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No. 15.]
TIRUKKALITTATTAI INSCRIPTION OF SUNDARA-CHOLA.
(4) The king fought a sanguinary battle at a place called Cheur (Sevar) causing great destruction to the enemyl whose name, however, is not known.
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(5) He claims to have driven the Pandya (king) into the forest."
(6) He is stated to have died in a golden palace and was, on that account, known in later
times as Ponmaligai-ttuñjina-devar.3
The causes that led to Siriyavělar's death in Ceylon can be ascertained by a reference to the events mentioned in the Singhalese chronicle Mahavamsa. The Pandyas who were defeated by Parantaka I. in several encounters, appear to have revived their activities and given trouble to Sundara-Chola, whose victory over the Pandyas earned for him the title Pandiyanai suram= irakkina "i.e. who drove the Pandya (king) into the forest." That Vira-Pandya must have been the Pandya king about this period may be concluded from the title Vira-Pandiyan-talaikonda assumed by Sundara-Chola's son Aditya II. Vikramakesari of Koḍumbalur and Parthivēndravarman a king who is yet unidentified and whose records are mostly found in the North Arcot and Chingleput districts- assumed the same title. If the encounters in which these were concerned are identical with that which earned for Aditya 11. the title who took the head of Vira-Pandya', we may not be far wrong in assuming that Aditya II. and the two other allies were engaged in a war with the Pandyas and that the victory achieved was the occasion for assuming the title Vira-Pandiyan-talai-konda by the conquerors. That the Koḍumbāļür chief Vikramakesari was a feudatory of the Cholas may be gathered from the fact that he figures in the inscriptions of the Chola kings."
The troubles with the Pandyas probably brought Sundara-Chola into conflict with the king of Ceylon. One of his inscriptions at Tirukkalittaṭṭai, which from the existing traces appears to have contained a clear reference to his campaign against Ceylon, is unfortunately damaged after the two syllables Ila but the details about this war, in which the parties were the Singhalese and the Cholas, are preserved in the Mahivamsa. "Udaya III, (A.D. 964-972) became a drunkard and a sluggard, and when the Chola king heard of his indolence, his heart was well pleased, and as he desired to take to himself the dominion of the whole Pandu country, he sent emissaries to him to obtain the crown and the rest of the apparel that the king of Pandu left there when he fled. But the king refused to yield them. Whereupon the Chola king, who was very powerful, raised an army and sent it to take them even by violence. Now at this time the chief of the army was absent, having gone to subdue the provinces on the border that had revolted. And the king commanded him to return and sent him to make war. Accordingly the chief of the army went forth and fought against the enemy and perished in the battle. And the king of Chola took the crown and the other things." This is undoubtedly a reference to Sundara-Chola's invasion of Ceylon wherein his generel Siriyavēļār is said to have died. The date assigned to Udaya in the Mahavamsa also falls within the
1 The translation of the passage in the Leyden grant which refers to this event runs as follows:-At the town named Cheur, he (Sundara-Chola) completely filling all the spaces (quarters) by the multitude of the sharp arrows sent forth from his own beautiful bow, produced manifold rivers of blood flowing from the great royal elephants of his foes, cut down with his sharp sword.
2 Ko. 302 of the Madras Epigraphical collection for 1908.
South-Ind. Insers., Vol. II, pp. 72 and 74. The translation given on p. 72, footnote 1, of pormaligai ttunjina-devar, viz. the god who was sleeping in the golden palace,' is a mistake. The proper rendering is the king who died in the golden palace.'
Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1907, paragraphs 32-34.
Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1908, paragraph 90.
• Wijayasinha's translation, p. 84. The crown and the other apparel referred to here were left with the king of Ceylon, when the Pandya king fled to the Kerala country after having stayed in the island for some time. From the internal dissensions which were then rife in the island, it is said that the Pandya king feared that the Singhalese might not help him. The time ascribed to the depositing of the crown favours the identification of the Pandya king with Rajasimha, the opponent of Parantaka I.
