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854
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1908.
The Cholas in the Southern Portion of the Nellore District, In the south, about the time of which we are speaking (i. e. the second half of the 9th century A. D.), the Pandyas, who had been powerful, were gradually declining. As the Chola king Aditya I. conquered the Ganga-Pallava Aparajita and annexed his dominions and as inscriptions ut Parantaka I. have been found in the vicinity of Kalahasti83 (which is not far from the Nellore border ), it may be supposed that the Cholas had extendel their dominions into the southern portion of the Nellore District and become practically neighbours of the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi. The Chēļa Parântaka I. claims to have conquered the Banas, who had been feudatories of the GangaPallavas, and some of whom figure in inscriptions at Gudimallam near Kalahasti. Perhaps it was this defeat that led them to seek their fortunes beyond the limits of the Chôļa dominions. We find
Bâņa king, named Aggaparâjn, in the north of the Nellore District (P. 38) about the middle of the 10th century and another named Churaballirâja at Konidena in the Guntur District about the mddle of the 12th century A. D.90 About A, D. 950 the power of the Cholas was checked temporarily by the Rashtrakůta occupation of a portion at least of the Chļn dominions, though it may be doubted if this in any way affected their domination in the tract of country with which we are at present concerned. It is, however, necessary to note here that the interregnum in the Vêngi country referred to in the previous paragraph could not have been brought about by the Cholas.93 The lawlessness consequent on the interregnum must have disturbad the southern portion of the district, which had probably passed into the hands of the Chôļas soon after the downfall of the Ganga-Pallavas. Perhaps, it was the fear of this lawlessness spreading into his own dominions that led the great Chôļa king Rajaraja I. to despatch an army early in his reign into Vengt and to restore order and peaceful government in the province.93 What the other considerations were, if any, that led him to take this step we do not at present know. At any rate, the southern portion of the Nellore District was apparontly under Chôļa rule and was include in the province called Tondai-nada or Jayangonda-Chó!n-mandalam as testified to by a namber of inscriptions in the volume before us, while the northern portion continued under the Eastern Chalukyas.05
Paucity of Early Records in the south of Nellore. The Pallavas and Gaiga-Pallavas are represented in the Nellore District each by a single stone inscription found at Mallam in the Gûdûr tâluk. And Chola dominion in the south of the district, which we have been trying to trace and which must have continued from the time of Parantaka I. (A. D. 907 to 946 ), has curiously enough left very few traces, to judge from the volume of Nellore inscriptions published by Messrs. Batterworth and Venugopaul Chetty. The
See my Animal Report on Epigraphy for 1905-03, para, 10. * Nox. 225 and 230 of the Goverament Epigraphist's Collection for 1903.
19 Their territory, called in inscriptions Perumbånappadi, seems to have extended as far north as Tirapsti in the North Aroot District: noe my Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1903-04, para. 26.
< Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1899-1900, para. 85. 91 Ep. Ind., Vol. VII, p.191. The interrogaum must have lasted from A. D. 972 to 998-9 (Ep. Ind., Vol. VI, p. 340). It is a curious fact
e first king Taila IL, of the revived Western Chilukys dynasty corresponds to about the same period. Consequently, it looks as if he had something to do with the interregnum, though no statemext to that effect is made in any of the numerous records which mention the event. If he had actually subdued the country and was ruling it, the records would not characterise it as a period of anarchy. During the period of oonfusion consequent on the collapse of the Rashtrakatas of Malkhed and the rise of the Western ChAlukyas of Kalyņi, some
naorupulous feudatorios or military officers of one or the other of those powers probably assumed temporary sovereignty and harassed the people. It may even be that there fendatories all through the period of 27 years. This interregaum might also have contributed to the disappearance of monuments in Vengl.
• It was apparently the Chola invasion during the reign of Bjarkja I. that put a stop to the interregnum; see Ep. Ind., Vol. VI, p. 349.
" This province sooms to have extended as far north as the Atmakur tálak. The village called Chiramana (Biramarsi in A. 23 ) was sitnated in Jayangonila-Chola-mapdalam.
# Tha intermarriages between the Chola and the Eastern Chalukyas, whioh took place during the three succesujve generations, must have served to strengthen the latter oren against foreiga invasions.
