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No. 32] NANDURU PLATES OF VELANANTI RAJENDRA-CHODA : SAKA 1091
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restore peace. The military operations in Kõna-mandala lasted about two years. The fragmentary record at Drākshārāma' dated Saka 1087, i.e., 1165-66 A. C., reveals that, “having been commanded by his overlord Kulottunga-Rājēndra-Choda II, general Devana-preggada burnt down the disdainful country (Kona-mandala) of the enemy with the flames of the fire that was his valour". It would appear that he defeated and killed Bhima (III) and once more restored peace in the region by settling the country between the lawful claimants. The poem Köyūrabīhucharitramu which has been already referred to and a number of inscriptions reveal the fact that an army of the Samantas of the Karnāta king, apparently taking advantage of the political unrest in Kuntala and the rise of Käkati Prola II, in the western Andhra Country, made incursions into the kingdom of Vengi, and that the invaders were completely defeated and forced to retire in a sanguinary battle that was fought at a place called Krottacheruvulakota, Cheruvulakota or simply Kochcherlaköța, a village in Vinukonda taluk, Guntur District. These events may be placed about 1164-65 A. C. The king of Karnāta was doubtless Kalachuri Bijjala who usurped the Western Chālukya sovereignty overthrowing his overlord, Nūrmadi Taliapa III (1149-1161 A. C.). Stone inscriptions refer to Chaundaraya, a feudatory of the king of Karnāta who was slain in the battle of Krottacheruvulakota, who may be identified as the Sinda chief of Yelburga, who was the husband of Siriyādēvi, a daughter of Bijjala.
The Telugu poem, Kējūrabīhucharitramu gives a vivid account of the reigns of Gorkarāja II and his illustrious son Kulottunga-Gonka-Rājēndra-Chōda II, and of the greatness of their successive ministers Nandūri Govinda and his son Nanduri Kommana, and the prosperity of the Andhra country. According to a stone record at Băpațla, and the present plates (v. 56) the kingdom of Rājēndra-Choda II extended from Nagaram, i.e., Kalinganagara on the north to Kalahasti on the south and to Srīsailam on the west and was bounded by the sea on the east. It appears that the province of Kalinga was governed by the Brāhmaṇa gensral, Mentana-preggada under the orders of the king. Rajēndra-Chöda II. The general is said to have borne the burden of the kingdom of Rajendra-Choda in Kalinga. It would appear that on the death of Anantavarman alias Chōdaganga, c. 1142 A.C., the kingdom or at any rate the southern portion of Kalinga extending as far as the Mahēndragiri was annexed to Vêngi. It is stated in the poem that the king's treasury always contained nine crores of gold coins), that ninety-nine elephants which looked like huge black clouds roamed about the city of Chandavõlu, that & cavalry force of forty-thousand was always ready for service on the field and that seventy-five candies of rice? were cooked every day for the army and king's household. Such was the prosperity of Rājēndra-Chōda II. The poem gives an account of the king's chief Brāhmaṇa minister Kommana-mantrin of the Kausika götra, who was a great soldier. Kommans was a worshipper of Vishņu ; he built thirty-two temples of Vishnu, at the beautiful towns of Srikūrmam, Gurudurti, Krottacharla, Tripurantakam, Kotyadona, Boggáram, Yelamañchili and other places. Every day he fed a thousand Bralemana guests with pāyasa (rice cooked in milk and sugar) at his house, throughout his life, with a religious zeal and devotion. He governed in addition to his office, the province of Päka-nadu twenty-one-thousand. On the battlefield at Krottacherlaköţa, it is said, he displayed marvellous strength and heroism.
18I1, Vol. IV, Nos., 1086 and 1083. * Ibid., No. 1083.
• Kéyurabahucharitramu, Introduction, verses 22-23. SII, Vol. X, No. 151, text lines 31-41., ibid., No. 171 : ibid., Vol. IV, No. 1063.
JBBRAS, Vol. XI, p. 269; Fleet, Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts, p. 477. .811, Vol. VI, Nos. 181. • Ibid., Vol. VI, No. 1200. The inscription is dated Saka 1097 (1175-76 A. C.) Ono candy or barua in equal to 600 lbe, in weight but as a measure of opacity, roughly 14,000 eubio inghos.
