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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA noticed already. Maṇavāḷapperumāḷ figures in a number of inscriptions of the Chōḷa king Kulōttuṅga III ranging in date from A.D. 11911 to about 1213.2 In these inscriptions he is found to bear the titles and epithets Ēliśaimōgan, Vāṇilaikaṇḍaperumāḷ, Achalakulōttaman Āṭkaṇḍanāyan and Alagiyapallavan. A record3 of the 28th year of the reign of Kulōttuṅga III gives this Kāḍava chief the surname Rājarāja Kāḍavarāyaṇ. It may be noted that there is no room for confounding this Rājarāja Kāḍavarāyan with the earlier one of the same surname who was a brother of Araśanārāyaṇan Kachchiyarāyan,for with the former are associated many of the clearly distinguishing epithets of Maṇavāḷapperumāḷ noticed above. Maṇavāḷapperumāḷ seems to be the first chief of the family to assert his independence and to issue records in his own name. So far, only a single inscription, dated in the 5th year of the chief’s reign4 has been found. It gives him the title Sakalabhuvanachakravartin. Since he held a subordinate position under the Chōḷa king Kulōttuṅga III till about A. D. 1213. It is fairly certain that he should have thrown off the Chōḷa yoke only after that date. A point of interest is that Maṇavāḷapperumāḷ is said in a record of Kulōttuṅga III to have belonged to Kūḍal in Kīl-Āmūr-nāḍu5 in Tirumunaippāḍi-nāḍu, whereas the earlier members are said to have hailed from a Kūḍal in Peruganūr-nāḍu. This difference deserves to be remembered. There is not much doubt as regards the identity of Mahārājasiṁha with Kōpperuñjiṅga. In fact, the first is only a Sanskrit rendering of the second. Inscriptions of Mahārājasiṁha are found at Tripurāntakam6 and Drākshārāma.7 While the Tripurāntakam inscription is not dated, the Drākshārāma record beard the date Śaka 1184 (A. D. 1262), and both the Tripurāntakam and the Drākshārāma inscriptions contain identical and characteristic titles or biradas which make it impossible to differentiate one Mahārājasiṁha from another. The highest regnal year discovered so far for Kōpperuñjiṅga is 36 which takes his reign up to A.D. 1279.8 And the earliest mention of him as a chief is made in a record of the 11th year of Rājarāja III (A.D. 1230).9 wherein one of his military officers figures as donor of a gift. From the Tiruvēndipuram inscription10 of Rājarāja III, dated in the 16th year of reign, it is learnt that just before A.D. 1232 the Chōḷa king had been captured and kept in prison by Kōpperuñjiṅga. Thus the earliest clear reference to Kōpperuñjiṅga and his activities are only found in inscriptions dated between the year 1230 and 1232, though his name has been incidentally brought in in an inscription11 of A. D. 1213 of the time of Kulōttuṅga III while mentioning his mother who figures in that record. This early reference to Kōpperuñjiṅga can only indicate that he lived to a considerable age like Nandivarman Pallavamalla of the Pallava dynasty and Anantavarman Chōḍagaṅga of the Eastern Gaṅga line.
The pretty long reign of Kōpperuñjiṅga from A.D. 1212-3 to 1279 and his figuring in the Tiruvēndipuram inscription of A. D. 1232 as well as in another of Rājarāja III two years earlier may lead one to enquire if there was only one king of the name or more than one. This question had been taken up by the late Rai Bahadur V. Venkayya,12 whose finding was that the Mahārāja _______________________________
[1] Inscription No. VIII, below. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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