South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

The Tiruvaṇṇāmalai record, i.e., Inscription No. I, which must be ascribed to a date later than A. D. 1243, describes briefly the victories gained by Peruñjiṅga and his son Vēṇāvuḍaiyān. It is clear from this epigraph that most of the victories were won by the son during the lifetime of his father. Vēṇāvuḍaiyān held sway, on behalf of his father, over the highly celebrated Mallai (Mahābalipuram), Mayilai (Mylapore), Kāñchī (Conjeeveram), Daṇḍaka-nāḍu, the well watered Pāli, the region of the river Peṇṇai, Kōval (Tirukkōvalūr), and Perugai. He is described as ‘ the hero among heroes who worsted the Karṇāṭas (i.e., Hoysaḷas) of the west and belittled their acquisitions or kingdom in the south, and who had made the Teluṅgas of the north perish in their own quarter ’. The worsting of the Hoysaḷas, which resulted in the curtailment of their possessions in the south, must be taken rather to refer to an independent achievement separate from the conquest of the Chōḷas which led to the imprisonment of Rājarāja III at Śēndamaṅgalam. This event must have been accomplished some years later than A. D. 1243, from which date Peruñjiṅga became a crowned king with the title Sakalabhuvanachakravartin.^[1] An inscription^[2] belonging to the reign of Sakalabhuvanacharavartin Kōpperuñjiṅga found at Vṛiddhāchalam^[3] records the interesting fact that he made a gift of a gold forehead-plate set with jewels,4 to the god Tirumudugunramuḍaiya Nāyanār of the place, in order to absolve himself of the sins of killing Kēśava-Daṇḍanāyaka, Harihara-Daṇḍanāyaka, and other Daṇḍanāyakas of the Hoysaḷa king in the battle-field at Perambalūr (inthe Trichinopoly District) and seizing by force their ladies and treasure. This record thus brings to light another significant event in the history of Peruñjiṅga, viz., the battle of Perambalūr. It seems to me that this battle might the same as the one mentioned in the Tiruvaṇṇāmalai record noted above.^[5] The Hoysaḷa contemporary of Peruñjiṅga in about A. D. 1253, the date of the Vṛiddhāchalam record, was Vīra-Sōmēśvara, the son and successor of Narasimha II, whose reign extended from A. D. 1234 to A. D. 1263.^[6] Rājarāja III was weak and Vīra-Sōmēśvara easily established himself at Kaṇṇanūr called Vikramaśiṅgapura, north of Śrīraṅgam, near Trichinopoly on the border of the Pāndya and Chōḷa countries and built fortifications right along the north bank of the river Kāvērī.^[7] Vīra-Sōmēśvara, staying in his capital Kaṇṇanūr, was keeping watch and ward over his brother-in-law, the Chōḷa Rājarāja III, and was sending frequently his Mahāpradhānas, perhaps almost annually to the Chōḷa kingdom after the 16th year (A. D. 1249).^[8]

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^[1] There are, however, two records dated in his 12th and 16th years which give him the title Tribhuvanachakravartin instead of Sakalabhuvanachakravartin (Nos. 440 and 439 of 1921.) The former refers also to the 21st year of Rājarāja III.
^[2] No. 73 of 1918.
^[3] Vṛiddhāchalam is called in its inscriptions by other names like Tirumudukunram, Norkuppai, etc, Tirumudukunram was situated in the Paruvūr-kūrram, a subdivision of Iruṅgōḷappāḍi which was a division of Rājēndrasiṁha-vaḷanāḍu (Nos. 39, 40 and 54 of 1918). A Kāḍavarāya of Nerkuppai is also known (No. 88 of 1919).
^[4] This ornament was called Avani-Āḷappirandān and was placed on the image with the chanting of the Sanskrit verse : Chāruratnamayam paṭṭam Avanyavanasambhavaḥ | didēśa tridaśēśāya Śrī-Vṛiddhagirivāsinē || A similar gift of a forehead-plate, but without jewels, was made for the same god by one of Peruñjiṅga’s older sons, Śōlakōn, in the 11th yearof his reign (No. 80 of 1918).
^[5] This suggestion is strengthened by the fact that it was in the latter part of the reign of Vīra-Sōmēśvara that the southern hold of the Hoysaḷas got weakened.
^[6] S. I. I., Vol. IV, No. 435.
^[7] No. 514 of 1918.
^[8] Above, Vol. XXIV, p. 162. See also Nos. 39 of 1920 and 366 of 1919 dated in the 20th and 22nd years, and Pudukotta Inscriptions, No. 168. Before the 16th year of Rājarāja III, Narasiṁha II’s ministers figure (Nos. 404, 408 of 1919), and this fact shows that disturbance had already begun and must have culminated in the defeat and imprisonment of Rajaraja III and his subsequent release in A. D. 1231-2. The presence of the Hoysaḷa kings, with the members of their household, their generals and ministers in the Chōḷa country, is an evidence of the utter reliance placed by the latter on the power and help of the former. See Padukotta Inscriptions, Nos. 183 ; 73 of 1918, 366, 404 and 408 of 1919, and 39 of 1920.