Epigraphia Indica Vol 29

SR No.: 032583
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1951
Total Pages: 432
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 21 MB

Page 156

No. 8] KALIDINDI GRANT OF EASTERN CHALUKYA RAJABAJA I. 63 site, where the persons, to perpetuate whose memory they are built, are interred or cremated. As the memorial temples of the Chola generals were erected in the village of Kalidimdi, they must have been buried or cremated in the place; and consequently the battle in which they were killed might have been fought in the immediate neighbourhood of the village.
The difficulty of fixing the date of the battle is great. However, certain facts mentioned in the record would help us in arriving at a probable date. The inscription contains the date of Rajaraja's coronation, i.e., 1022 A. C.;' and alludes perhaps to Rajendra-Chola's Gangetic expedition and transmarine conquests (vv. 19 and 20). Moreover, at the time when the battle was fought, Rājēndra-Chöļa (1012 to 1044 A. C.) was still ruling at Gangaikondachõlapuram. These would indicate that the battle should have taken place between 1022 and 1044 A. C., the last date of Rājēndra-Chõļa. But no evidence is available from the Chola records during this period of 22 years about any war between the Chēļas and the contemporary Western Chāļukya king Jayasimha II, of which the battle at Kalidimdi might have been a major event. The last we hear of the fights between them is in 1021 A. C., when Räjēndra Chola I's attack on Rattapādi took place. However, there is one Western Chalukya record at Hottur in the Bombay Karnatak, dated 1037 A. C., which mentions a Dandanayaka of Jayasimha II, Chavanarasa by name who bears the title, "destroyer of the pride of the fort of Bijavadi". If this Bijavādi is taken to be identical with Bezwada in the Vēngi country, it would appear that sometime before this date, i.e., 1037 A. C., the Western Chalukya general invaded Võngi and captured the city of Bezwada. The Karnātaka invasion of Andhra (i.e., Vēngi) and the battle described in the present record may have taken place during the same Western Châlukya expedition under Chāvanarasa, especially as the distance between Bezwada and Kalidimdi is less than 50 miles. As victory was not secured by the Chola allies of Rājarāja, even as indicated by the record, it is not unlikely that the event may be connected with the disaster which overtook Rājarāja I in 1031 A. C., when he was deprived of his throne by his step-brother and rival Vijayāditya VII. Although evidence is lacking as to whether the coup d'état effected by Vijayāditya was with or without Karņāta help, & suggestion may be made that as Rājarāja was supported by the powerful Chola emperor, his rival, Vijayāditya, secured the help of the Karņāta king. Such an alignment is consistent with the political background of this period, as the Cholas and the Western Chāļukyas were always arrayed against each other in support of rival claimants in disputed successions.
Of the persons mentioned in the record, the Karnātadhiba may be Jayasimha II, as the date of the battle is about 1031 A. C. As explained before, the Dramisādhisa is, doubtless, Rājēndra-Chola I who is mentioned by name at another place (line 59) in the record.
Much is not known of the Chõļa generals who were killed in the battle. One of them, UttamaChola Miladudaiyān, figures as the ruler of the hilly tracts in the present South Arcot District in a record of the 4th year (-1016 A.C.) of Rājēndra-Chöļa, where he is spoken of as Yadava-Bhima of the Bhargava götra ; but nothing is known of his subsequent career. Neither of the other two finds mention in contemporary Chola inscriptions. A Senäpati called Uttamasola Brahma-Märäyan is mentioned in an epigraph at Kõlar, dated about 1033 A. C. ;' he, however, seems to be a nobleman quite dinting from Senpati Rajaraja Brahma-Maharaja of the charter under considers -
tion.
1 See above, p. 58, note 2. • Colas, I, p. 245. . Above, Vol. XVI, p. 78. . Dr. Barnett identifies it with Bijawidgi noar Hungund, ibid., p. 77.
Pamulaviks plates : JAHRS, Vol. II, p. 284. • No. 20 of 1905 of the Mad. Epi. Coll. No. 480 of 1911; EC., Vol. X, 1.,109..