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No. 10.)
A NOTE ON THE BATTLE OF VALLALA : A. D. 911-2.
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called . Sembiyan-Mahābali-Vänaraya'. As the latter title occurs also in this record of the 6th year of a Parakēsarivarman, it is reasonable to assume that this king is identical with Parantaka I', though the title of Madiraikonda' which he had assumed from the 3rd year onwards is lacking. The record cannot be attributed to the other Parakësarin, Uttama-Chöļa, for the reason that Piritipatiyar (Pțithivipati II), son of Māsamaraiyar (Mārasimha), who figures in an epigraphe of the 24th year of Rājakēsarivarman (Aditya I), corresponding to A. D. 895, cannot possibly have been living so late as the 6th year of Uttama-Chõļa, corresponding to A. D. 975. It may therefore be inferred that the title of Sembiyan-Mahābali-Vāņarāya' together with the chiefship over the Bana territory, had been conferred on Prithivipati II, before the 6th year of the Chola king Parantaka I, corresponding to A. D. 912-13.
Parāntaka I had assumed the title of Madiraikonda', i.e., he who took Madura' from the 3rd year of his reign, and so his first southern expedition against the Pandya king of Madura must have taken place in about A. D. 909-10.5 As Přithivipati had been granted the title of • Bāņādhirāja 'before A. D. 912-13, as noted above, the northern campaign in which this Ganga feudatory had helped his suzerain against a Bāņa chieftain, success in which had evidently earned for him both the Båņa title and the Bāņa territory, must have occurred between A. D. 910 and 912-13, i.e., in about A. D. 911-12. As the Sholinghur record particularly mentions that Prithivipati had won distinction in a battle called Vallāļa and thus vindicated his fitness for the possession of a particle of the sun', presumably his position as a feudatory of the Chola king of the Solar race, it is possible that this battle was fought in this Bana campaign only, in about A. D. 911-12.
The Udayēndiram Plates state that before his 15th year Parintaka had defeated two Bana chieftains and a Vaidumba chief. It is not definitely stated who they were, and whether the two Băņas had been worsted in a single campaign or in two separate engagements. Three inscriptions of Māvali-Bāņarāja which are attributable to Vijayāditya-Prabhumēru are dated in Saka 820, 827 and 832 (A. D. 898 to 910), without mentioning the names of any overlords. It is evident from this that the Bana chiefs who had been feudatories of the Pallava rulers of Kañchi had declared their semi-independence, after the extinction of that dynasty by the Chõla king Aditya l'. In the absence of other similarly dated records of Bāņa chiefs soon after A. D. 909-10, in this region, it may be inferred that they had met with reverses at the hands of the Chola conqueror Parāntaka, who allying himself with the Ganga chieftain Pțithivipati II on his north-western frontier had probably defeated them in the battle of Vallala in A. D. 911-12.
1 It may be noticed that a record of Parantaka, 11th year, engraved in the same temple (No. 558 of 1921) closely resembles the present inscription in point of palmography.
• Several inscriptions attributable to Parantaka I simply call him a Parakösarivarman without the distinguishing titles-e.g., No. 378 of 1917, 443 of 1907, etc. So the absence of the title is no bar against the identi. fication of the Parakesarivarman of No. 559 of 1921 above with Parantaka I. • Ante, Vol. XIX, p. 88. No. 157 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection for 1928, eto.
The date of accession of Parintaks I fell between January and July, A. D. 907.
• Ante, Vol. IV, p. 224, V-8. The Cholas belonged to the solar race, and a Prithivipati also assumed the title of Vira-Chola, the poet seems to suggest that he acquired a spark of the Sun' (ibid., p. 225, f. n. 5).
8. I. I., Vol. II, No. 76. . Ante, VoL XI, pp. 229-240 and No. 168 of 1921.
.There is a record of a Binarija dated in Saka 810, which may belong to Vijayaditya or his father Vikra miditya Bapavidyadhara (8. 1. 1., Vol. III, No. 44). This date which is equivalent to A. D. 888 givos an indication as to when the Pallava power was destroyed and Aditya I overran Tondai-maqdalam.
