An Important Educational Centre Of The Chola Times

This section presents less known and enlightening nuggets of information about our ancient culture as revealed in our temples, images, symbols, and inscriptions.

- Dr. Chithra Madhavan

The kings of the Chola dynasty, like most other kings of ancient and medieval India, gave great importance to education. This is proven by inscriptions and other literary sources. Many of the educational institutions of the Chola era were attached to the temples constructed by the Chola emperors and also with those temples already in existence. One such important center of learning was in the village of Ennayiram, now in Villupuram District of Tamil Nadu. A Tamil inscription found on the northern wall of the central sanctum of the Narasimha temple in this village, which is now under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India, belongs to the reign of the illustrious Chola Emperor Rajendra I (1012- 1044 C.E.). This long epigraph records the existence of a Vedic college in Ennayiram attached to this Vishnu temple and gives a detailed list of the number of teaching staff, students and the subjects which were taught here.