South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

built the high prākāra wall of the local Nelliyappar temple from the booty obtained from the Kēraḷa, Chōḷa and Hoysaḷa kings. The titles Kulaśēkhara,^[1] Māravarman, etc., adopted by the Vēṇāḍ king Ravivarman are taken as indicating his subordinate position to the Pāṇḍya king

Vikrama-Pāṇḍya was the younger brother^[2] of Māravarman Kulaśēkhara and an inscription from Chidambaram refers to his exploits in Vēṇāḍ.^[3] In his praśasti beginning with the words Samastabhuvanaikavīra, etc., he is called ‘the sun to the dense darkness of the Kēraḷa race’.^[4] The Malayāḷam grammar Līlātilakam mentions the defeat evidently of this king at the hands of the Kēraḷa ruler Kulaśēkhara Ravivarman who subsequently married the daughter of the Pāṇḍya king.^[5] A verse quoted in the same work ascribes to this Pāṇḍya king victories over Muhammadans whose cavalry he defeated and pursued.^[6]

Vīra-Pāṇḍya, according to Muhammadan historians, was the son of Māravarman Kulaśēkhara I whose choice of succession to the Pāṇḍya throne fell on this prince in preference to his natural son Sundara-Pāṇḍya. The order of succession of Pāṇḍya kings in the region surrounding the present village Tiruvēndipuram^[7] in the South Arcot District is given in an inscription as (I) Perumāḷ Sundara-Pāṇḍyadēva, (2) Perumāḷ Vikrama-Pāṇḍyadēva, (3) Perumāḷ Vīra-Pāṇḍyadēva and (4) Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Pāṇḍyadēva ;^[8] while at Kāṭṭumannārkōyil in the same district, it is given as :
(1) Perumāḷ Sundara-Pāṇḍyadēva,
(2) Kulaśēkharadēva,
(3) Vīra-Pāṇḍyadēva, and
(4) Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Pāṇḍyadēva (accn. A. D. 1303).
All writters^[9] on Pāṇḍya-Kēraḷa relationship of this period suppose that the Vīra-Pāṇḍya who is mentioned in the Aruḷāḷa-Perumāḷ temple inscription^[10] as having been defeated and driven into Koṅkaṇa and thence into the forests by Ravivarman Kulaśēkhara, is identical with the Pāṇḍya king of this name who ascended the throne in A.D. 1296. With this identification as the basis it has been postulated that this Pāṇḍya king was driven out of Kēraḷa and Koṅkaṇ, that he reappeared and raised a standard of revolt^[11] in Kēraḷa against Ravivarman and in favour of his rival Udaya Mārttāṇḍavarman and that Ravivarman espoused the cause of Sundara-Pāṇḍya as against that of Vīra-Pāṇḍya.^[12] But according to our interpretation of the present record, Ravivarman came to support Vīra-Pāṇḍya against Sundara-Pāṇḍya and as such Vīra-Pāṇḍya, the Pāṇḍya king, could not have been an enemy of the Kēraḷa king. Vīra-Pāṇḍya who sustained defeat at the hands of Ravivarman must therefore be not the Pāṇḍya king Vīra-Pāṇḍya of the name, but must be taken as some other price whose identity is not evident.^[13] Further, we find Ravivarman

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^[1] No. 350 of 1913 of the Madras Ep. Collection, belonging to Māravarman Tribhuvanachakravartin Vīra Kēraḷa alias Kulaśēkhara must be ascribed to Ravivarman. See also Ep. Rep. for 1914, para. 24. Mr. N. Lakshminarayan Rao drew my attention to several die-struck silver coins, round in shape, of a Vīra Kēraḷa found at Vaigai-Fuḷam in the Tirunelveli District, which may be assigned to Ravivarman Kulaśēkhara. The legend on the obverse and reverse reads ‘ Śrī-Vīra Kēraḷasya ’ and ‘ Śrī Gaṇḍarāṁkuśasya ’ respectively. [Mr. N. Lakshminarayan Rao assigns them to Vīra Keraḷa of A. D. 1127. See J. N. S. I., Vol. IX, pt. ii, p. 103.─Ed.]
^[2] No. 462 of 1921 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.
^[3] No. 365 of 1913 do. do.
^[4] Ep. Rep. for 1914, para. 20.
^[5] J. O. R., Vol. XII, p. 200.
^[6] Travancore State Manual, Vol. II. p. 98.
^[7] S. I. I., Vol. VII, No. 761. The date of this record would correspond to A. D. 1312, July 24.
^[8] S. I. I., Vol. XII, p. 173.
^[9] New Ind. Ant., Vol. VI, p. 37 ; Ep. Rep. for 1914, para. 21 ; T .A. S., Vol. IV, p. 89.
^[10] Above, Vol. IV, p. 146.
^[11] J. O. R., Vol. XII, pp. 200 and 201.
^[12] New Ind. Ant., Vol. VI, p. 37.
^[13] The name Vīra-Pāṇḍya occurs in Koṅgu and Āḷupa genealogies in the second half of the 13th century and not about 1317 A.D., the date of our record.