As
I have stated on page 43 above, the time of Kulottunga-Chola III.,
the immediate predecessor of Rajaraja III., is settled by an
inscription at Nellore, which couples Saka-Samvat 1119 with the 19th
year of his reign.Professor
Kielhornâs calculations of the dates oftwenty inscriptions of this king have shown that his reign
commenced between the 8th June and 8th July
A.D. 1178.[1]
The
records of the reign of Kulottunga III. are so numerous that a
complete list of them would occupy too much space.I subjoin a list of those opening with a historical
introduction, the first word of which is puyal.
1.
3rd year : Tirumanikuli
2.
5th year : Chidambaram, No. 121 of 1887 â 88.
3.
5th year : Chidambaram, No. 122 of 1887 â 88.
In
the majority of these inscriptions (Nos. 1, 4, 5, 7 to 10) the king
is called Parakesarivarman aliasTirubhuvanachakravartin
Kulottunga-Choladeva.Two
inscriptions (Nos. 2 and 3) substitute Virarajendradeva (II.) for
Kulottunga-Choladeva, and the two remaining inscriptions (Nos. 6 and
11) have instead of it Konerimenkondan[6] and Tribhuvanaviradeva,
respectively.In his
inscriptions without historical introduction, the king is called
either Kulottunga-Choladeva or Tribhuvanaviradeva.The second name occurs in records of the 27th to
37th years.[7]
In a single inscription the king bears the name
Virarajendra-Choladeva.[8]
Two
inscriptions of the 9th year[9]
prefix to the name of the king the relative sentence âwho was
pleased to take Madurai.âIn
records of the 10th to 31st years, this
sentence is amplified into âwho, having taken Madurai, was pleased
to take the crowned head of the Pandya.â[10]Other inscriptions, of the 12th to 29th
years, read âwho, having taken Madurai and Ilam, was pleased to
take also the crowned head of the Pandya.âAn inscription of the 14th year[11]
has âwho was pleased to take Madurai and Ilam.âIn inscriptions of the 23rd to 31st
years, we findâwho
was pleased to take Ilam, Madurai, the crowned head of the Pandya,
and Karuvur.âFinally,
certain inscriptions of the 31st to 37th years
add to the kingâs conquests, that he âwas pleased to perform the
anointment of heroes and the anointment of victors :â
The
introductions of the inscriptions of the 3rd, 5th
and 8th years[12]
do not contain any statement of historical interest.An inscription of the 9th year (No. 86 below)
relates that Kulottunga III. assisted Vikrama-Pandya against the son
of Vira-Pandya, defeated the Mara (i.e., Marava ?) army,[13]
drove the Simhala army into the sea, took Madurai (i.e.,
Madhura) from Vira-Pandya and bestowed it on (Vikrama) Pandya. An inscription of the 11th year (No. 87 below) also
refers to the defeat of the son of Vira-Pandya and to the bestowal
of Kudal (i.e., Madhura) on Vikrama-Pandya, and adds that
Vira-Pandya revolted again, but that Kulottunga III. âtook his
crowned head,â i.e., that, while seated on the throne, he
placed his feet on the crown of the Pandya king.An inscription of the 19th year (No. 88 below)
first notices an expedition into the North, at the end of which the
king entered Kachchi, i.e., Conjeeveram.As in the inscription of the 11th year, it is then
stated that he defeated the son of (Vira) Pandya, took Madurai and
bestowed it on Vikrama-Pandya, and that he âtook the crowned
headâ of Vira-Pandya, who had revolted again and given him battle
at Nettur.[14]
The next-following passage relates that he pardoned the Pandya king,
i.e., apparently Vira-Pandya, and the Chera king, who seems
to be identical with the person who is subsequently called Vira-Kerala.[15]Finally, an unnamed Pandya king who bore the surname âchief
of the family of the Sunâ received valuable presents.An inscription of the 21st year adds that
Kulottunga III. placed his feet on the crown of the king of Ilam, i.e.,
Ceylon.[16]
If
the foregoing inferences are accepted, it would follow that
Rajadhiraja II. was either the immediate predecessor or one of the
predecessors of Kulottunga III. on the Chola throne.That these two kings were intimately connected, may be
concluded also from the fact that an inscription of
the 17th
year of Kulottunga III.[17] opens with the first
sentence of a historical introduction which is given in full at the
beginning of an inscription of the 5th year of
Rajakesarivarman aliasTribhuvanachakravartin
Rajadhirajadeva (No. 3 of 1899), which opens with the word kadal
suzhntha parmatharum, prefixes to the kingâs name the epithet
Maduraium Ilamum kondarulina, which was later on borne by Kulottunga
III.
In
four of the six inscriptions of Rajadhiraja II. which open with
kadal suzhntha parmatharum, the king is not called Rajakesarivarman,
but Parakesarivarman.One
of these four inscriptions[18]
shows that the 8th year of Rajadhiraja II. was about 15
years later than the 19th year of Rajaraja II., as will
appear from the following extract.
âOn
the first solar day of the month Kattigai in the 8th year
of king Paakesarivarman alias the emperor of the three
worlds, the glorious Rajadhirajadeva, - in the fifteen years from
the month Tai in the 19th year of the lord Rajarajadeva
to the month Aippasi in the 8th year of the emperor of
the three worlds, the glorious Rajadhirajadeva.â
Consequently
Rajaraja II. must have been either the immediate predecessor or one
of the predecessors of Rajadhiraja II.
