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No. 42]
TELUGU CHOLA RECORDS FROM ANANTAPUR AND CUDDAPAN
217
H. Krishna Sastri' stated that the Telugu country may have once forined part of the dominions of Karikāla whose empire was believed to have extended to the river Krishņā. Recently the nature of Telugu-Chola migration has been sought to be explained by attributing it not to any activity on the part of Karikāla but to that of the Pallavas, who under Sinhavishņu, brought to subjugation the Cholas of the Kávēri region and who thereby served as the medium through which the drift of the Cholas to the north took place. Although it is true that the Telugu-Cholas of the early period bear names and titles which betray strong Pallava influence, a fact that renders the above view plausible, yet it would appear that long before the Pallava conquest of the Kūvēri basin took place in the time of Sinhavishnu (c. 575-600 A.D.)', the Telugu-Chõlas had already established themselves as a dynasty in the Telugu country. The first known member of the family, Nandivarman, obviously bears the surname of the Pallava mona M Nandivarman, who preceded Sinhavishņu. In the whole genealogy of the Pallavas of the period prior to Sithavishņu, there figures only one Nandivarman', viz., the grandson of Sinhavarman, lord of Kāñchi (c. 435-461 A.D.) mentioned in the Lokavibhāgu' and the son of Skanda varman (c. 461-485 A.D.) who installed Madhava II (c. 475-600 A.D.) on the throne. This Pallava Nandivarman (c. 485-510 A.D.) is likely to have been the king after whom Nandivarman-Chõla was named by his father probably in token of submission. This would also presuppose that even for a generation prior to Nandivarman Chola, the Cholas were probably under subjection to the Pallavas.
We have therefore to assume the existence of the Telugu-Cholas in the Telugu country earlier than the Pallava conquest of the Chola country of the Kāvēri basin. Further, the probability of a Chola occupation of Kanchi earlier than the time of Siri havishņu leads us to the supposition that the migration was part of a general northward movement caused by the conditions following upon the disturbances due to the Gupta raid into E. Deccan in the 4th century A.D. But whether such a major conquest on the part of the Cholas took place under Karikāla, as has been supposed by some scholars, is more than what can be said at present in view of the absence of a more direct and concrete piece of evidence, epigraphical or otherwise, than what has boon adduced so far. And so long as the question remains open, no final account can be given of the nature and circumstances of Chõla migration to the Telugu country.
We may proceed to examine the chronology and genealogy of these rulers. The chief records that furnish data besides those edited by us are (1) the Mālēpādu plates of Punyakumāra, (2) the Mālēpāņu stone inscription of Satyaditya' and (3) the Madras Museum Plates of SrikanthaChoda. The following genealogical table can be constructed on the basis of the above records and those edited by us here..
V.B.-The family tree as here constructed cannot be strictly caller genealogical as the relationships at several points of the genealogy are not definitely known. In the table where relationship as between father and son is definitely known, descent is indicated by a straight line, and where such relationship is not known and only sequence in succession is established, a dotted line represents the probable descent.
1 Above, Vol. XV, p. 284 and 1. 2.
Colas, Vol. I (1935). . 119, N. * SIT, II, p. 501.
Above. Vol. III, p. 142: Udayondiram plates of Nandivarman I: the Valurpalayam platos (811, II, p. 501). The latter record gives the genealogy after Nandivarman as:
Nandivarman
Sithavarman
(son)
Sinhavishnu. .JRAS, 1915, p. 471. • Penukonda Plates : above, Vol. XIV, p. 334.
Venkayya : 4. S. R. 1905-6, p. 175, N. 8: H. K. Sastri, above, Vol. XV. p. 248 and 9; Gopalan: Pallavas, pp. 65-66. Mr. Gopalan notes several objections against a Chola interregnum (1) that Kumaravishņu may have conquered Kanchi from one of his collaterals or from the Kadambas and not necessarily from the Cholas. (2) Kumaravishnu is not credited with the conquest of the Cholas even in the verbose Velárpalayam plates (3) the reign of Karikala, who it was that could have caused an interregnum cannot be made to fit into the events of the 4th cent. A. D. See also K. A. N. Sastri: Studies in Chola history an' administration, PP. 16-7, 69.70; J.O.R. Vol. X, p. 38: Madrw Christian College Maguzine, Vol. IX, p. 7 . Above, Vol. XI, p. 337.
• Ibid, p. 345.
19 Journal of Indian History, Vol. XV, p. 32.
