallabha Ksetra Caritram, Chapter 35, pp.378-390.
133
See M G S Narayanan, Perumals - - -, p. 113. Also fn.58.
134
Ibid, p.113.
 199

temple, he also gets himself endorsed as the regenerator of bhakti and makes
his position invincible in the domain of power relations.

Two passages in the TCP refer to the granting of the villages as kīlīţu at
the mukkālvaţţom of the temple about which references have been made in
earlier sections. In the first case the chief of Vempolinadu places the village of
Kutavur as kīlīţu. As part of the resolution, the temple corporation could
collect eighteen kalaňcu of gold or 360 para of paddy as protection fee or
rakşābhōga.135 In the second case, the chief of Munňňnāţu, Iraman
Kotavarman grants the place called Valakamuttom with its fields as kīlīţu for
which 200 paŗā-s of paddy could be collected from the cultivators of the place
as rakşābhōga for procuring oil to the temple.136 In the former case it was a
resolution made without dissent at the mukkālvaţţom and in the case of the
latter, it was a resolution taken without objection by the tiru dwādasi gaņattar
at the same part of the temple complex. In both cases the lands were given
over as kīlīţu. In the light of later documents it can be confirmed that
protection of the kīlīţu properties was mandatory for the temple as a divinely
ordained responsibility.137 We highlight the point that decisions made at the
mukkālvaţţom were much more than a formalisation of a resolution that was
purely oligarchic. It had the status of a decree framed under divine guidance
making it immutable and undefiable.

The notions regarding the permanence and immutability of the

generalisable centrality of the temple is something that is not found in the case
of Tiruvallavāļ if one takes the TCP as the basic document for the study of the

135
TCP., ll.331-336.
136
TCP., ll.533-535.
137
The reference is to the instrument dated 20th Medam, 925 of the Malayalam Era by which the
management of the temple affairs of Tiruvallavāļ was transferred to Marthanda Varma along with
the property, slaves, the temples kept as kilitu and all other responsibilities and obligations
attached to the main temple. For text of the document see KSP, pp. 90-91.
 200

temple’s history. However this is a centrifugality that applied only to those

who were brought within the power relations of the temple. Moreover, even
for them, the temples and rituals did not permeate into the entirety of their life
world. What we find in the addition of new expressions, practices and
observances is a force of centrifugality of the temple constantly unfolding its
‘process of becoming’ rather than transcending its perpetual ‘status of being’.
How the literary materials reveal the picture of the force of centrifugality of
the temple is the question to be examined in the next chapter.