In
eight inscriptions of Rajaraja II. which open withpoo maruviya thirumaathum,[19]
the king bears the epithet Parakesarivarman.Besides, there are two inscriptions of his which have the
same introduction as those of Rajadhiraja II. (kadal suzhntha par etc.).In one of these (No. 219 of 1901) Rajaraja II. is called
Parakesarivarman, and in the second (No. 375 of 1902)
Rajakesarivarman.
To
return to Kulottunga III., an inscription of his 19th
year asserts that he undertook an expedition into the North and
entered Conjeeveram.[20] This statement is borne
out by the fact that three inscriptions of his reign are found at
Conjeeveram[21]
and five others as far north as Nellore.[22]
The
following vassals of Kuottunga III. are mentioned in Epigraphical
records : -
1.-
Madhurantaka-Pottappi-Chola alias Tammusiddhi-araisan made a
grant to the Vishnu temple at Nellore alias Vikramasimhapuram
in the 26th year of Kulottunga III. (=A.d. 1203-4).Another Nellore inscription of the [3]1st year
(=A.D. 1208-9) refers to Madhurantaka-Pottappi-Chola alias
Nallasiddh-arasar.Other
inscriptions of Tammusiddhi are dated in Saka-Samvat 1127 and 1129
(=A.D. 1205-6 and 1207-8),[23] and Nallasiddhi was the
name of an uncle of his.[24]
2.-
An inscription of the 5th May A.D. 1205 in the
Ekamranatha temple at Conjeeveram[25]
records the gift of a lamp by the Ganga chief Siyaganga Amarabharana
alias Tiruvegambam-udaiyan, in whose time the Tamil grammar Nannul
was composed, and his queen Ariyapillai gave two lamps to the temple
at Tiruvallam in the [3]4thyear of Kulottunga (III).[26]
3.-
Two inscriptions of the 27th and 33rd years of
Kulottunga III. record grants of land by Chola-Pillai alias
Alagiya-Chola alias Edirili-Chola-Sambuvarayan, the
son of Sengeni Ammaiyappan.This
chief is already known from the Poygai inscriptions of Rajaraja
III., the successor of Kulottunga III.[27]Two inscriptions of Tribhuvanachakravartin
Konerimelkonda-Kulottunga-Choladeva record grants by Sengeni
Ammaiyappan Kannudalpeeruman alias Vikrama-Chola-Sambuvarayan.[28]As this Sengeni Ammaiyappan must have been the father of the
above-mentioned Alagiya-Chola, the two inscriptions may be safely
allotted to Kulottunga III.Another
inscription of Kulottunga-Choladeva (III. ?) introduces a member of
the same family, named Sengeni Mindan Attimallan Sambuvarayan.[29]
4.-
The chief noted under No. 2 and one of the last-mentioned chiefs
seem to be referred to in two inscriptions of the 20th
and 21st years at Sengama, which I have accordingly
allotted to Kulottunga III.[30]The same two inscriptions contain the names of two other
feudatories of Kulottunga III., viz., Vidugalagiya-Perumal, a
chief of Dharmapuri in the Salem district,[31]
and Malaiyan Vinaiyai-venran alias
Karikala-Chola-Adaiyurnad-Alvan.
>
5.-
The Sengama inscription of the 21st year refers to a
certain Yadavaraya.This
title was born by two chiefs, viz., Tirukkalattideva and his
son Vira-Narasimhadeva.The
former is mentioned in inscriptions of the 16th and 17th
years of Kulottunga III.,[32] and the other in
inscriptions of the 36th and 37th years of the
same king[33] and in an inscription of
the 8th year of Rajarajadeva (III.), the successor of
Kulottunga III.[34]In an inscription of the 15th year of Kulottunga
(III.), this chief calls himself âprince Simha alias
Virarakshasa-Yadavaraja, the son of Yadavaraja alias
Tirukkalattideva.â Both Tirukkalattideva and his son claimed
descent from the Eastern Chalukya family ; for, they bore the birudas
Vengivallabha and Sasikula-Chalukki.The Venkatesa-Perumal temple on the Tirupati hill contains an
inscription of the 34th year of Tribhuvanachakravartin
Vira[n]arasimhadeva Yadavaraya (No. 71 of 1888-89).In the 40th year of Viranarasimhadeva-Yadavaraya
the same temple was rebuilt.[35]Another Tirupati inscription (No. 58 of 1888-89) is dated in
the [8]th year of Tirubhuvanachakravartin
Tiruvengadanatha-Yadavaraya, who may have belonged to the same
family.
[6]The grant portion of No. 6 shows that this was a title target="_self" of
Kulottunga-Chola III.For,
according to line 15, the village granted received the name
Kulottunga-Solan-Kalattur.
[7]No. 93 of 1900 is dated in the 39th year of Tribhuvanachakravartin
Tribhuvanaviradeva.As
it omits the usual epithets of the king, it need not necessarily
belong to Kulottunga III.
[13]The Maravas are a tribe in the Madura and Tinnevelly
districts.They are
referred to in the Mahavamsa, chapter 76, verses 132, 250
and 263.
[14]A village of this name is situated in the Sivaganga
Zamindari, 5 mils west of Ilaiyangudi.Nettur is also mentioned in the Mahavamsa, chapter 76,
verses 192, 216, 222, 289, 298, 299, 307, 309 and 313.
[15]This king must be different from, and earlier than,
Jayasimha Vira-Keralavarman, on whom see Ep. Ind. Vol.
IV. P. 146, note 2, and p. 293.