Epigraphia Indica Vol 18

Author(s): H Krishna Shastri, Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 46

No. 4.]
KANYAKUMARI INSCRIPTION OF VIRA-RAJENDRA-DEVA.
death; Virasena; and Chitra, frightened at the power of whose arrows Devendra (Indra) accepted the tiger-banner, in which he also took refuge. From that time the tiger became the crest of the Cholas just in the same manner as a pair of carp fish and the bow were respectively the crests of the Pandyas and the Cheras; then came Pushpakētu, Ketumala, Samudrajit and Pañchapa. The last mentioned king cut open five arteries in his body and fed with the blood issuing out of them five Yakshas who came to him as his guests and demanded of him this curious and cruel food. For feeding the Yakshas in the manner described he obtained the name Pañchapa. The king Nrimrida sprang in this race, and by the grace of Paramesvara conquered Mrityu, the god of death; then appeared Manoratha, and the illustrious Parunatkili (Perunatkilli) and others. Karikala, who was born in this family, seeing that the river Kävēri by its irregular flow was destroying the crops, caused embankments to be constructed on both its sides, the kings conquered by him carrying earth on their heads for that purpose. Valabha,1 Jagadēkamalla and Vyalabhayankara were also been in this dynasty.
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Here commences the genuine history of the Cholas. Vijayalaya is said to have been born in this lineage. He was worshipped by all kings; he is here stated to have constructed anew the city of Tañjapuri in the Chola country; but the Tiruvalangadu grant distinctly mentions the fact that Vijayalaya took Tañjapuri by force and set up in it the goddess Nisumbhasüdanı (Durga). Evidently, the composer of the Kanyakumari prasasti did not know exactly how Tañjapuri came to be the seat of the Cholas in the time of Vijayalaya. The true fact seems to have been remembered by the composer of the Tiruvalaågäḍu document. It has been stated elsewhere that Tañjapuri must have been seized from the Muttaraiyars, the vassals of the Pallavas, by Vijayalaya. The son of Vijayalaya was Adityavarman alias Kodandarama. In the village of Tondamanaḍ near Kalahasti there is a temple of the Chola period. One of its inscriptions belonging to the 34th year of the reign of Madiraikonḍa Parakesarivarman, i.e. Parantaka I, calls the temple by the name Kodandarāmē vara alias Adityēsvara. Mr. Venkayya in his Annual Report on Epigraphy for the year 1905, wrote about it thus:-"No. 318 of 1904 mentions the king's son éri-Kodandaraman while No. 347 of 1904 refers to prince Kodandan. Even at the present day Kodandan is a familiar abbreviation of Kodandaraman, and we may therefore suppose that both Nos. 318 and 347 of 1904 refer to the same prince, who was the son of Parantaka I. In the same village of Tondamanaḍ is another inscription of Parantaka I, dated in his 34th year (about A.D. 939), which mentions the temple of Kodandaramēśvara alias Adityēsvara. It is not impossible that this temple was called after the Chola prince Kodandaraman. If this surmise proves correct, it may be concluded from the other name Adityēsvara given to the Tondamanad temple that Kodandaraman was the surname either of the king's eldest son Räjäditya or of his second son Gaṇḍaraditya." Subsequently, while reviewing No. 286 of the Collection of the Madras Epigraphist for the year 1906, found in Tirumalpuram which stated that the village of Sirriyārrür had been granted as a devadana and as a brahmadeya in the 21st year of Tondaimaṇārrür-tañjinn-Udaiyar, Mr. Venkayya changed his opinion and said that Tondaimāṇārrar-tunjina-Udaiyar, i.e. the lord who died at Topḍaimänärrür,' must refer to Aditya I, that Tondaimiņārrür is probably Tondamanaḍ near Kalahasti in the North Areot District which in a record of Parantaka I found at the place, is called Tonḍaimanperärrür,
1 The Tamil word Valavan, which later on came to signify, like the word Cholm, any Chola king, is converted here into Valabha.
2 See 8. I. I., Vol. III, p. 418, vv. 45 and 46.
Ep. Ind., Vol. XIII, p. 136.
Ep. Rep., 1905, p. 50, para. 9.