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No. 38.1
TIRUMUKKUDAL INSCRIPTION OF VIRARAJENDRA..
327
Regarding the location of Virarājēndra's pillars of victory in the Chalukya country, Karadikal is referred to in a Nanarese inscription from Uchchangidrug in the Bellary district as Karadi. kal-nadu of which the village of Kandavādige is said to be the face. Nandavādige and Karadikal may, therefore, be identified with Nandavādige and Karadi, two villages in the Hungund Taluka of the Bijäpur district on the border of the Nizam's Dominions situated to the south of the Kpishņā river. They are only at a distance within 5 miles of each other.
As noted above, the most important historical facts gathered from our inscription relate to the war with Ceylon. It is stated that 'Virarājēndra despatched a number of vessels to Ceylon, commenced a war in that island which was protected by the sea, routed the Singhalese army; and as there arose a great tumult, when it was reported that Kurukulattaraiyan and other feudatories fell in the field, king Vijayabahu ran away and the Chola king got possession of his queen and crown along with his family treasures and gems and made Lanká his own.' This event, which, as we have pointed out above, happened in A.D. 1066, is of importance for the synchronism it affords to the Singhalese chronicle Mahāvamsa, where the causes that led to the war and further details connected with it are narrated at great length. According to the chronicle, the name Vijayabāhu was assumed by Kitti' when he became sub-king. Almost in the first year of his reign he was defeated by a Chõļa sovereign and forced to take refuge in a fortress on the hills. He is then said to have obtained help from the ruler of the Ramañña country and to have dwelt at Tamalagāma. About the 11th year of his reign the Singhalese scornfully set at naught the authority of the Cholas and vexed the Chola officers of revenue. And when the Chola king heard of it, he was greatly provoked and sent a large army under his general against Ceylon. The general landed at Mahätittha, slaughtered the people of the various parts of the country and brought them under subjection. Vijayabāhu now built a fortress at Pulatthapabbata, fought with and killed the Chõla general and proceeded to Pulatthi with a large army. When the Chõļa king was informed of these tidings, he desired to take Vijayabāhu captive, went to the sea-port himself and sent a larger army than before to the island. The lord of Lankā, hearing this, sent his general who encountered them at Anuradhapura and fought a great battle. But many of Vijayabāhu's men fell in the field and the people went over to the Chöļa side. Thereupon Vijayabāhu left the city of Pulatthi and fled away to Villikahana. When he was told that the governor of the Cholas pursued him even there, he went away to Vatagiri, built a fortress at its toot, made war for three months and drove back the Tamils.
Of the two wars noted above as having been waged by Vijayabāhu with the Cholas, it is fairly certain that the latter is the one alluded to in the extract given from our inscription of Virarājēndra as having been fought with him in about A.D. 1066. Of the other war which took place 11 years previously, we have also epigraphical confirmation in Tamil records. It is the one recorded as having been waged by Parakēsarivarman Rājēndradēva, the predecessor of Virarājēndra, in A.D. 1055. Rājēndradēva's inscriptions state that he despatched a war-like army into the southern region, seized on the battle-field the two sons of Mānābharaṇa and captured Lankā. Thus our inscription enables us to say that Vijayabāhu's accession took place in about A.D. 1055, that he fought with Rājēndradēva in that very year and that in A.D. 1066 he had to meet Virarājēndra's forces. From the Singhalese account we learn the cause of the war and the different places which witnessed the scene of action. Except these two wars, Vijayabāhu had no further encounter with the Cholas till late in his reiga, 1.e., in the 30th year corresponding to A.D. 1085 when Kulottunga was the Chola ruler.
18. 1. I., Vol. VI, p. 197.
He is said to be the sidest son of Magalana. It is stated that the latter we well verned in the ways of the world and was known to all mon as "the great lord ". Ho greatly loved the order of priosthood and was the habitation of many loating virtuen. • Wifeanhn'translation, Ch. LVIII, pp. 97 t.
.Ibid., p. 68
