Pandya. The aging Kulothunga Chola III did not live long after sustaining defeat against the Pandyas and died in 1218 CE. He was succeeded by his son and heir-apparent Rajaraja Chola III (1218–1256 CE). Administration and architecture Kulothunga Chola III was a great builder and his reign is a noteworthy period in Chola architecture. Among many well known constructions, He initiated commissioned the Sarabeswara or Kampahareswara temple at Tribhuvanam near Kumbakonam which is considered a great specimen of Dravidian Architecture. Its general design resembles the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur, but the temple of Sarabeswara still has several significant features that distinguish it from their earlier models i.e. the Brihadisvara Temples at both Thanjavur and Gangaikonda Cholapuram. The temple also contains an excellent series of Ramayana reliefs on its walls and was consecrated by Kulothunga Chola III's spiritual guru, Isvarasiva. Besides this temple, Kulothunga also contributed to the extension and renovation of many temples around his kingdom. He also constructed a large number of public buildings, most of which were religious structures, which are enumerated in his inscriptions found at Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu and in another Sanskrit inscription engraved around the central shrine of Kampahareswara Temple at Tirubhuvanam on the outskirts of Kumbakonam in Thanjavur District, Tamil Nadu. This temple is also called the Tribhuvanavireswara temple in his inscriptions. Kulothunga Chola III also erected the mukha-mandapa of Sabhapati, the gopura of Goddess Girindraja (Sivakami) and the verandah around the enclosure (prakara harmya) in the Siva Temple of Chidambaram. He also improved and expanded the great Shiva temples at Tiruvidaimarudur, Thiruvarur, Ekambareswarar Temple at Kanchipuram and the Halahalasya Temple at Madurai. In addition, the Rajarajeswara (Airavateswara temple) at Darasuram received Kulothunga Chola III's devoted attention. At the Shiva temple at Thiruvarur, Kulothunga Chola III built the sabha mandapam and the big gopura of the shrine of Valmikeswara. Kulothunga Chola III was keenly aware of the secular religious traditions of the Chola monarchy. Contrary to popular impression, the Chola kings, despite constructing some of the largest temples for Siva, nonetheless considered the Nataraja temple of Chidambaram, called Periya Koil or "big temple" in Saivite parlance as well as the Sri Ranganathaswami Temple of Srirangam, also called Periya Koil or simply "big temple" in Vaishnavite parlance as their "Kuladhanams" or tutelary deities which attests their secular outlook in religious matters. Such a declaration was made for the first time in the inscriptions of the