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THE CHOLAS
Rajaraja III.
2. Of Rājarāja III there are about are about 20 inscriptions in the collection ranging
in date from the 6th to the 28th year of his reign. Two of these (Nos. 31 and
32) begin with the introduction Śīrmanni, etc. A fragmentary inscription from
Tinnanūr (No. 171) dated in the 6th year of the king refers to the destruction of
Ninravūr caused by śūḷai (pillage) in the previous year and to the gallant
part played in its defence by a certain hero. No. 185 from Kunrap-
pākkam in the Chittoor district dated in the 18th year of Tribhu-
vanachakravartin Rājarājadēva records the gift of that village, to god Tiru-
vēṅgaḍam-Uḍaiyān by Śenni Tirukkāḷattidēvan alias Yādavarāyan. A number
of inscriptions have been copied in previous years in the Chittoor, North Arcot and
Chingleput districts, mostly of the time of Rājarāja III while a few belong to his
predecessor Kulōttuṅga III, which record endowments made by Tirukkāḷattidēva alias Yādavarāya (No. 16 of 1897, No. 87 of 1922), Vīra-Narasiṁhadēva alias Yādavarāya (Nos. 200 of 1892, 633 of 1904, 640 of 1904, 199 of 1912, 406 of 1896, 227
of 1912), Narasiṁha Tirukkāḷattidēva alias Yādavarāya (No. 94 of 1903),
Śaśikulachaḷukki Vīranārasiṅgadēva (No. 172 of 1903), Śaśikulachaḷukki
Tirukkāḷattidēva alias Yādavarāya (Nos.
181 and 191 of 1903), Śaśikulachaḷukki
Vīranārasiṅgadēva alias Yādavarāya (No. 182 of 1903), and Śaśikulachaḷukki
Tanininruvenra Vīranārasiṅgadēva alias Yādavarāya (Nos. 183 and 200 of 1903).
His Yadavaraya subordinates.
In the Tirupati Dēvasthānam Inscriptions (Vol. I, pp. 103-104), Tirukkāḷattidēva
and Vīranārasiṁha are treated as chiefs one following the other in close successsion. As Narasiṁha Tirukkāḷattidēva figures in two inscriptions, dated in the 7th
year of Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa III (No. 94 of 1903) and the 15th year of Rājarāja III
(No. 172 of 1903), i. e., in A. D. 1185 and 1231 covering a period of 45 years,
and in the interval a chief by name Vīra-Narasiṁha figures about A. D. 1212 in
the reign of Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa III (NO. 93 of 1903) we have to suppose the
existence of more than one chief of the name Tirukkāḷattidēva. The present
record furnishes one more surname, viz., Śenni for the latter chief.
Another inscription of Rājarāja which deserves notice is No. 14 from Jambu-
kēśvaram. It records a receipt given by two brothers for the money due to
them from the temple for the purchase of some dry and wet lands belonging
to them. The amount was not paid to them directly but by means of an ediriḍai (counter agreement) got by Dakshiṇāmurti-Aṇḍār on behalf of the temple from
Kāḷagam-Nāyakar who seems to have been an agent of Bhōgaya-Dhaṇḍanāyaka.
This Daṇḍanāyaka is known to us already as one of the two generals Bhōgaya and
Mallaya who were sent by the Hoysaḷa king Narasiṁha II in his campaign against
the Pāṇḍya, and who in A. D. 1237 granted the eleven villages, conferred on them
by prince Sōmēśvara evidently for their valour, to Brahmans in the presence
of god Rāmanātha at Sētu (A. S. R. for 1909-10, p. 153).
Vallāḷadēva killed by Gaṇḍagōpāla..
The help rendered by Hoysaḷa Narasiṁha II to Rājarāja III early in his reign
against the Pāṇḍyas, and later on in freeing the Chōḷa king from imprisonment at
the hands of Peruñjiṅga which gave him the claim to the title of the ‘Establisher
of the Chōḷa kingdom is well known. A similar claimant to that title was the
Telugu-Chōḍa chief Tikka alias Gaṇḍagōpāla of Nellore who was also a friend and
ally of Rājarāja. Narasiṁha’s subsequent power and influence in the Chōḷa territory is evidenced by the presence of several Hoysaḷa generals at Tirumalavāḍi and
Conjeeveram. One of his inscriptions (E. C. XII, Tp. 42) refers to him as ruling
from Kāñchīpuram in A. D. 1230 and another (E. C., V, Cn. 211 b) to his army
stationed at that place. The latest inscription found for him is the one at
Tirumalavāḍi dated in A. D. 1235 (No. 39 of 1920). His interests thus brought
him into conflict withs Gaṇḍagōpāla who, among his other achievements, ‘took
Kāñchī and was ruling there after making it his own’ in A. D. 1231 (No. 446 of
1919 and A. R. for 1920, part II, para. 55). The clashes between the Hoysaḷa and
this chief became rather frequent thereafter, and we find Narasiṁha’s son
Sōmēśvara leading an expedition in August, A. D. 1240 against Tikka (E. C., VI,
Kd. 100).The event leading to this engagement seems to receive light from an
inscription of the current collection (No. 439) from Jambai in the South Arcot
district, which is unfortunately very fragmentary. It is dated in the 23rd year of
Rājarāja (A. D. 1239), and states that
in the month of Chittirai of that year
‘Nayanār Gaṇḍagōpālar was pleased to go out (for fight ?) and having stabbed
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