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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA restore peace.[1] The military operations in Kōna-maṇḍala lasted about two years. The fragmentary record at Drākshārāma[2] dated Śaka 1087, i.e., 1165-66 A. C., reveals that, “ having been commanded by his overlord Kulōttuṅga-Rājēndra-Chōḍa II, general Dēvana-preggaḍa burnt down the disdainful country (Kōna-ṃaṇḍala) of the enemy with the flames of the fire that was his valour”. It would appear that he defeated and killed Bhīma (III) and once more restored peace in the region by settling the country between the lawful claimants. The poem Kēyūrabāhucharitramu which has been already referred to and a number of inscriptions reveal the fact that an army of the Sāmantas of the Karṇāṭa king, apparently taking advantage of the political unrest in Kuntala and the rise of Kākati Prōla II, in the western Andhra Country, made incursions into the kingdom of Vēṅgi, and that the invaders were completely defeated and forced to retire in a sanguinary battle that was fought at a place called Krottacheruvulakōṭa, Cheruvulakōṭa or simply Kochcherlakōṭa, a village in Vinukonda taluk, Guntur District. These events may be placed about 1164-65 A. C. The king of Karṇāṭa was doubtless Kalachuri Bijjala who usurped the Western Chālukya sovereignty overthrowing his overlord, Nūrmaḍi Taliapa III (1149-1161 A. C.). Stone inscriptions refer to Chauṇḍarāya, a feudatory of the king of Karṇāṭa who was slain in the battle of Krottacheruvulakōṭa, who may be identified as the Sinda chief of Yelburga, who was the husband of Siriyādēvī, a daughter of Bijjala.[4]
The Telugu poem, Kēyūrabāhucharitramu gives a vivid account of the reigns of Goṅkarāja II and his illustrious son Kulōttuṅga-Goṅka-Rājēndra-Chōḍa II, and of the greatness of their successive ministers Naṇḍūri Gōvinda and his son Naṇḍūri Kommana, and the prosperity of the Andhra country. According to a stone record at Bāpaṭla, and the present plates (v. 56) the kingdom of Rājēndra-Chōḍa II extended from Nagaram, i.e., Kaliṅganagara on the north to Kālahasti on the south and to Śrīśailam on the west and was bounded by the sea on the east.[5] It appears that the province of Kaliṅga was governed by the Brāhmaṇa general, Meṇṭana-preggaḍa under the orders of the king, Rājēndra-Chōḍa II. The general is said to have borne the burden of the kingdom of Rājēndra-Chōḍa in Kaliṅga.[6] It would appear that on the death of Anantavarman alias Chōḍagaṅga, c. 1142 A.C., the kingdom or at any rate the southern portion of Kaliṅga extending as far as the Mahēndragiri was annexed to Vēṅgi. It is stated in the poem that the king’s treasury always contained nine crores of gold (coins), that ninety-nine elephants which looked like huge black clouds roamed about the city of Chandavōlu, that a cavalry force of forty-thousand was always ready for service on the field and that seventy-five candies of rice[7] were cooked every day for the army and king’s household.. Such was the prosperity of Rājēndra-Chōḍa II. The poem gives an account of the king’s chief Brāhmaṇa minister Kommana-mantrin of the Kauśika gōtra, who was a great soldier. Kommana was a worshipper of Vishṇu ; he built thirty-two temples of Vishṇu, at the beautiful towns of Śrīkūrmam, Gurudurti, Krottacharla, Tripurāntakam, Koṭyadona, Boggāram, Yelamañchili and other place. Every day he fed a thousand Brahmaṇa guests with pāyasa (rice cooked in milk and sugar) at his house, throughout his life, with a religious zeal and devotion. He governed in addition to his office, the province of Pāka-nāḍu twenty-one-thousand. On the battlefield at Krottacherlakōṭa, it is said, he displayed marvellous strength and heroism. _________________________________________________
[1] SII, Vol. IV, Nos., 1086 and 1083. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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