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No. 37) HEMAVATI PILLAR INSCRIPTION OF KULOTTUNGACHOLA (III), YEAR 2 871 from Gangaikondasolapuram but not selected were the hostile elements alluded to in the Pallavariyanpettai record. Then Kulottungachõladēva of the inscription now being edited was probably a rival of Rajadhiraja II. A study of the course of events in the reign of this king would also lead us to such a conolusion.
The latest regnal year traced in the inscriptions of Rajadhirāja II is 16.1 'We know that two sets of dates are found in his inscriptions, one counting some date between the 28th February and 30th March 1163 A.D. as the initial years and the other, as already indicated above, suggesting some date in the first half of 1166 A.D. as its starting point. Thus the latest regnal year of 16 would correspond to 1178 A.D. or 1181 according as we adopt 1163 or 1166 A.D. for the commencement of his reign. Even though we have his records upto his 16th regnal year, it is to be noted that only insoriptions upto his 14th regnal year are numerous while those of the last two years are very few. A record from Pungapūro refers to the same regnal year of this king as padinálāvadāna pannirandāvadu, i.e. 'the 12th year which is the same as the 14th year', and this is probably due to there being two different dates for the oommencement of his reign. In the light of the above, we may not be far wrong in taking the 16th regnal year of his insoriptions as having been reckoned from the earlier of the above two dates of accession. It will thus be seen that the records of Rajadhiraja II are found in the Tamil country only upto about 1178 A.D. He was succeeded on the throne by Kulottunga III whose inscriptions show that his rule commenced between the 6th and 8th of July, 1178 A.D. The circumstances under which Kulõttunga III came to occupy the Chola throne are not clear ; but one thing seems to be certain. Rājādbirāja II was not dead when
ulottunga III ascended the throne and began to rule the country in his own name. A large number of Rajadhiraja's inscriptions are found in the Bhimäsvara temple at Drākshärāma in the Godavari District extending for a period of more than 30 years thereafter, thus practically covering the reign of Kulottunga III till its very end. The following is a list of such inscriptions recording gifts to the temple published in the South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. IV, in which both the Saka and regnal years of Tribhuvanachakravartin Rajadhirajadēva are quoted.
No.
Ragnal year
A.D.
Saka year
Remarks
1223
1116
1116
1193-4
Mentions some Settis of Sakkarakkottam.
1931 1832
1116 1117
1194-5) 1195-6
Toxt not available. A.R. Ep., 1893, is the only ovidence.
1279
8 6
1123
1201-2
1287
1127
1205-6
1118
1134
1212-3
Mentione some Bettis of Sakkarakkottam,
The following inscriptions found in the same temple and published in the same volume recording similar transactions quote the Saka years and the regnal years of a king whose name is not
14. R. Ep., No. 389 of 1921. * Above, Vol. IX, p. 211. .A.R. Ep., No. 209 of 1932.
Above, Vol. VIII, p. 260.
