Manimangalam is a small town located in the

Kanchipuram district Kanchipuram District is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The area comprising the present day Kancheepuram district was earlier a part of Chingleput District (Madras Presidency), Chingleput district. The original Ching ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

state in Southern

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, famous for its ancient temples and inscriptions documenting the history of the ancient Tamil kings

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census of India, the town had a population was 8198, of which 4,117 were males and 4,081 were females. The literacy rate is 72.60%. The town is located at a distance of from

Tambaram Tambaram is a city located within the Chennai Metropolitan Area in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. The city is governed by Tambaram City Municipal Corporation. Etymology Tambaram is an ancient town referred to as Taamapuram in an inscrip ...

History

Manimangalam is a town of historic significance. This place became famous in the Pallava period as the site of the Battle of Manimangala, in which the Pallava king,

Narasimhavarman I Narasimhavarman I was a Pallava emperor who reigned from 630 CE to 668 CE. He shared his father Mahendravarman I's love of art and completed the works started by Mahendravarman in Mamallapuram. During his reign, the famous Pancha Rathas ...

is said to have defeated the

Chalukya King The Chalukya dynasty was a Middle kingdoms of India, Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. Th ...

Pulakeshin II Pulakeshin II (IAST: Pulakeśin r. –642 CE) popularly known as Immaḍi Pulakeśi, was the greatest Chalukyan Emperor who reigned from Vatapi (present-day Badami in Karnataka, India). During his reign, the Chalukya empire expanded to cover ...

, and as one of the places mentioned in the

Tamil copper-plate inscriptions Tamil copper-plate inscriptions are copper-plate records of grants of villages, plots of cultivable lands or other privileges to private individuals or public institutions by the members of the various South Indian royal dynasties. The study of ...

of Kūram (in the modern-day

). It is said that the town housed exporters and merchants of precious jewels. As gathered from inscriptions in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

in local sites, the town was also known by ''Ratnagrahara'' and ''Ratna Grama'' (''The village of jewels'') The town houses the 1000-year old Rajagopala Perumal Temple, devoted to

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

, and which is believed to have been built during the period of the

Medieval Cholas The Chola Empire, which is often referred to as the Imperial Cholas, was a medieval thalassocratic empire based in southern India that was ruled by the Chola dynasty, and comprised overseas dominions, protectorates and spheres of influence ...

, and the Dharmeswara Temple, devoted to

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

, which is believed to have been built by

Kulottunga I Kulottunga Chola I ('; Middle Tamil: Kulōttuṅka Cōḻaṉ; Classical Sanskrit: Kulottuṅgā Cōḷa; 1025–1122) also spelt Kulothunga (), born Rajendra Chalukya (Telugu language, Telugu: Rājēndra Cāḷukyuḍu), was a Chola empire, C ...

during the

Later Chola The Chola Empire, which is often referred to as the Imperial Cholas, was a medieval thalassocratic empire based in southern India that was ruled by the Chola dynasty, and comprised overseas dominions, protectorates and spheres of influence i ...

period. In inscriptions found in both these temples, it is gathered that the town had several other appellations - it went by the name of ''Loka-Mahadevi-Chaturvedi-Mangalam'' during the time of

Rajaraja I Rajaraja I ( Middle Tamil: ''Rājarāja Cōḻaṉ''; Classical Sanskrit: ''Rājarāja Śōḷa''; 3 November 947 – January/February 1014), also known as Rajaraja the Great, was a Chola emperor who reigned from 985 to 1014. He was known fo ...

(alias ''Rajakesarivarman''), by ''Raja-Sulamani-Chaturvedi-Mangalam'' during the reign of the following kings

Rajadhiraja ''Rajadhi Raja'' () is a 2014 Malayalam-language action thriller film directed by Ajai Vasudev, written by Udayakrishna-Siby K. Thomas and produced by Good Line Productions. The film stars Mammootty, alongside Joy Mathew, Siddique (actor), Sid ...

, Rajendra and Veera Rajendra and also by a few other names . From the time of Kulothunga Chola I to the end of the third Kulothunga period, the town was called 'Pandiyanai Irumadi Venkonda Chola Chaturvedi Mangalam' ('the town belonging to the Chaturvedi Chola who conquered Pandyas twice'). During the 18- year reign of Raja Raja III, the town was called "Grama Sikamani Chaturvedi Mangalam" (''Jewel among habitations'').

Temples

The Rajagopala Perumal temple is dedicated to the worship of Vishnu, in the form of ''Dwaraka-Pati'' ('the Lord of

Dvārakā Dvārakā, also known as Dvāravatī (Sanskrit द्वारका "the gated

ity The pyramid of Ity was probably the tomb of Pharaoh who reigned during the 8th dynasty. It has never been discovered and is known only from a cliff-face inscription at Wadi Hammamat in the Eastern Desert, where there were several quarries in P ...

, possibly meaning having many gates, or alternatively having one or several very grand gates), is a sacred historic city in the sacred literature of Hi ...

'), and was also known in Tamil as . Besides this, there are two other temples in the town devoted to Vishnu called the Vaikuntha-Perumal temple and the Krishna-swami temple. There is another temple called Kailasa-Nathar temple devoted to Siva.

References

Villages in Kanchipuram district Archaeological sites in Tamil Nadu {{Kanchipuram-geo-stub