Epigraphia Indica Vol 15

Author(s): Sten Konow, F W Thomas
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 68

No. 5.]
ANBIL PLATES OF SUNDARA-CHOLA : THE 4TH YEAR.
49
has been constructed largely from Tamil literature is clear; but, since the literary references do not give specifically the relationships existing among them, the composers of the prasastis of the dynasty have committed blunders.
Of Srikantha, the next king, nothing more than his name is given in the document. Evidently he did nothing worth recording. Vijayālaya, the first known king of the powerfal dynasty of the Cholas, which for over three centuries played a distinguished part in the history of South India, is, according to the Tiruvālangadu grant, said to have taken Tañchāpari from some one, whose name however is not given, and built there a templo for Nisumbhasûdani, that is, Durga. From the extracts given in the foot-note, it will be evident that the city of Tañehāpuri must have been wrested from the Muttaraiyare, a feudatory family who were vassale of the Pallav39 and ruled over a large part of the present Tanjore District and the Native State of Padukkottai. This mapouvre is perhaps the beginning of the aprooting of the Pallava dominancy over the Chola kingdom in the reign of Aditya, the son and successor of Vijayalaya. It is known from other records that Aditya and the Påndya king Varagupa marched against the Pallava, Npipatunga-varman, otherwise known also by the name of Aparajita-varman, defeated and killed him. After the occupation of Tanjore by Vijayalaya it continued to be the capital of the Cholas; but it was afterwards in a way eclipsed by Gangaikondacbola-puram, founded by Rajendra-Chola-Deva 1.3
The Anbil grant does not mention the fact that the names Rājakésarin and Parakesarin occurred alternately in the Chola family, as is distinctly mentioned in the Tiruvalangádu and
In the Sendalai Pillar inscription of Perumbiduga Muttaraiyan (supra, Vol. XIII, pp. 136 ff.) the following descriptions of this king occur :-Ko-Maran-Ranjai-kkon, the king Märan, the lord of Talijai'; kafrar-kalean Raijas nar-pugal-alan,'a kalva of kaloar, the distinguished lord of Tañjai'; nirkinra tanpanai törum TanjaiHiram-padi ninrar, 'they (cultivators) stood in the fields praising the excellences of the city of) Twūjai.' These extracts clearly show that Tañjai or Tañcbäpari was dear to the Mattaraiyars, a powerful dynasty of chiefs who were staunch supporters of the supremacy of the Pallavas. In a mutilated, but very archaic, inscription engraved below the panels of a historical mural sculpture, found in the Vaikunthan thapperuma temple at Conjeevarnın, a Mutta. raigar is honourably mentioned as one of the worthies who came to receive Nandiverman Pallavamalla, the son of Hiranyavarman, who was newly elected as the Pallava king. This Muttaraiyer could be no other than the then venerable old Savaran Māran alias Porumbidugu Muttaraiyan II, the v al of Paramēívaravarian II. (See my paper on the Muttaraiyars and others in the Journal of the South Indian Association for 1911.) Suvarap Müren is styled kalvara-kalvas, the kaftan of kalvas.' The word kafva, which now means "a thief," inust have been held in high esteem in olden times. This word kalvara might in all probability lave been rendered into Sanskrit a Kalabhra; jost in the same fashion tho Tamil word alavan bas been written as Valabhs; and the Kyļablir invasion and usurpation of the Pandya country, stated in the Vēļvikadi grant to have taken place some time before the reign of Kadungon Pandyadhiraja, a time which agrees well with that of Suvaran Mann, may bare been caused by this Muttaraiyan. The Muttaraiyars, who are quite distinct from the Pandyas, have been mistaken for the latter both by Dr. Hultzsch and by Mr. Venksyys.
? Ep. As. Rep. for 1906, p. 65, para. 9.
• Regarding the founding of new capitals by kings there is an interesting passage in the commentary called the Idu on Nammā var's Truvdymoll, which runs thus:-Serukkarin räjakka! polniya.pndaivittai vittu tängalē kādu-siyttu-chchamaitta padaivittilire adarattādē iruppadu (Mudalayiram, 5, , 9). This means, ' Proud kings, having given up old capitals, live in happiness in new ones which they themselves have constructed after felling down the forests.' Perhaps the commentator, who lived not long after Rajendra-Chöln-Deva I, liad distinetly in view this king, when he wrote the passage quoted above ; for Tanjore, the city which was captured by Vijayalaya as a fit place for a capital and later ou adorned with the finest of temples built by his own father Rijsraja I, could not have lost its merita in the reign of Rajendra-Cho-Déva I. It is no more than the vanity of the latter that can have induced him to create a new capital at Gangaikonda-cb8|n-pura (named after bis surname Gangaikonda-Cböļa), in which he also erected a temple equal, if not superior, in grandeur to the Brihadiśvar a temple at Tanjore.