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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXII.
the Kanyakumari inscription states that he constructed the town of Tañchapuri1 in the Chōla country, the Tiruvalangaḍu plates say that he captured that city and built the temple of Nisumbhasüdani in it. Since we know from the Sendalai pillar inscriptions that Tañchapuri was one of the principal cities of Perumbiḍugu-Muttaraiyan, who flourished immediately before the time of Vijayalaya, the conclusion is irresistible that the latter must have conquered the Muttaraiyan chief and wrested the town from his possession and made it his capital. As such the information furnished in the Kanyakumari inscription is not quite correct. And since we know from Vekär pāļayam plates that Nandivarman III, who was not far removed from Vijayalaya, had a certain Chōlamahārāja alias Kumarankusa as his ajñapti, it is not impossible that this Vijayalaya succeeded him and eventually made himself independent or paved the way for his son to raise the canopy of a dominion in Southern India. Of Aditya, the son of Vijayalaya (v. 14), much information is not given in the Leiden plates. But we know from other sources that he was a Rajakeéarivarman and had the name Kōdandarama,' that he was a great conqueror and knew no defeat, that he was on friendly terms with the Chera king Sthāņu Ravi' and the Western Ganga Prithvipati II,10 that he extended his territory into Tonḍai-nadu and killed or defeated the Pallava king Aparajita, that he acquired Kongu,11 that he built large temples to Siva on both banks of the Kāvēri and that he reigned from A.D. 870 to 907.10 Aditya's son was Parantaka (I.) (v. 15). He is said to have founded big towns, to have effected some conquests and to have covered with gold the temple of Indumauli, i.e., Šiva at Vyaghrägrahara (vv. 16-17). His achievements recorded in other places are the signal defeats inflicted on the Pandya Rajasimha, the acquisition of the Bāna kingdom and the bestowal of it on his ally the Western Ganga Prithvipati II, the conquest of Ceylon, 13 the overcoming of the Rashtrakuta Krishnaraja III in battle and the establishment 1 Trav. Arch. Series, Vol. III, p. 155, v. 54.
28. I. I., Vol. III, p. 418, vv. 45, 46.
Above, Vol. XIII, pp. 134ff.
Historical Sketches of Ancient Dekhan, p. 211. There are ample evidences of the rule of the Muttaraiyans in the Pudukkottai State and Tanjore and Trichinopoly Districts. See pages 138-39, above, Vol. XIII.
5 See S. I. I., Vol. II, p. 512, v. 26, and the Tamil portion which follows it. It is said that this Chōlamaharaja was called the heroic head jewel of the Chōla race, that the glory of his prowess was well known, that his liberality was that of Karna and that his conduct was upright.
Above, Vol. XV, p. 68, v. 17.
1 Trav. Arch. Series, Vol. III, p. 155, v. 55.
Above, Vol. XV, p. 68, v. 18.
218
8. I. I., Vol. III, p. 221.
10 Above, Vol. XIX, pp. 81ff.
11 Historical Sketches of Ancient Dekhan, p. 213.
13 These are recorded in the Udayendiram plates of Prithvipati II (8. I. I., Vol. II, p. 387, vv. 9 and 10). The charter distinctly refers to two invasions of the Pandya country, in the earlier of which Parantaka I. defeated the Pandya king and captured his city, and in the later he not only defeated the Pandya but also slew an immense army despatched to his aid by the lord of Lanka. Paräntaka's first invasion of Madura may be placed in A.D. 910 when he assumed the title Madiraikonda'. The second invasion referred to above may be placed in about A.D. 918 which is the date of one of his inscriptions mentioning the battle of Velur in which it is also stated that Parantaka defeated the allied forces of Pandya and the king of Ceylon.
The
13 The earliest inscription that gives to Parantaka I., the epithet "Madiraiyum Ilamum konda" being dated in the 37th year of his reign, his conquest of Ceylon must be said to have taken place in or about A.D. 944. Tiravalangadu plates referring to this event state that "all the waters of the sea were not enough to quench the fire of the Chola king's anger, which consumed the enemies and which was put out only by the tears of the wives of the king of Simhala, cut and killed by the king's weapons " (S. I. I., Vol. III, p. 419, v. 52). The Kanyakumari insoription states that the name Simhalantaka was acquired by Parantaka I., by this achievement (Trav. Arch. Series, Vol. III, p. 155, v. 50).
14 Traw. Arch. Series, Vol. III, p. 155, v. 58. Parantaka's conquest of the Rashtrakuta Krishna III must have happoned before A. D. 944 which is the earliest date of Krishna III's records in the Tamil country subject to the rule of the Cholas (No. 375 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection for 1909).
