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 380

No. 32] NANDURU PLATES OF VELANANTI RAJENDRA-CHODA : SAKA 1091
231
enemies, and ruled a kingdom which he acquired by the strength of his arm. There is no agreement, however, between the Dräkshärama inscription and the present record with regard to the order of the five sons of Panda I. The former record mentions Malla V as the second and Ganda II as the fourth son, while the latter makes their position vice versa. This small discrepancy may be ignored. Of the five sons of Panda I, Gonka I was the most distinguished and is also described as the vankakartă. The Drākshārāma inscription calls him a great hero. He was a trusted vassal of the emperor, Kulottunga-Chöļa I. The Pithāpuram inscription (v. 27) states of prince Gorka I that he was the most distinguished of his brothers and that he ruled the Andhra-mandala as a vassal of Kulõttunga-Chöļa I. The present record, too, corroborates that account by stating that Gonka I having pleased that emperor by his services on the battlefields and by destroying hosts of his enemies, obtained as a reward from him, the rulership of the province known as Shasahasrāvani,
the Six Thousand District' on the southern bank of the river Krishņā (v. 46). Gorka I was appointed Samasta-sēnädhipati by Kulottunga-Chola I according to a stone inscription at Chēbrölu' in Guntur District, dated Friday, the 12th February, 1077 A.C.
Rājēndra-Chöda I called merely Choda in the present record, son of Velanānti Gonkarāja I and Sabbambikā, was the next illustrious prince of the family. Though the present plates do not mention much about him the Pithapuram inscription on the other hand states that he was adopted as his own son by the Chāļukya-Chola emperor, Kulottunga-Chola I, who furnished him with emblems befitting his own sons and made him the ruler of the kingdom of Vengimandala-sixteenthousand (vv. 35-36). The reason for the Chola king's adoption of a prince of the Chaturthakula, apparently a well grown up person, himself being a full-blooded kshatriya emperor, would seem to lie imbedded in the history of that troublous period. Perhaps Kulottunga-Choļa I had no grown up son at that juncture to take up the burden of ruling the disturbed kindgom of Vengi, apparently in succession to Vira-Choda. This event would seem to have taken place in 1094 A.C., immediately before the expedition against Kalinga was undertaken. And it would appear that within a short time Rājēndra-Choda had brought the Kalinga war to a successful close. In the words of the Pithāpuram inscription prince Choda "resembled the terrible Bhima in uprooting crowds of hostile kings (v. 36)." While the Kalingattupparaņi makes the Pallava chief, Karunākaru Tondaimán, the sole hero of the Kalinga war, the inscriptions of the Andhra country on the other hand reveal altogether a different story. There are reasons to believe that the supreme command of the imperial forces was assumed by Rajendra-Choda himself. All the inscriptions of the Andhra country which refer to the war with Kalinga unmistakably bear testimony to this fact. The stone inscription at Drākshārāma of the vassal chief Palla varāja surnamed Tiruvaranga, gives a vivid account of the Kalinga war. It states that Pallavarāja who bore the secondary name Panduvarāja had obtained prosperity by his devotion to the feet of king Rājēndra-Choda who rewarded him with the insignia of royalty and made him & vassal king. The inscription states that Pallavarāja who is also called Chodachandra, having reduced to ashes the whole of Kalinga, subdued the Ganga king in battle, and having destroyed Devendravarman and others together with their vast armies
1 811, Vol. VI, No. 109. There seems to be a slight error in the date. There was no eclipse of the moon on the full-moon day of Mūgha, Saka 988, when Gonka I is stated to have made a grant to the temple of Mülasthanadēva at Chēbrölu. If, however, we assume that Phālguna was intended and that the scribe by mistake engraved Magha for Phälguna, the date would be regular.
* SII, Vol. IV, No. 662 (vv.8-9), Vol. X, No. 107, Vol. IV, No. 1153, Vol. X, No. 64.
- SIF, Vol. IV, No. 1239. This has been published with notes and translation. See above, Vol. XXII, pp. 138 f. In my opinion Mr. K. V. Subrahmanya Aiyer has not properly interpreted the inscription. He has made many doubtful identifications.
Mr. Subrahmanya Aiyer thinks that this Pallavarāja was the same as the hero of Jayamgondar's Kalingal. tuparani. The identification is improper. There might have been several Pallavarājas in the Cholu Army. More. over Jayanagopdar's hero does not bear any of the names, Tiruvaranga, Panduvarlia or Chodaelinndra. . 29 DGA/53