Epigraphia Indica Vol 09

SR No.: 032563
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: E Hultzsch, Sten Konow
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1907
Total Pages: 498
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 28 MB

Page 117

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. IX.
death) there was a Påndya invasion headed by Varagana. The invader probably did not meet with any effective resistance at first, and therefore advanced as far north as Araibur on the Southern Pennar river, where he was encamped at the time of making the grant registered in the subjoined Ambasamudram inscription. Subsequently, Aparajita, who was perhaps the heirapparent at the time,' appears to have been sent with the Western Ganga Prithivipati I. to repel the invasion. The decisive battle was fought at Sripurambiya, and the invader was driven back. But the Ganga king lost his life in it.
The Tiruvalabgadu plates of the Chola king Rajendra-Chola I. help us to trace the fortunes of the Ganga-Pallavas to the very end. Verse 49 of the Sanskrit portion of this grant, which describes the achievements of the Chôļa king Aditya I., runs as follows :
पपराजितमप्यसौ रणे जितवान् पनवमुखसत्वलम् []
दयितामपि तस्य मेदिनी खवशीलत्य [स']थाप्यभूत् कृती ॥ "Having conquered in battle the Pallava who bad brilliant troops, though (he was) Aparajita (i.e. the unconquered), he (vis, the Chola king Aditya) also took possession of his queen, (riz.) the earth, (and) thus accomplished his object." In other words, the Chola king Aditya I. conquered the Pallava Aparajits and annexed his dominions. The Pallava Aparajitao may now be identified with the Ganga-Pallava king Aparajitavikramavarman of the Tiruttani inscription, and with that Aparajita who defeated Varaguna-Påndya. And, evidently, Ukkal in the North Arcot district was called Aparajita chaturvedimangalam after this Ganga-Pallava king. He was apparently the last member of his family. Though successful against the Pandyas, he could not offer any effective resistance to the rising Chôļas, who, under Aditya I., not only conquered him in battle, but also annexed his dominions.
In a Vattelutta inscription at Aivarmalai in the Madura district,' copied during the last Geld season by my assistant Mr. G. Venkoba Rao, I found a Saka date for Varaguna. His 8th year is coupled with Saka-samvat 792. Thus bis accession took place in A.D. 862-63. If the facts and inferences set forth in the preceding paragraphs be confirmed by future researches, and if there was only one Papdys king named Varagapa, the invasion of Idavai in the Chola country and the destruction of the fortifications of Vêmbil must have taken place in or before A.D. 872-73. Varagupa was at Araisir on the southern Pennar in A.D. 877-8. The battle of Sripurambiya might have taken place towards the close of the same year or in the next year. If the surmise made by me, that Aparajita was probably heir-apparent when that battle took place, be true, his accession may be placed about A.D. 880. His defeat by the Chola king Aditya evidently occurred after the Tiruttaņi inscription of the 18th year of his reign.
1 Aparajita is called the friend (ouhrid) of Prithivipati I., who was a Ganga-Pallava feudatory. If the former had been the reigning king, it is perhaps not likely that he would be referred to the friend of Prithivipati I.
• Soon after the conquest and occupation of the Pallava dominions by the Chose, the Gangas, who had been feudatories of the Ganga-Pallavu, roem to have acknowledged the Choles as their overlords. In an inscription of Rajakbearivarman which has to be attributed to Aditys I., Piridipati, son of Manmaniyar (.6. perhaps Prithivipati II., son of Marssimba), is mentioned, apparently, Ma Chola feudatory i Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1896-97, paragraph 7.
- Read "मुझसरसम. • Annual Roport on Epigraphy for 1905-06, Part II. paragraph 10.
The place at which this battle was fought is not mentioned here. According to tradition the battle which crushed the Pallavs power was fought noar Sholinghur in the North Arcot district see the Manual of the North Arcot District, Vol. I. p. 89.
• That Aparajita is called Pallava, is no bar to the proposed identifcation. In the Bahar plates (above, Vol. IV. p. 181), the Ganga-Pallava Nripatungavikramavarman and his ancestors are called Pallaves, and their legendary ancestors are the same as those of the Pallaves of Conjeeveram.
Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1906-6, Part II. paragraph 85. • The latter event is mentioned in the Trichinopoly inscription, dated in the 11th year of the king's reign.