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No. 11.)
TIRUPPUVANAM PLATES OF JATAVARMAN KULASEKHARA I.
The year under consideration is thus the last year of the reign of Parākrama-Pāņdya. While Kulasēkhara is represented by inscriptions, there is every reason to expect the records of his adversary also. And I think there could not be any possible objection to say that the ill-fated Parikrama-Pandya is the Märavarman Parākrama-Pandya with the introduction Tirumagalpunara. In this connection, it may be noted that no other Paräkrama-Pandya with a different indroduction assignable to this period has at all come to light. So far as is known at present, his reign extends to 12 years, and if the year A.D. 1166 marks the end of his rule, his accession must be placed in A.D. 1154. The late Rao Bahadur Krishna Sastri expressed the view that Māravarman Parikrama-Pandya must have been a predecessor of or co-regent with either of the two Srivallabhas, and, judging from the position which the introduction of Märavarman Srivallabha occupied in a record belonging to the time of Māpavarman Parakrama-Pandya found at Kuruvitturai," he said it was evident that the latter was a predecessor of the former. The conclusion we have arrived at above, viz., that Māravarman Parikrama-Pandya reigned from A.D. 1154 to 1166 well establishes this inference. The Mahāvansa tells us that Parikrama had a son named Vira-Pandya who was set up on the Pandya throne by the Sinhalese generals according to the instructions given to them by their king Parākrama-Bāhu. Inscriptions of the reign of Kulõttunga III refer to an unnamed son of this Vira-Pandya and say that he fought along with his father against the Chöļas and shared his defeat more than once. It is a question if the setting up of Vira-Pāņdya on the Pandya throne by the Sinhalese generals could be taken seriously, and whether it was at all recognised by the people, even if it were a fact. For all that we see ViraPandya had not the usual coronation ceremony. Neither are there any inscriptions attributable to his reign. From the moment of his father's death he had been contesting with Kulasēkhara for kingdom and crown. And so long as the reign of Kulasēkhara lasted, Vira-Pāņdya's rule may be said not to have commenced. Since we know from the records with the introduction Pütalamadandai that Kulaśēkhara held the reins of government till at least A.D. 1176, it may be said that Vira-Pandya commenced his rule in this year. To this end, the information furnished in two inscriptions of Rājādhiraja II, both dated in the 12th year and 157th day, i.e., the 13th year also leads us. The records under reference come from Tiruvälangadu in the North Arcot District and Tirumayānam in the Pudukkottai State and are almost exact copies. Though the latter record is fragmentary, Mr. Venkatasubba Aiyar has, by carefully comparing it with the damaged portions of the former inscription, been able to fill in certain lacunae in it. He tells us that the Pandya king Kulasēkhara, ignoring the good deeds done to him, proved a traitor, made an alliance with the king of Ilam and conspired with him against the Chölas. And some letters and presents despatched to the officers of Kulasēkhara, hinting that the Sinhalese king was an ally of their master, were intercepted by the Chõļa king who directed the chief Pallavarāyan to reinstate on the Pandya throne Vira-Pāņdya, the son of Parākrama-Pāņdya, the former protégé of Ceylon. Vira-Pandya's reign which thus commenced in and synchronised with the fall of Kulasēkhara in A.D. 1176, did not last long, for we know from the Tirukko!!ambūdür inscription that by A.D. 1182 he drove Märavarman Vikrama-Pandya to the necessity of suing for help to the Chõla king Kulõttunga and this cost him his own crown and kingdom. We have no direct information as to who this Māravarman Vikrama-Pāņdya was, but, as had been assumed, he might be the son of Kulasēkhara.
We now pass on to notice another clear relationship mentioned in the inscriptions of the mediaeval Pandya kings. Numerous epigraphs of Jaţăvarman Srivallabha with the introduction 1 No. 328 of the Mad. Ep. Colln, for 1908. An. Rep. on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1909, p. 84, paragraph 29. Above, Vol. XXI, pp. 187-8.
.8.1. 1., Vol. VI, No. 436.
