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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA kaḷ[1] that the Gaṅgas had their sway in Koṅgu. On the other hand, there is ample evidence of early Chēra rule throughout Koṅgu, e.g., the place names Ravimaṅgalam and Kōdaimaṅgalam, in addition to the two early inscriptions of Veḷḷalūr[2] and the whole dynasty of kings styling themselves Kēraḷa.[3] We have at the outset indicated some grounds for holdings that in the earliest days Koṅgu was subject to ‘people’s rule’ and that it was often subject to invasions by the neighbouring powers among whom the foremost was the Chēra, who claimed to be its ruler. But the real government must have been held by the ‘Koṅgar’ and the settlement of the ‘Adiyar’ must have resulted in limiting the extent of the Koṅgu territory.
In about the 8th century A.D., Koṅgu seems to have passed into the hands of some personal ruler. This is reflected in a statement of the Vēḷvikuḍi plates[4] which records that a daughter of a Gaṅga king of the time of Neḍuñjaḍaiyan was brought and offered to the king of the Koṅgu people, and that it gave an occasion for the Pūrvarāja to march forth with a large army to give battle, etc. Excepting this, there are no further references to any ruler of Koṅgu and it might be that the rulership, if any, did not last long. On the other hand, there are evidences of Chēra rule or supremacy over Koṅgu before the advent of the Chōḷa. At the end of the ninth century, Āditya of the revived Chōḷa line is stated in the Koṅgudēśarājākkaḷ[5] as having subjugated Koṅgu, and his son Parāntaka ruled over that part of it where his inscriptions are found. It is known that friendly relations existed between the Chōḷa Āditya and the Chēra Sthāṇu Ravi and that both conjointly conferred honours on a certain chief whom they termed Śembiyan-Tamilavēḷ.[6] This must have been for some service rendered to both the kings during the upheaval of Chōḷa revival. But it was given to the Chōḷa king Parāntaka I to set up practically a personal ruler over Koṅgu. The country was at the same time made a part of the Chōḷa empire and invested with a new name ‘Vīraśōla-maṇḍalam’, after one of the his wnn surnames. From the Nāmakkal copper plates of Vīra-Chōḷa, of which plates I and IV are still to be discovered, it is gathered that Vīra-Chōḷa, who was probably a Kērala prince, was ruling over a portion of Koṅgu as a feudatory of the Chōḷa king Parakēsarivarman, probably Parāntaka I.[7] He seems to have become the progenitor of a hereditary line of kings that ruled over a part of Koṅgu. The records of his descendents are traceable at Palani and its vicinity. These may well be termed Koṅgu kings of the Kēraḷa family. Another part of Koṅgu was under the rulership of a different line. Now about the family to which the two kings, whose inscriptions are here edited, belonged. In the Annual Reports on South Indian Epigraphy the chiefs of this family are styled Koṅgu-Chōḷas. This term is not an ancient one, but is the one now given to the line of kings which included in it Vīra-Chōḷa-Kalimūrkka-Perumāḷ and Kalimūrkka-Vikrama-Chōḷa, Abhimāna-Chōla and others and serves the purpose of distinguishing these members from those of the regular line of Chōḷas descended from Vijayālaya or from the later Chāḷukya-Chōḷa Kulōttuṅga I. Though it serves this purpose very well, it is not quite appropriate. First of all there is no indication anywhere that these kings were of the Chōḷa stock, though they adopted Chōḷa names. Chōḷa officials and subordinates _______________________________________________________________ [1] Madras Government Oriental Series, No. VI, pp. 3 ff.
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