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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
will be evident from the other copper-plate grant secured from the same place. This record,[1] also
belonging to Rājakēsarivarman and dated in the 10th year of his reign, contains two grants. One
is an order of Malavaraiyan Sundarachōḷan to the effect that the irai (tax) collected by him from
the nagarattār of Tūśiyūr at the rate of ¼ and ⅛ (kāśu ?) on fall house-site and half house-site respectively (mulu manai kālum arai manai araikkālum) shall be in the form of permanent tax (ninra
irai) and that, in the case of dues under fines and penalties (daṇḍam kurram), the practice of Nandipuram[2] shall be followed. The other consists of an endowment (śirupāḍu) made by Kolli-malavan
Piridi-gaṇḍan and dedicated to his father who had died in Ceylon (eṅgaḷāchchar īlattu-ppaḍa avar
śrīmadāhattukku-chchirupāḍu). The Ceylon expedition in which the father of Kolli-malavan
Piridi-gaṇḍan fell must have been the same as took place in the 9th year of Sundarachōḷa Parāntaka
II.[3] That the donors were not mere officers of the Chōḷa king, but were also members of the ruling
families of Koṅgu will be seen from their title Kollimalavan (Malavan of the Kolli Hills).[4] It will
thus be seen that the Chōḷas never lost their hold on the Koṅgu country from the time of Āditya I
when it was conquered and that, during their suzerainty, the local chiefs were allowed to continue
their rule over their ancient regions, as was being done by the Chōḷas in other territories conquered
by them.
By the time Rājarāja I ascended the Chōḷa throne in 985 A.D. the Rāshṭrakūṭas who had
occupied the country to the north had ceased to exist and the Western Chālukyas of Kalyāṇa
who succeeded them were trying to regain all the territories which had formed part of the Rāshṭrakūṭa dominion. The loss of Gaṅgavāḍi to the Chōḷas in 991-92 A.D. had probably stirred them to
action, and Tailapa II claims in an inscription,[5] dated 992 A.D., to have gained a victory over the
Chōḷas. But the loss does not appear to have been completely retrieved as we find the Chōḷas
holding portions of Daḷigavāḍi in Śaka 92[3].[6] Just about this time (997 A.D.) Tailapa II died
and was succeeded by his son Satyāśraya who also continued vigorously the efforts of his father
to retrieve the lost territories. It was also at this time that Rājarāja had to intervene in the affairs
of Vēṅgī, recover the country from Bhīma of the Telugu-Chōḍa family, thus bringing to a close
the interregnum of twenty-seven years, and install on the throne his relative Śaktivarma in about
999 A.D. Bhīma appears to have sought asylum in Kaliṅga, recuperated his strength and come
back in 1001-02 A.D. to regain Vēṅgī with the help of the Kaliṅgas and probably the Western
Chālukyas.[7] We find Rājarāja embarking on the simultaneous attack on Kaliṅga and Raṭṭapāḍi
and claiming victories over them the next year. The inscriptions[8] of Rājarāja from about the 18th
regnal year, i.e. about 1003 A.D., claim the capture of Raṭṭapāḍi ‘ seven-and-a-half lakh country ’.
On the other hand, the Hoṭṭūr record[9] of Satyāśraya, dated Śaka 9[2]9 or 1007 A.D., states that
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[1] Ibid., No. 212.
[2] That the practice of permitting the nagarattār of other places to adopt for their villages the scale of taxes
prevailing at Nandipuram from olden times was prevalent in the days of Sundarachōḷa will be evident from the
inscriptions from Mēlappaluvūr (SII, Vo. XIII, Nos. 208, 215 and 344) and other places.
[3] In the record from Tiruveṇkāḍu in the Tanjavur District, dated in the 27th regnal year of Rājarāja I (SII,
Vol. V, No. 980), which mentions this expedition led by the Koḍuṁbāḷur chief Śiriyavēḷān the date of the expedition is given in the printed text as the [3]rd year of the reign of Uḍaiyār Ponmāḷigaiyir=ruñjina-dēvar (the king
who died at Ponmāḷigai), i.e. Sundarachōḷa II, But it appears to be clearly 9 in the impression. See ibid.,
Vol. III, p. 476.
[4] Malanāḍu was one of the divisions of Koṅgu. Mala-Koṅgam mentioned in the Vēḷvikkuḍi grant (above,
Vol. XVII, p. 297) as having been subjugated by Māran or Rājasiṁha represent the same area. See also K. V.
Subrahmanya Aiyar, Historical Sketches, pp. 129-31.
[5] SII, Vol. IX, Part I, p. 47, No. 77.
[6] ARSIE, 1911, No. 169; The Chōlas, Vol. I, p. 491, n.
[7] N. Venkataramanayya, The Eastern Chālukyas, p. 210.
[8] ARSIE, 1927, No. 333. See also Part II, para. 11.
[9] Above, Vol. XVI, p. 74.
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