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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA from Kōsala, planted a pillar of victory (jayastambha[1]) at the meeting place of the boundaries of Ōḍra and Andhra countries in order to proclaim the glory and fame of his overlord, Rājēndra-Chōḍa. Dēvēndravarman may be identified with Dēvēndravarman the usurper who, taking advantage of the infancy of Anantavarma-Chōḍagaṅga on the death of Rājarāja-Dēvēndravarman in 1077 A.C., occupied Kaliṅga ; he was the donor of the Kaṁbakāya plates, dated Śaka 1003 expired,[2] and he was the same as king Dēvēndravarman mentioned in the Gāra stone record.[3] It is not known when Rājēndra-Chōḍa I died ; he was certainly living on the date of the Drākshārāma inscription of Pallavarāja, wherein he is referred to as living at that time. His death may have occurred, therefore, about 1104 A.C. Rājēndra-Chōḍa ruled over Vēṅgimaṇḍala from about 1094 to 1104 A.C. He was a devotee of Mukunda or Vishṇu according to the present record (v. 49) and the Piṭhāpuram inscription (v. 36), unlike his natural father Goṅka I and his adoptive parent, the emperor, who were both parama-māhēśvaras, i.e., staunch worshippers of Śiva. Rājēndra-Chōḍa I married Guṇḍāṁbikā and had two sons by her, Goṅkarāja II, who resembled Guha or Kumārasvāmin, and Paṇḍa IV.[4] On the death of Velanāṇṭi Rājēndra Chōḍa I the emperor was once more confronted with the problem of finding a successor to administer Vēṅgi. Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa I did not, however, nominate Goṅkarāja II but appointed another trusted and powerful vassal, Kōna Rājēndra-Chōḍa,[5] the Haihaya ruler of Kōnamaṇḍala, the territory that lay between the two branches of the lower Gōdāvarī, the Vāsishṭhī and the Gautamī.
The next important member of the family, perhaps the most illustrious of all, mentioned in the present plates is Velanāṇṭi Goṅka II, or Goṅkarāja II, Kulōttuṅga-Chōḍa-Goṅkarāja or Kulōttuṅga-Chōḍa-Gāṅgēya-Goṅkarāja as he is also called in some inscriptions. He appears as the foremost soldier and powerful vassal in the kingdom during the viceroyalty of prince Parāntaka. A stone record from Tripurāntakam[6] dated Śaka 1028 in the cyclic year Sarvajit, of Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Velanāṇṭi Goṅka II, registers the gift of the village of Cheṭlapāḍu in Kammanāḍu on the banks of the river Guṇḍēru, to the god Tripurāntakēśvara-Śiva, on the occasion of the full-moon day of Kārttika. The record is interesting : it gives Goṅka II the title Chāḷukyarājya-bhavana-mūlastaṁbha, “ the chief pillar supporting the edifice which is the kingdom of the Chālukyas ”, and the epithet, Samadhigata-pañcha-mahāśabda, “ one who has attained (the status of having) the five great sounds ”, and speaks of him as the ruler of the Triśat=ōttara-shaṭ-sahasr=āvani-vishaya, i.e., “ the six-thousand and three hundred country ”. The date is irregular ; the cyclic year Sarvajit did not coincide with the Śaka 1028 expired, but with the following year 1029 expired, corresponding to 1107-08 A.C. Be that as it may, from this date roughly till the day of his death half a century later, Goṅkarāja II remained the most important person in the kingdom. He was the de facto ruler of the kingdom which extended from the Mahēndragiri on the north to Kālahasti on the south, though he aknowledged the nominal suzerainty of the Chōḷa-Chāḷukya emperor. The kingdom of Vēṅgi which almost slipped out of the hands of the Chālukya-Chōḷas after the death of Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa I would appear to have been re-conquered by Velanāṇṭi Goṅkaraja II from the commanders of the Western Chālukya emperor Tribhuvanamalla Vikramāditya VI who had earlier occupied the country, after a protracted struggle, towards the close of the reign of Vikrama-Chōḷa. _________________________________________________
[1] Perhaps it is the same as the one mentioned in SII, Vol. V, Nos. 1351 and 1352. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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