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No. 41)
TINGALUR INSCRIPTION OF KO-NATTAN VIKRAMACHOLA,
SAKA 967
of the Kongu ruler. We find this title borne by a Kodumbāļūr chief also. An inscription from Kunnāņdārkāyil of the former Pudukkottai State dated in the 5th regnal year of the Pallava king Dantivarman registers the construction of & tank by Vali Vadugan alias Kalimūrkka Iļavaraiyan, a subordinate of Märpidugu alias Pēradi Araiyar. In consideration of the above we may not be quite wrong in assuming Ko-nättän Vikramachola &s & member of the Irukkuvēļ family of Kodumbāļūr.
An inscription from Kilappaluvürt in the Tiruchirapalli District, dated in the 3rd regnal year of Rājakësarivarman, who is identifiable with Rājarāja I, mentions Paluvettaraiyar magaļār Vikkirama sola Ilangovēļār dēviyār nanbirāffigalār, the queen of Vikramachoļa llangovēļār, who was the daughter of Paluvēttaraiyar. The surname llangovēļār applied to Vikramachāļa would imply that he belonged to the Irukkuvēļ family of Kodumbāļūr while the first part of his name, viz. Vikramachõļa, would denote that he rose to prominence during the days of Madhurānta ka Uttamachoļa who appears to have had the surname of Vikramachöļa. The Paluvēttaraiyar family, from which he took his wife, had marriage alliances with the Cholas of Tañjāvür. The Anbil plates of Sundarachöļa state that Parāntaka I married the daughter of the Kēraļa king who was also called Paluvēttaraiyar. This family also like that of the Irukkuvēls played & prominent part in the early days of consolidation of the Chola power. It is very likely that Konättän Vikramachöls who was raised to the position of a ruler of the Kongu country in the 22nd year of Rājarāja's reign was the same as Vikkiramaśāla Ilangövēlār figuring in the inscription of the 3rd year of his reign.
For a better understanding of the circumstances under which & Kodumbāļür Vēļir chief was installed as a ruler of Kongu, it is necessary to know how and when the Kongu country came under the rule of the Chēļas of Tañjāvür.
Rājarāja's conquests included Gangavāļi, Noļambavāļi and Tadigaipāļi, all of them in the Mysore country, as well as Malai-nādu or Kuda-malai-nādu (the Western hill country) which may be identified with Coorg. The campaign against the Gangas and the Noļambas appears to have taken place very early in his reign, within five or six years of his accession, as we find inscriptions of Chola-Nārāyana, obviously a name of Räjarāja I, dated in Saka 913 (991-92 A.D.) in the Mysore country. He also claims to have conquered the Pandyas and the southern portion of the west coast. But no mention is made in his inscriptions of his having waged war with or captured Konga which lies between Chõļa-nadu and the countries beyond it conquered by him and seems to have served as the spring-board for the Chõļas in their conquests.
In fact no Chāļa king even prior to the time of Rājarāja claims to have conquered Kongu; but Chõļa inscriptions are found there from the days of Parantaka I. We find an officer of this king supervising temple affairs in Kongu as early as the 10th year of his reign, mentioned in an inscription' from Tiruvidaimaurdur in the Tañjāvür District. There is also a stone record of the 15th regnal year of Madiraikonda-Parakësari (i.e. Parāntaka I) at Erode in the Coimbatore District.
1 Inscriptions of the Pudukkottai State, No. 17. * SII, Vol. V, No. 671. * ARSIE, 1929, Part II, para. 29. * Above, Vol. XV, p. 68.
Sve the commentary of Adiyarkkunallar on the Silappadikáram, Canto XI, 1.63. Kielhorn takes it to mean Malabar (above, Vol. VII, List, No. 704). See also Ep. Carn., Vol. III, Tn. 122.
• Am. Rep. Mye. Arch. Dept., 1917, p. 42.
ARSIE, 1907, No. 258. The Beport gives the year us 30, but it is in fact 10.
Ibia., 1910, No. 167; also South Indian Temple Inscriptions, Vol. I, No. 247. The characters of the record nto very late. Probably this is a copy of an older record. There is no reason to doubt ita genuineness.
