South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

tion, did rule actually for 12 years before Vijayāditya’s coronation in June 1031 A. C., he must have begun to reign in June 1019 A. C. As Vimalāditya was still ruling at the time of the Raṇastipūṇḍi grant in August 1018 A. C., Rājarāja I appears to have succeeded his father almost immediately. As the available evidence regarding the exact starting point of Rājarāja’s reign gives two different dates, viz., 1019 and 1020 A. C., it can be safely stated that his rule must have commenced some years before the date of his coronation which took place, as stated in his own records including the present one, on the 16th August, 1022 A. C.

If Rājarāja began to rule either in 1019 or in 1020 A. C., as shown above, there must have been some cause for the postponement of his coronation until 1022 A. C. Although no such reason is disclosed by the Eastern Chāḷukya records, the contemporary Chōḷa inscriptions distinctly indicate the existence of political disturbance in Vēṅgī at this time.^[1]

(iv) The last point of interest to be noted in this section is the marriage of Rājarāja I with Ammaṅgā (lines 64-65), the daughter of his maternal uncle, Rājēndra Chōḷadēva, a fact known hitherto only from the records of his descendants. The marriage was not merely the renewal of an old alliance between the Chōḷa and Eastern Chāḷukya royal families. It was also intended to serve a political purpose. Rājēndra-Chōḷa aimed at providing a permanent bond by which Vēṅgī might be attached to his kingdom ; therefore, he bestowed the hand of his daughter Ammaṅgā on his nephew.

II. The most important part of the present inscription is the passage which narrates the circumstances in which the gift was mad. It states (line 77-85) that the general Rājarāja Brahma-Mahārāja rose to eminence by the grace of the king Rājēndra-Chōḷa Madhurāntaka and guarded his kingdom like a serpent protecting hidden treasure. No sooner did he receive the orders of his sovereign than he marched into the Āndhra country at the head of a vast army, accompanied by two other generals, Uttama-Chōḍa Chōḍakōn and Uttama-Chōḷa Milāḍuḍaiyān. The three Tamil commanders, who were like the three fires bent upon the destruction of the forest which was the Karṇāṭa army, became engaged in a fierce battle with the commanders of the king of Karṇāṭa. The battle between the two armies is described vividly (lines 85-93). The engagement, however, seems to have ended indecisively or at any rate not in a victory for the Chōḷa forces ; for it is said that the commanders of both the sides who participated in the fight perished with their forces (lines 93-96). It was in these circumstances that the Eastern Chāḷukya Rājarāja I set up, in memory of Rājarāja Brahma-Mahārāja, a temple dedicated to God Śiva called Rāja-rājēśvaram in the village of Kalidiṇḍi. Two other Śiva temples were also built in memory of Uttama-Chōḷa Chōḷakōn and Uttama-Chōḷa Milāḍuḍaiyān respectively. For conducting worship in these temples, and for the maintenance of a choultry for feeding fifty students, etc., the village of Kalidiṁḍi renamed Madhurāntakanallūr, together with two other villages called Kaḍaparru and Āvakūru, was granted by the king (lines 96-103).

The place and date of the battle are not stated in the record. It would, however, be possible to fix them with some precision. It may be noted that the record states that memorial temples for the deceased Chōḷa generals were founded. Such temples are sometimes founded on the

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1 Nos. 23, 24, 30, 31, 751 and 752 of 1917 of the Mad. Epi. Coll. These epigraphs of the reign of Rājēndra-Chōḷadēva from the Madakasira taluk of the Anantapur District, all studied together, allude to an expedition sent by the Chōḷa emperor Rājēndra I against Vēṅgī about the 10thy r 1021 A.C.) of his reign to overcome some trouble there, under the leadership of one of his generals, named Areyan Rājarājan alias Vikrama-Chōḷa Chōḷiyavaralyan. Of them No. 31 of 1917 refers probably to a battle which he fought with the Kaliṅgas, Oḍḍas and Telugus, while another (751 of 1917) expressly declares that ‘the king of Vēṅgī ran away on hearing that the Chōḷa king had ordered his general Sōliyavarasan to conquer that country. These records which, as pointed out by Professor K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, ‘obviously belong to the same time’ (Colas, I. p. 279), allude to a military expedition sent by Rājēndra-Chōḷa about the 10th year of his reign (1021 A.C.) to conquer Vēṅgī.