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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA TELUGU CHOLA RECORDS FROM ANANTAPUR AND CUDDAPAH H. Krishna Sastri[1] stated that the Telugu country may have once formed part of the dominions of Karikāla whose empire was believed to have extended to the river Kṛishṇā. Recently the nature of Telugu-Chōla migration has been sought to be explained by attributing it not to any activity on the part of Karikāla but to that of the Pallavas, who under Siṁhavishṇu, brought to subjugation the Chōlas of the Kāvērī region and who thereby served as the medium through which the drift of the Chōlas to the north took place.[2] Although it is true that the Telugu-Chōlas of the early period bear names and titles which betray strong Pallava influence, a fact that renders the above view plausible, yet it would appear that long before the Pallava conquest of the Kāvērī basin took place in the time of Siṁhavishṇu (c. 575-600 A.D.)[3], the Telugu-Chōlas had already established themselves as a dynasty in the Telugu country. The first known member of the family, Nandivarman, obviously bears the surname of the Pallava monarch Nandivarman, who preceded Siṁhavishṇu. In the whole genealogy of the Pallavas of the period prior to Siṁhavishṇu, there figures only one Nandivarman[4] viz., the grandson of Siṁhavaraman, lord of Kāñchī (c. 435-461 A.D.) mentioned in the Lōkavibhāga[5] and the son of Skandavarman (c. 461-485 A.D.) who installed Mādhava II (c. 475-600 A.D.) on the throne.[6] This Pallava Nandivarman (c. 485-510 A.D.) is likely to have been the king after whom Nandivarman-Chōla was named by his father probably in token of submission. This would also presuppose that even for a generation prior to Nandivarman Chōla, the Chōlas were probably under subjection to the Pallavas.
We have therefore to assume the existence of the Telugu-Chōlas in the Telugu country earlier than the Pallava conquest of the Chōḷa country of the Kāvērī basin. Further, the probability of a Chōḷa occupation of Kāñchī earlier than the time of Siṁhavishṇu leads us to the supposition that the migration was part of a general northward movement caused by the conditions following upon the disturbances due to the Gupta raid into E. Deccan in the 4th century A.D. But whether such a major conquest on the part of the Chōlas took place under Karikāla, as has been supposed by some scholars[7]., is more than what can be said at present in view of the absence of a more direct and concrete piece of evidence, epigraphical of otherwise, than what has been adduced so far. And so long as the question remains open, no final account can be given of the nature and circumstances of Chōḷa migration to the Telugu country. We may proceed to examine the chronology and genealogy of these rulers. The chief records that furnish data besides those edited by us are (1) the Mālēpāḍu plates of Puṇyakumāra,[8] (2) the Mālēpāḍu stone inscription of Satyāditya[9] and (3) the Madras Museum Plates of Śrīkaṇṭha-Chōḍa.[10] The following genealogical table can be constructed on the basis of the above records and those edited by us here. N.B.−The family tree as here constructed cannot be strictly called genealogical as the relationships at several points of the genealogy are not definitely known. In the table where relationship as between father and son is definitely known, descent is indicated by a straight line, and where such relationship is not known and only sequence in succession is established, a dotted line represents the probable descent. _________________________
[1] Above, Vol. XV, p. 284 and n. 2. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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