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No. 27.]
THE VAILUR INSCRIPTION OF KOPPERUNJINGADEVA.
177
i.e., A.D. 1215 to A.D. 1232. The king mentioned in our inscription may, therefore, be identified with KÕpperuñjingadēva I.
The earlier Köpperuñjingadēva has left a few inscriptions at Tiruvannāmalai', in one of which he is given the titles Nissankamalla, Mallai-Kāvalan and Bharatam-valla. The southern gópura of the Natarāja temple at Chidambaram was constructed by him. The officer Sola-kon seems to have served under him at Chidambaram". He is distinctly called Alagiyasīyan in the Villiyanür inscription mentioned above and may be identified with Jiya.Mahipati of the Tripurantakam inscriptions
We shall next determine who the Chāļa king was that was defeated at Telāgu. The contemporaries of Kõpperuñjingadēva I. on the Chöļa throne were Kulõttunga-Chola III and Rājarāja III, of whom the first lived till A.D. 12176 and the second commenced his reign in A.D. 12167. For the present enquiry, Kulottunga-Chēļa III may be omitted, because our record mentions the defeat of the Hoysaļas who came to the assistance of the Cholas only in the time of Hoysala Vira-Narasimha II who ascended the throne in A.D. 1220, by which time, however, KulöttungaChola III had died. The Chola king mentioned in the present record must, therefore, be Rājarāja III, 88 may also be inferred from the Tiruvēndipuram inscription
The last mentioned record gives a detailed account of the attempt of KÕpperuñjingadēva to subvert the power of his overlord the Chöļa emperor. It states that Köpperuñjingadēva captured the Chola monarch at Sēndamangalam. Our inscription, however, specifies the place where the Chola king was first defeated and thus links the two incidents by mentioning them together. The Vailūr and the Tiruvēndipuram records, therefore, appear to be complementary to each other. If so, Rājarāja III must have been imprisoned only once and not twice as has hitherto been supposed by some scholars10.
The fact that the Tiruvēndipuram record refers to the complete annihilation of the Pallava forces by the Hoysaļas, from which Kõpperuñjinga could not have easily recovered, would indicate that the Tellaru battle was probably fought prior to the Sēndamangalam incident. The latter event may be placed in A.D. 1232 corresponding to the 16th year of Rājarāja III. By this time Kõpperuñjinga had consolidated his position and his territory is referred to as Köpperuñjingan. dēšam' in the Tiruvēndipuram record. From the accession of Rājarāja III, Köpperuñjinga never figured as his subordinatell. As early as A.D. 1222 Hoysala Vira-Narasimha is said to be marching towards Srirangam in the Chola country". Two years later (i.e., A.D. 1224), we find that Vira
1 Nos. 480, 500, 512 and 513 of 1902 of the Madras Epigraphical collection. * No. 480 of 1902 of the Madras Epigraphical collection.
No. 285 of 1921 of the Madras Epigraphical collection. .No. 463 of 1902 of the Madras Epigraphical collection. .No. 197 of 1905 of the Madras Epigraphical collection. .No. 282 of 1909 of the Madras Epigraphical collection.
No. 367 of 1919 of the Madras Epigraphical collection. . Above, Vol. VII, pp. 167-68. .Nos. 418 of 1922 and 142 of 1902 of the Madras Epigraphical collection. 10 A. R. on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1923, p. 97.
11 From the mere mention of Köpperuñjinga in & record from Vriddhahalam in the South Arcot District (No. 136 of 1900 of the Madras Epigraphical collection) dated in the 14th year of Räjarija III, it has been supposed that the former was a Chola vassal till A.D. 1229. This inscription mentions as donor an agamadimudali of Köpperusjinga which fact need not establish the subordination of this chief to the Chola. Similarly, a brother of an officer of Köpperuñjinga figures as donor in the 30th year of Rājarāja III i.e., A.D. 1246 (No. 504 of 1902 of the Madras Epigraphical collection) when Köpperuñjitiga lund openly declared his independence.
11 Ep. Carn, Vol. VI, Cm. 66.
