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No. 41]
TINGALUR INSCRIPTION OF KO-NATTAN VIKRAMACHOLA, SAKA 967
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will be evident from the other copper-plate grant secured from the same place. This record,' also belonging to Rajakesarivarman and dated in the 10th year of his reign, contains two grants. One is an order of Malavaraiyan Sundaracho an to the effect that the irai (tax) collected by him from the nagarattar of Tusiyur at the rate of and (kasu ?) on full house-site and half house-site respectively (mulu manai kalum arai manai araikkälum) shall be in the form of permanent tax (ninra irai) and that, in the case of dues under fines and penalties (dandam kurram), the practice of Nandipuram shall be followed. The other consists of an endowment (sirupadu) made by Kolli-malavan Piridi-gandan and dedicated to his father who had died in Ceylon (engalachchar ilattu-ppada avar érimadahattukku-chchirupadu). The Ceylon expedition in which the father of Kolli-malavan Piridi-gandan fell must have been the same as took place in the 9th year of Sundarachōla Parantaka II. That the donors were not mere officers of the Chōla king, but were also members of the ruling families of Kongu will be seen from their title Kollimalavan (Malavan of the Kolli Hills). It will thus be seen that the Chōlas never lost their hold on the Kongu country from the time of Aditya I when it was conquered and that, during their suzerainty, the local chiefs were allowed to continue their rule over their ancient regions, as was being done by the Chōlas in other territories conquered by them.
By the time Rajaraja I ascended the Chōla throne in 985 A.D. the Rashtrakutas who had occupied the country to the north had ceased to exist and the Western Chalukyas of Kalyāṇa who succeeded them were trying to regain all the territories which had formed part of the Rashtrakūta dominion. The loss of Gangavadi to the Chōlas in 991-92 A.D. had probably stirred them to action, and Tailapa II claims in an inscription, dated 992 A.D., to have gained a victory over the Chōlas. But the loss does not appear to have been completely retrieved as we find the Chōlas holding portions of Daligavaḍi in Saka 92[3]. Just about this time (997 A.D.) Tailapa II died and was succeeded by his son Satyasraya who also continued vigorously the efforts of his father to retrieve the lost territories. It was also at this time that Rajaraja had to intervene in the affairs of Vengi, recover the country from Bhima of the Telugu-Chōda family, thus bringing to a close the interregnum of twenty-seven years, and instal on the throne his relative Saktivarman in about 999 A.D. Bhima appears to have sought asylum in Kalinga, recuperated his strength and come back in 1001-02 A.D. to regain Vengi with the help of the Kalingas and probably the Western Chalukyas. We find Rajaraja embarking on the simultaneous attack on Kalinga and Raṭṭapadi and claiming victories over them the next year. The inscriptions of Rajaraja from about the 18th regnal year, i.e. about 1003 A.D., claim the capture of Raṭṭapaḍi seven-and-a-half lakh country'. On the other hand, the Hoṭṭur record of Satyasraya, dated Saka 9[2]9 or 1007 A.D., states that
4
1 Ibid., No. 212.
That the practice of permitting the nagarattar of other places to adopt for their villages the scale of taxes prevailing at Nandipuram from olden times was prevalent in the days of Sundarachōla will be evident from the inscriptions from Melappaluvür (SII, Vol. XIII, Nos. 208, 215 and 344) and other places."
In the record from Tiruvenkadu in the Tanjavur District, dated in the 27th regnal year of Rajarāja I (SII. Vol. V, No. 980), which mentions this expedition led by the Koḍumbalur chief Siriyavēlän, the date of the expedi tion is given in the printed text as the [3]rd year of the reign of Udaiyar Ponmäligaiyir-runjina-devar (the king who died at Poņmāligai), i.e. Sundarachōla II. But it appears to be clearly 9 in the impression. See ibid., Vol. III, p. 476.
Malanaḍu was one of the divisions of Kongu. Mala-Kongam mentioned in the Velvikkudi grant (above, Vol. XVII, p. 297) as having been subjugated by Maran or Rajasimha represents the same area. See also K. V. Subrahmanya Aiyar, Historical Sketches, pp. 129-31.
SII, Vol. IX, Part I, p. 47, No. 77.
ARSIE, 1911, No. 169; The Cholas, Vol. I, p. 491, n. N. Venkataramanayya, The Eastern Chalukyas, p. 210. ARSIE, 1927, No. 333. See also Part II, para. 11. Above, Vol. XVI, p. 74.
