South Indian Inscriptions

EASTERN GANGAS

  The donee Ulagiyagoṇḍa-Perumāḷ appears to be identical with the individual named Ulagiyavanda-Perummāḍidēva figuring as the donor of a perpetual lamp to the god Madhukēśvaradēva (at Mukhaliṅgam) in the Śaka year 1054 (S.I.I. Vol. V, no. 1015). The epigraph mentions him as the younger brother of Chōḍagaṅgadēva, and this fact confirms the identity in view of the reference to him in the copper-plate record under review, as a priyabāndhava of the king. It is possible that he was a cousin (younger brother) of the king on the mother’s side. He is referred to in similar terms of relationship, i.e., as the younger brother of the king in another record from Mukhaliṅgam (ibid. No. 1019) dated two years later, i. e., in Śaka 1056 ( = A.D. 1134) and recording the gift of a lamp to god Madhukēśvara by his wife Māṅkama-Mahadevi.

Influence of Tamil culture in the Telugu Country
  16. An examination of the several epigraphs of Drākshārāma of this period shows the existence of a large influence of Tamilian culture on the temple life of the Telugu country. In them appear a number of donors with Tamilian names making various gifts to the god Bhīmēśvara of the place. This was evidently due to the influx of Tamilian ideas into this tract coming in the wake of the fusion of the Chāḷukya and Chōḷa crowns in the person of the Chāḷukya-Chōḷa king Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa I. As a consequence of this fusion of crowns, many officers were naturally imported from the Tamil into the Telugu country and a good example of such an instance and influence is found in the Drākshārāma inscription of Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa I edited by Mr. K. V. Subramanya Ayyar (Ep. Ind., Vo. XXII, No. 23). Many other instances may be noticed but are omitted here for want of space.

  In the present case we see a similar phenomenon of Tamil influence spreading into the Eastern Gaṅga country, examples for which are not wanting in inscriptions. This influence must have begun to operate definitely and potentially as a result of Chōḍagaṅga’s father Rājarāja’s marriage with Rājasundarī, the daughter of Rājēndra-Chōḷa whose conquest of the Gaṅga country must have laid the foundations for the commingling of the Chōḷa and Gaṅga royalties and cultures. Tamilian names and titles of donors and officers may be discovered in the inscriptions of Chōḍagaṅga found at Mukhaliṅgam. A donor with the surname Rāyarāya-Vilupparaya figures in a record from this place (S.I.I., Vol. V. No. 1023). Among others may be noticed Gaṅga-Vilupparaya (ibid. No. 1029), Chōlāṇḍi’s daughter Pemmāṇḍi (ibdi. No. 1039), Gaṅgamārttāṇḍa-Brahmamārāya (ibid. No. 1040), Chuttāḍi (ibid. No. 1053), Pratāpagaṅga-Vēlāṇḍu ( = Tamil Vēḷān) (ibid. No. 1054), Gaṅga-Vēlāṇḍi (Vēḷān), Oḍayāṇḍi-Nāyaka Komarāṇḍi-Nāyaka (ibid. No. 1074) etc. The official title puravari met with in Tamil inscriptions is frequently mentioned in the Mukhaliṅgam epigraphs of this period (cf. S.I.I., Vol. V, Nos. 1034, 1040, 1058, 1068, 1081, etc.). To judge from a very suggestive surname of the donor Maṇḍana who calls himself Chōḍa-Chāḷukya-Gaṅga-Mārāya in a record of the 57th year (Śaka 1053) of Chōḍagaṅgadēva (ibid. No. 1089), the king seems to have considered himself and been looked upon as the embodiment of the fusion of the Chōḷa, Chāḷukya and Gaṅga royal blood.

  Another aspect of the southern influence noticed in these records is that in almost all cases the month quoted in the record is solar and not lunar, e.g., Mēsha (ibid. No. 1059), Vṛiśchika (ibid. Nos. 1062 and 1090), Siṁha (ibid. No. 1063, 1073), Ṛishabha (ibid. No. 1070), Tulā (ibid. No. 1079) etc.

  17. From the definite statement made in Chōḍagaṇga’s copper-plate grants known so far, the king’s coronation has been assumed to have been performed in Śaka 999 (=A.D. 1078) (Śee Ind. Ant., Vol. VIII, p. 162 f). But from a study