New Chola inscription discovered near Melavalavu

Recent discovery of Rajaraja Chola inscription in Pandya region, dating back to 1,000 CE, deemed significant by historians.

A new inscription pertaining to Rajaraja Chola, which has been discovered recently atop Somagiri hills at Melavalavu near Melur in Madurai district is being seen as an important find by historians. The inscription could be around 1,000 CE.

The inscription begins with the honorific title - Raja Raja Mummudichola, a unique salutation found in this region, known as the Pandya country.

The inscription talks of Rajaraja Chola’s reign in the Pandya region and how a military commander called Viranarana Pallavarayan had captured the area and ruled here. It also tells of one Malaiyappa Sambu, who hewed the steps on the rock to reach a ledge where a temple had been constructed. Local people say that a bronze idol of Murugan was kept there but has been taken down and installed in a new temple in the village where it is being worshipped.

This inscription was discovered recently during a field study conducted by Thamizhthaasan, a cultural ecologist with the Madurai Nature Cultural Foundation and Professor P. Devi Arivu Selvam, Temple Architect and Sculpture researcher. 

The inscription was copied by R. Udhaya Kumar and T. Muthupandi, research assistants of Pandya Nadu Centre for Historical Research, Madurai. Its secretary C. Santhalingam who deciphered the inscription said that Rajaraja Chola’s record found in a Pandya country is a rare find.