In September 2022, a rude shock awakened the villagers of Thiruchendurai in Thiruchirapalli District of Tamil Nadu. It had come to light that their entire hamlet which also consisted of a 1500-year-old Shiva temple had been declared as the property of the Waqf Board in Tamil Nadu.
Rajagopal of Mullikarupur, who owns agricultural land in Thiruchendurai village, agreed to sell 1 acre 2 cents of his land to one Rajarajeshwari. He went to the Joint III Sub-Registrar office in Trichy to arrange the purchase deed for ₹3.5 lakhs and get it registered.
However, the sub-registrar told him that the land could not be registered as it belonged to the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board and that he had to get a ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the state Waqf Board office in Chennai to sell the land. When Rajagopal asked why he needed an NOC from the Waqf Board to sell land he purchased in 1992, the sub-registrar reportedly told him that this is the procedure for deeding any land in Tiruchendurai village.
The Waqf Board has sent a letter to the Registration Department along with documents stating that the entire village belongs to them and that those who come to register a deed for land in the village should get an NOC from them.
He was also shown a copy of the 250-page Waqf Board letter. In that letter, the Waqf Board has said that tens of thousands of acres of land all over Tamil Nadu are theirs.
Chandrasekha Swami Temple
Thiruchendurai village is home to a beautiful temple, Chandrasekara Swami temple which belongs to the Chola period. The temple is a very ancient one & Periya Puranam says that it was sung by Thiru Gnanasambandar (7th century).
The temple was renovated during Parantaka Chola’s time by his daughter in law & wife of Arinjaya Chola, Budhi Aditha Pidari. The queen was from the Kodumbalur Velir family. She not only built the temple but also bought the land from the villagers and made this as Brahmadeyam.
She has also made lots of land donations to the temple & ASI has documented 36 such inscriptions in S.I.I vol 8. Lets see some of these inscriptions. This one speaks about Budhi Aditha Pidari donating 2 Velis of Land. One Veli is equal to about 6 Acres.
This one is about another land donation, with boundaries like Allur Vaikal specified. The donation was given for burning a perpetual lamp in the temple.
This is another fragmented inscription which mentions the donation of Araikani land to the temple for providing food (Salabogam).
This inscription mentions about multiple land portions in the village sold to the temple. The income from these lands used for burning lamps in the temple and donated by Budhi Aditha Pidari.
This inscription details about the land donation of 5 Velis (15 acres) made to the temple by Budhi Aditha Pidaran (brother of the queen) for various rituals in the temple. It mentions that the land donation to the temple stands till Surya & Chandra are there in the universe.
Hence it is clear that the temple owns lot of land the Thiruchendurai village. ASI will have many more details of the donations made to the temple which is built by a queen (princess during that time in fact). Many Chola kings & Vijayanagara kings too donated lavishly to the temple.
TS Krishnan is a Tamil scholar and author.
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