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No. 19) SEVEN VATTELUTTU INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE KONGU COUNTRY 99 kaļi that the Gangas had their sway in Kongu. On the other hand, there is ample evidence of early Chēra rule throughout Kongu, e.g., the place names Ravimangalam and Kõdaimangalam, in addition to the two early inscriptions of Vellalūre and the whole dynasty of kings styling themselves Kerala.
We have at the outset indicated some grounds for holding that in the earliest days Kongu was subject to people's rule' and that it was often subject to invasions by the neighbouring powers among whom the foremost was the Chēra, who claimed to be its ruler. But the real government must have been held by the 'Kongar' and the settlement of the 'Adiyar' must have resulted in limiting the extent of the Kongu territory.
In about the 8th century A.D., Kongu seems to have passed into the hands of some personal ruler. This is reflected in a statement of the Vēļvikudi plates which records that a daughter of a Ganga king of the time of Neduñjadaiyan was brought and offered to the king of the Kongu people, and that it gave an occasion for the Pūrvarāja to march forth with a large army to give battle, sto. Excepting this, there are no further references to any ruler of Kongu and it might be that the rulership, if any, did not last long. On the other hand, there are evidences of Chēra rule or supremacy over Kongu before the advent of the Chola. At the end of the ninth century, Aditya of the revived Chola line is stated in the Kongudēšarājākkal as having subjugated Kongu, and his son Parāntaka ruled over that part of it where his inscriptions are found. It is known that friendly relations existed between the Chāļa Aditya and the Chēra Sthāņu Ravi and that both conjointly conferred honours on a certain chief whom they termed Sembiyan-Tamilavēl. This must have been for some service rendered to both the kings during the upheaval of Chöļa revival. But it was given to the Chola king Parantaka I to set up practically a personal ruler over Kongu. The country was at the same time made a part of the Chāļa empire and invested with a new name "Virasola-mandalam', after one of his wnn surnames. From the Namakkal copper plates of ViraChöls, of which plates I and IV are still to be discovered, it is gathered that Vira-Chēļa, who was probably & Kerala prince, was ruling over & portion of Kongu as a feudatory of the Chõla king Parakēsarivarman, probably Parāntaka I.' He seems to have become the progenitor of a hereditary line of kings that ruled over a part of Kongu. The records of his descendents are traceable at Palani and its vicinity. These may well be termed Kongu kings of the Kerala family. Another part of Kongu was under the rulership of a different line.
Now about the family to which the two kings, whose inscriptions are here edited, belonged. In the Annual Reports on South Indian Epigraphy the chiefs of this family are styled Kongu-Cho]ns. This term is not an ancient one, but is the one now given to the line of kings which included in it Vira-Chöļa-Kalimūrkka-Perumal and Kalimūrkka-Vikrama-Chõla, Abhimana-Cho!a and others and serves the purpose of distinguishing these members from those of the regular line of Chōļas descended from Vijayālaya or from the later Chāļukya-Chõļa Kulottunga I. Though it serves this purpose very well, it is not quite appropriate. First of all there is no indication anywhere that these kings were of the Chöļa stock, though they adopted Choļa names. Chõla officials and subordinates
1 Madras Government Oriental Series, No. VI, pp. 3 ff.
ARSIE, 1910, Nos. 147 and 148.
. Contra Foulkes, Salem Manual, p. 16: 'I have not met with anything in support of a conquest of Kongu by Chers. The Keralstpatti does not claim any such conquest nor does the Kongu chronicle contain any reference to one. On the other hand, the Kongu chronicle has repeated statements of conquesta of Kerals by Kongu'. He cites Sangunni Menon.
• The text reads Gangarajanadu kanyaratnam Kongar-kókuk kuparndu koduppa arep-ara-adar-Tügai-p plürvarajar puganr-elundu. Above, Vol. XVII, p. 303.
P. 10. .811, Vol. III, p. 221.
ARSIE, 1906, para. 32.
