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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[Avaust, 1891.
dra-Choda, 36 and that he himself is the Eastern Chalukya Kulottunga-Chodadêva I., otherwise called Kulóttangadêva, Rajendra-Choda, and Raja-Narayana, of the inscriptions, From this same passage wo obtain Gangaikonda-Chola, as another name of his maternal grand. fathor, tho Chola Rajaraja, i.e. Rajaraja-Raja kôsarivarman. And elsewhere we find his father spoken of by the title of Pandita-Chôļa (p. 337, 1. 2).
Accurding to the poem, the capital of Kulottunga-Chodaddva I. was Gangapurt or Gangaikonda-Cholapuram (pp. 331, last line; 339, lino 7 from the bottom), which has now dwindled into a small village, still bearing the namo of Gangaikondnsôrapuram, in the northeast corner of the Trichinopoly District;37 and his court was held at Kanchi, i, e. Conjeeveram (pp. 331, last line ; 333, 1. 20). His wife's name is given as ThiyAkavalli (p. 333, 1. 13). Whether this is another name of the Madhurântakidêvi, danghter of Rajendradeva, of the inscription, is uncertain ; especially as the poem alludes to more wives than one, or perhaps to specifically two wives (p. 333, 1. 29 f.). Bat Thiyakavalli was plainly the Agramahishi, or
queen-consort;' being montioned as having "the right of exercising equal authority” with the king himself (p. 333, 1. 14).
We turn now to the Vikramankadávacharita, which, though it tells us but little actually About the Eastern Chalukyas themselves, gives very plain indications as to the circumstances which enabled them to seize the sovereignty of their most powerful neigbbours, the Cholas. The historical part opens with a short genealogy, which is brought down to the time of the Western Chalukya king Sômêsvara I., or, as he is called in the poem, Ahavamalla-Trailokyamalla (ante, Vol. V. p. 318 a, 1.5 f). His sons were Sôma, i. e. Somośvara II. (p. 318 , 1. 15), Vikrama or Vikramaditya VI. (p. 319 a, l. 5), and Jayasinha IV. (ibid. 1. 16). Sômêśvara II. was appointed by his father to the office of Yuvarája (ibid. 1. 30 f.); and Vikramaditya VI. was deputed on a series of warlike expeditions (ibid. 1. 37 f.). In a northerly direction, he is said to have conquered a place of some renown and importance, named Chakrakota (p. 319 7, 1. 10), - a point which seems worthy of note here, because I suspect that it is in imitation of this fact that another conquest of the same place is claimed on behalf of Kalôttunga-Chodadêva 1.,38 it is stated by Mr. V. K. Pillai (loc. cit. p. 340) that certain inscriptions enable him to say that this place was a fortress in the Dhari territory, and though I can find no evidence of KulottungaChodadêva I. having really sent any expedition in that direction, yet in the case of Vikramadityn VI. the alleged fact is likely to be true, because an inscription at Sitabaldi, near Jabalpur, refers itself to his reign, and shews that he not only attacked, but also held for a time, part at least of Central India. In connection, however, with what we have specially in view, the more important statements are, that he repeatedly defeated the Cholas (p. 319 a, I. 3 from the bottom), plundered Kanchi (ibid. last line), and conquered Gângakonda and Vengi (p. 319 b, II. 9, 10). Gangakunda is evidently the Gangaikouda-Cholapuram or Gangapuri of the preceding paragraph. Kancht is constantly spoken of in the poem as if it were the capital, or the city of next importance after the capital. And in support of the alleged conquest of Vengi, it may be noted that there are inscriptions, dated in the reign or era of
36 The author of the poom sooms to be guilty of a slip, in calling him Rajaraja. Still, we may obtain epigro phical evidence that this was a variant of his name. And anyhow the slip is excusable, considering how many persons there woro, bearing very similar names, in that period, and how complex were the relationships between them; thus, there were, at least, the Eastern Chalukyas Rajaraja I. and II. ; the Chola Rijardja (called, in the fullest form of his name, Ko-Rájarija-Rajakesarivarman, Haltzsch's South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I. p. 65; his mcoession was in A.D. 1003 or 1006, id. p. 169, and ante, Vol. XIX. p. 78), whose daughter married the Eastern Chalukya Vimaladitya; the Chola Rajendra-Chhda, whose daughter married, the above-mentioned Rajaraja I.; and the Chola Rajendradêrs, whose danghter married Kulottanga-Chodadêya I.; and Rájéndra-Choda was also a name of Kulottunga-Chodadêva I. himself.
37 Sewell's Lists of Antiquitier, Madras, Vol. I. p. 264.
* In the Kalingattu Parani, loc. cit. p. 382, 1. 30; where the name is given in the Tamilised form of Chakkara koddam. In another Tamil insoription it is mentioned as Sakkarakoltam, and conquest of it is claimed by king Damed Rajendra-Chola (Hultasoh's South Indian Inseriptions, Vol. I. pp. 97, 90). - It is also mentioned, by the name of Chakragotta, in connection with the Hoynala king Vishnuvardhans, who, again, claims to have conquered it (Dynasties of the Kanarene Districts, p. 66).
