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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA,
[VOL. XIX.
elephant on which Räjāditya rode, engaged him in a hand-to-hand fight and put him to death, thus securing victory to his overlord. Soon after, Krishna III is said to have marched through Topdai-mandalam.
To fix the date when the Rashtrakūta invasion of the Chola country took place, we may briefly state here the events of the period :(1) A number of stone inscriptions of Parāņtaka I have been found dated in years 40 and
later and of these the latest known so far is one belonging to the 46th year of reign. His accession being in A.D. 907, the last date takes us to A.D. 953. In the face of the existence of this record which has been recently examined and found to be clearly of the 46th year and of another dated in the 45th year, we
cannot place Parantaka's death before A.D. 952-3. (2) The Kanyakumari inscription states that Parantaka I bimself fought with Krishparaja
and defeated him earning thereby the title Vira-Chola, though it does not state when and where the encounter took place. If the success attributed to Parintaka I is to be taken seriously, we must regard this event as having happened before A.D.
944 when, as will be shown in (3) below, Krishnaraja was occupying Tondai.
| mangalam. (3) The Rashtrakūta king Krishna III occupied Tondai-mandalam in at least A.D. 944,
for there is a clear record of his at Siddhalingamadam in the South Aroot District dated in the Bth year of his reign mentioning his conquest of Kachohi and Tañjai. Records of Krishna III show that he reigned for 28 years' and one of them states in unmistakable terms that he died in A.D. 967. Therefore, it is certain that bis
reign lasted from A.D. 9:0 to 967 and that his fifth year fell in A.D. 944. (4) A few years.after his occupation of Tondai-mandalam, Krishna III had to fight against
the Cholas at Takkölam. We have definite information in contemporary records as to when this happened and the whole course of events that followed, The Solapuram record is dated in A.D. 949, which is stated to be two years after Krishna JII had fought with Rajădityand entered Tondai-mandalam. Who it was that killed Rājāditya in the battle and what kind of entry is referred to here are clearly learnt from the Atakur stone inscription. It statesli that at the time
when Krishna III was fighting against the Chola, Būtuga II (the Ganga ally of the Ep. Carn., Vol. III, Md. 41 and J. R. 4.8. for 1909, p. 443. ? Ep. Ind., Vol. VII, p. 195.
Ep. Ind., Vol. XV, p. 52. Some of the statements therein made fell self-condemned.
• Madras Epigraphical co!lsetion Nos. 384 of 1903, 232 of 1894, 82 of 1996, 520 of 1805, 310 of 1008, 225 of 1915, 345 and 33 of 1918 belong to the 40th year; Nos. 88 of 1892, 419 of 1903, 184 and 313 of 2006 snid 149 of 1916 belong to the 41st year: No. 465 of 1918 bolang to the 45th year and No. 15 of 1896 to the 18th geac
Trav. Arch. Series, Vol. III, p. 143, v 48. No. 375 of the Madras Epigraphical collection for 1909
Quite a large number of inscriptions of the 28th year of this king have been found::eo Nos. 125 of 1906 and 364 of 1902 of the Madras Epigraphical collection.
• No. 238 of the Madras Epigraphical collection for 1913 from Kolagallu is dated in Saka 889, Kshaya, Phalguna, du. di. 6, Sunday, and states that Krishpa UI died in this year and Kottiga succeeded him. The data equivalent is Sunday, February 17th, A.D. 967.,
Since the Dooli grant of Krishna III is dated in 940 A.D. and does not mention his conquest of the Chilas that event should have happened after this date and most probably in A.D 944.
10 Ep. Ind., Vol. VII, p. 195. The actual words used are " Susii Gri yandu irandu Saka warsha eynir et pull-ouru chakravartti Kannaradi va-vallabhan Rajadittarai erindu Tondai-mandulam pagundandi
11 Ep. Int., Vol VI, p. 57, 1. 20 am J. R. 4. S. 1909, p. 445.
