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DECEMBER, 1908.] ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE NELLORE DISTRICT.
Chola kings commencing from Parâutaka I. have left a rich legacy of temples and inscriptions in the Tamil country. It is worthy of note that not even a fragment of an inscription of any of the Chôla kings from Parântaka I. to Kulôttunga I. has been found in that part of the Nellore District where they may reasonably be supposed to have held sway. Neither are there any ancient temples which may be ascribed to them. This again is significant and cannot be passed over without comment. The tract of country with which we have to deal is peculiarly devoid of ancient places sacred either to the Saivas or to the Vaishnavas. "It is possible," says the Madras Manual of Administration, "that the tract was to a certain extent uninhabited till a comparatively recent period, and like the Cuddapah, Bellary, Anantapur, and Kurnool districts formed part of the so-called desert of Dan laka." Under the heading Physical Geography' of the Nellore District the same authority remarks: "Its general aspect is forbidding. . . . The soil is not naturally fertile, nor are means of irrigation readily at hand. Scarcely one half of the total area is cultivated." These causes must have been at work to prevent the foundation of temples and the establishment of large Brahmanical colonies. The amalgamation of the Chĉls and Eastern Chalukya kingdoms during the reign of Kulôttunga I; the wave of Vaishnava revival during the time of Râmânuja and its spread from Conjeeveram into the north; and the foundation of local feudatory families in several parts of the Telugu country towards the close of Kulôttunga's reign and after his death-these were probably some of the causes which led to the gra lual colonization of the barren and unproductive parts of the Nellore District. With this occupation commenced the building of the temples now found in the district, which are all later than the time of Kulôttunga I 96 In fact, most of the stone inscriptions included in the Nellore volume belong to the period subsequent to the reign of Kulôttunga I. There are no records, either on stone or on copper, in the volume, for the elucidation of the history of the district, from the close of the interregaum to the reign of Kulttunga I., as far as the northern portion is concerned. As regards the south, there are only two inscriptions which are prior to the time of Kulôttunga.
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Kulottunga I. and His Successors.
Thus far the history of Nellore has had to be made out mainly from records found elsewhere. The later periods may be worked out from the inscriptions of the district, which Messrs. Butterworth and Venugopaul Chetty have made accessible to the antiquarian public with characteristic disinterestedness. The Chila king Knlôttunga 1. is referred to in a Gûdûr inscription under the name "Kulôttanga-Chôladêva, who abolished tolls" (G. 87), while his son and successor is represented by a single Tamil record in the same taluk (G. 94).97 The accession of Kulôttunga II. is fixed at A. D. 1132-33 by O. 142 and by a few epigraphs from the Guntur District in the Government Epigraphist's Collection.99 He reigned until at least A. D. 1148-49, while his Cheliûr plates are dated in A. D. 1143.99 The initial date of Rajaraja II, viz. 1146, calculated by Professor Kielhorn from astronomical details furnished in Tamil inscriptions of his reign100 is confirmed by O. 51 and O. 59 and by a number of records from Bâpatka in the Guntur District.1 He must have reigned until at least A. D. 1171-72. The absence of epigraphs of Kulôttaiga II. and Rajaraja II. in the southern portion of the Nellore District may be taken to show that
In the Ongole taluk a comparatively ancient Haihaya inscription (O. 113) has been found. It is, however, undated and fragmentary, and no king's name has been traced in it. Perhaps it belongs to some ancestor of the Kona chiefs, who claimed to belong to the Haihaya family and to be lords of the city of Mahishmatk In the 12th century A. D. the Kōna chiefs were ruling the Godavar delta as feudatories of the Velaninda family (Ep. Ind., Vol. IV, p. 88). 97 0.74, which contains some of the birudas of Kulôttunga I. and of Vikrama-Chola, has perhaps to be assigned to the latter or to some descendant of either of them. The king's name is not mentioned and the name Vira-Choda, which does occur, cannot be taken to denote the Eastern Chalukya viceroy of that name, because the titles given to the king were not ordinarily used by the rulers of Vengl.
Nos. 172, 173, 174, 176, 180, 183, and 223 of 1897.
Ep. Ind., Vol. VII, p. 10. 100 Ibid., Vol. VIII, p. 2.
1 Nos. 187, 188, 189, 191, 192, 193, 311, 215, 216, 231, and 231 of 1897. The sovereignty of Kulottunga II. and of his successor Rajaraja II. appears to have been merely nominal in the Telugu country. Thoir insoriptions have also been found at Draksharama in the Godavari District. No. 164 of 1897 belongs to the 23th year of Esjarėja II. and to Saka-Samvat 1094 A.D, 1171-72. Subsequently, another branch of the Eastern Chalukyas seems to have ruled Vengl, or at least a portion of it, for a short time.
