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No. 17)
TWO PANDYA INSCRIPTIONS FROM SALAIGRAMAM
89
It is well known that he was not one of the predecessors of Sadaiya-Märan and consequently he must have been one of the latter's successors; probably he ruled in the second quarter of the 10th century A. D.
In an article contributed to this journa'' the late Mr. A. S. Ramanatha Ayyar fixed the period of Vira-Pandya's reign as extending from A. D. 947 to 966 on the basis of a few astronomical details found in one inscription of the king at Ambasamudram. Of the three alternative dates which this record yielded for the commencement of the king's reign, viz., A.D. 938, 947 and 948, he selected the second, i.e. A. D. 947 as the best suited. The main consideration which weighed in its favour was that by accepting it, it would be possible to satisfactorily fix the initial date of the reign of this Pāndya king's Chola contemporary and foe, Aditya II Karikāla, at whose hands he died before the latter's second regnal year. Hence, the second year of Aditya II, by being equated with the last known regnal year of Vira-Pandya, i.e. 15+5 corresponding to A. D. 966, would yield A. D. 965 as the starting date of Aditya II's reign. On this fixation, the five year rule for Aditya II could be placed between A. D. 965 and 969, since from the latter year, Aditya II's successor UttamaChoļa, counted his regnal years. There are, however, some points to be considered before accepting the above chronological position for the reign periods of Aditya II and Solan-ralai-konda ViraPandya. These arise from the Pandya as well as the Chola sides. It is not likely that the last years of the rule of Vira-Pandya lay beyond the middle of the 10th century A. D. which the above chronological adjustment envisages ; for, there is evidence to show that part of the early life of Vira-Pandya coincided with the latter part of Sadaiyamaran Rājasimha's reign. One of the records of the latter dated in the 2+18th regnal year (i.e., c. A. D. 923) mentions a servant of Vira-Pandya' who could be no other than Solan-ralai-konda Vira-Pandya. On the Chöļa side we encounter one difficulty. Besides Aditya II, another prince, ParthivēndraAdittavarman who had a reign of thirteen years, claims to have taken the head of Vira-Pandya A strong case for the identity of these two princes has been made out by Prof. Nilakanta Sastri.' Granting the identity which some scholars hold in doubt, the 13 years' rule of Aditya II (alias Pärthivēndravarman ?) when placed immediately before Uttama Chola's accession in A. D. 969-70, would yield A. D. 956-7 as the date from which Aditya II counted his reign probably on, account of his being associated in the administration with his father Sundara-Chöļa. Taking A. D. 956-7 as the initial year of Aditya II his second year would correspond to A. D. 957-8 and this date when equated with the last year of Solan-ralai-konda Vira-Pāndya, i.e. 15+5, would yield A. D. 937-8 as the Pandya king's initial year. This date was also taken into account by Mr. Ramanatha Ayyar while discussing the astronomical details of the Ambasamudram record, but discarded owing to one consideration. He feared that its acceptance as the initial Year of Vira-Pāndya would lead to the inconsistent results that Aditya II killed him in A. D. 957 and that his predecessor Sundara-Chöļa defeated him in A. D. 963'. This, indeed, is a great difficul.
1 Above, Vol. XXV, p. 37.
No. 122 of 1905 of Mad. Ep. Coll. Here we may also point out that the chieftain Solántaka Pallavaraiyan alias Miran Adichchan of Poliyar figures in records of the 4+3rd (No. 420 of 1914 of the Mad. Ep. Coll.) and 13+1st year (T. A. 8. Vol. III, p. 72) of the reign of Vira-Pandya and this chief was evidently the grandson of his namesake Tennavan Pallavadaraiyan alias Māran Achchan of Poliyūr, mentioned as a subordinate of Mirasjadaiyan alian, Varagu pa (II) (acc. A. D. 862) in or about A. D. 867 (No. 90 of 1908 of the Mad. Ep. Coll.). Should we put Vira-Pandya's last date beyond the middle of the 10th century A.D., it would result in the abov, two chieftains, grandfather and grandson, being removed from each other by about a century, rather a rare instance to happen though not impossible.
• Colas, Vol. I, pp. 178 ff. Above, Vol. XXV, p. 36, n. 8. Colas, Vol. I, p. 180. . Above, Vol. XXV. p. 37.
26 DGA
