Epigraphia Indica Vol 28

Author(s): Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 79

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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXVIII,
grandfather of Nandivarman III of Tellāru fame, ascended the throne somewhere about A.D. 733. In consequence, Nandivarman III could not have come to the throne before c. 851 A.D. (733 plus 65 and 52 years, the duration of the reign of Nandivarman II and Dantivarman). The victory at Tellāru is mentioned in his records from the 18th year of reign onwards, i.e., c. 868-9 A.D., though it is not unlikely that it was secured several years earlier. Hence the date of the Lālguļi record A cannot be earlier than c. 850-1 A.D., the approximate date of the accession of Nandivarman III. Our date for the record, assigning it as we do to Varaguna Mahārāja II, would be A.D. 867. This date falls well within the reign of Nandivarman III, besides indicating that the king's victory at Teļļāsu was won before that date.
On the strength of the foregoing considerations, the Javantināthapuram epigraph under study may be assigned to Varaguņa II who ruled from A.D. 861-2 and consequently the equivalent of the details of date cited in it would be A.D. 875, December 5, Monday. It can, therefore, be concluded that inscriptions of Māsañjadaiyan alias Varaguņa Mahārāja issued in the regnal years 'opposite to 4' may be assigned to this king in preference to Varaguna I. At present there are no means of identifying Māranjadaiyan, whose inscriptions are dated in a peculiar roundabout way like such and such year opposite to the 35th year, with his namesake whose records are dated in the more common fashion of giving simple regnal years, like 5, 10 and so on. It is not unlikely that some of them may belong to Varaguņa II. Nevertheless, taking into consideration only those records of Varaguna II dated in the years 'opposite to 4', a tolerably good account of the events of his reign may be given.
From these records of his reign it is learnt that he conducted a campaign against Idavai in the Chöļa country and after overrunning it proceeded as far as Araisūr on the bank of the Pennár in Tondai-nādu, which was the dominion of the Pallavas. The attendant circumstances of this campaign seem to be somewhat as follows: he entered the Chõļa territory on the Kāvēri about A.D. 866. Thence he seems to have directed his campaign against the Pallava Nandivarman III who perhaps had earlier caused discomfiture to the Pandyas by a victory over them at Tellāru and had occupied the Chola territory, the bone of Pandya Pallava contention. By A.D. 867 the Pallava was humbled, since we find him figuring as donor in the record of the Pāņdya king at Lālguļi (ins. A.). The Lālguļi (A) and the Javantināthapuram records actually testify to the presence of Varaguna II in A.D. 867 and 875 at Idaiyarrumangalam in the Idaiyārrunādu, evidently the Idavai in the Sola-nādu against which the Pandya Mārañjadaiyan is specifically stated to have gone on a campaign. Idaiyārrumangalam
1 See J.O.R., Vol. XV, p. 119. Approximately the same date for the accession of Nandivarman Il can be arrived at from the recently discovered Ulchala record of Chalukya Vijayaditya. (Ancient India, No. 5, Jan. 1949, p. 54.)
* No. 283 of 1901 of the Mad. Ep. Coll. In Madras Christian College Magazine, Vol. VIII, p. 98, Venkayys publishes another record of the king from the Ulagalandaperumal temple, Conjeeveram, dated 18th year of reign and mentioning his victory at Tellāru. (8.1.1., Vol. V, 567.)
• Nos. 52 of 1895 and 11 of 1899 of the Mad. Ep. Coll. are dated in the 10th and 12th years of a king whose name is not stated, the records commencing with the word 'yāņdu' only. But they record benefactions by Nandivarman, the victor of Tellaru. Should the records be assigned to his reign, we may believe that by his 10th year, i.e., C. 861-2 A.D. Nandi won the victory. This date would tally with the facts of the Lalgudi record A of c. A. D. 867 in the mention it makes of Nandivarman of Telláru fame.
• Nos. 423 of 1906 (Ep. Ind., Vol. XXII, 5), 431 of 1914, 298 of 1916, 863 of 1917 and 12 of 1920, all of the Mad. Ep. Coll.
. Nos. 9 and 10 of 1899; 311 and 313 of 1904; 104 and 128 of 1905; 37 and 43 of 1908; 422 and 430 of 1914; 106 of 1915; 298 of 1916; 10 and 85 of 1927; 21 of 1930-1 ; 297 of 1940-1, all of the Mad. Ep. Coll.
• No. 105 of 1905 of the Mad. Ep. Coll. ; published above, Vol. IX, p. 84. * No. 21 of 1930-1 of the Mad. Ep. Coll. • Ne. 690 of the 1906 of the Mad. Ep. Coll. ; above, Vol. IX, p. 84.