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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
vāḍa on a certain Bhīmana who is described as the Vēṅgī-Chāḷukya-aṅkakāra[1] and whose brother
Boddana had originally obtained the same office from Kulōttuṅga I described therein as
the son of king Rājamahēṇdra.[2] The record bears at its end a royal confirmatory order dated
in the 47th year of a king who is described as Samastabhuvanāśraya, Rājādhirāja, Rājaparamēśvara, Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Ravikulatilaka, Satyāśrayavaṁśya Chālukyābharaṇa, Tribhuvanachakravarti, Permānaḍidēva.[3] This king can be no other than Kulōttuṅga I as evidenced by the titles Satyāśrayavaṁśya, Chāḷukyābharaṇa and Ravikulatilaka applied to him, and by the date mentioned in the inscription which agrees with the king’s corresponding regnal year. This record
would yield c. Śaka 1033 or c. 1111-12 A.D. for the accession of Parāntaka. It will be clear from the
above that Parāntaka was ruling over the Vēṅgī country in the closing years of the reign of Kulōttuṅga I as a semi-independent ruler under the aegis of the Chōḷas and that he was a prince of the
Chōḷa-Chāḷukya line, probably one of the seven sons of Kulōttuṅga. We may safely identify
Parāntaka of the Telugu inscriptions cited above with king Parakēsarivarman Parāntakadēva in
whose reign the Tamil records under review were issued. Then, these two records of the 9th year
will have to be assigned to c. 1119-20 A.D., corresponding to the 50th or the last year of the
reign of Kulōttuṅga I.
We know that Kulōttuṅga I, on the death of his uncle Vijayāditya after a reign of 15 years,
got possession of the Vēṅgī country in 1076-77 A.D. and appointed his sons in succession as viceroys
there. The first to be so appointed, Rājarāja Mummaḍi-chōḷa, preferred living under the same
roof as his parents to the enjoyment of a distant viceroyalty and at the end of a year relinquished
his office. His younger brother Vīra-chōḍa was then chosen as the viceroy, and he continued
to rule there for six years from the date of his anointment in Śaka 1001 (1078-79 A.D.). From
1084 to 1089 A.D. another son of Kulōttuṅga, by name Rājarāja Chōḍagaṅga, the eldest, was the
viceroy when he was succeeded by Vīra-chōḍa again in his second term of viceroyalty. Vīra-chōḍa was there till at least 1092-93 A.D.[4] What became of the viceroyalty after that date is
not clear. It is generally believed that Vikrama-chōḷa, another son of Kulōttuṅga I, who succeeded his father on the Chōḷa throne, became the viceroy of Vēṅgī and continued in that office
till he was summoned to the south in 1118 A.D. by the aged Kulōttuṅga to become the co-regent
(heir-apparent to the Chōḷa throne). No inscription of Vikrama-chōḷa issued during the time of
his viceroyalty of Vēṅgī or directly referring to it has came to light so far. But that he was a
viceroy for some time in Vēṅgī is borne out by his meykkīrtti itself.[5] The Piṭhāpuram inscription
of Mallapadēva dated Śaka 1124 (1202-03 A.D.) states that Kulōttuṅga ruled for fifty years
the five Drāviḍas together with the Andhra country and that, when Vikrama-chōḷa went to rule
the Chōḷa country, the land of Vēṅgī became bereft of its lord (Vēṅgī-bhūmir=nāyaka-rahitā jātā), i.e. fell into a state of anarchy. The inscriptions found at Drākshārāma point out that Parāntaka was the viceroy of Vēṅgī during roughly the last ten years of the reign of Kulōttuṅga I,
and from the Tamil inscriptions edited below we may surmise that he was probably chosen as
heir-apparent by Kulōttuṅga I and crowned as such with the title Parakēsarivarman and continued in the capacity till the last year of the reign of his father Kulōttuṅga I, corresponding to
1119-20 A.D.
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[1] The aṅkakāra was an officer whose duty it was, when called upon to do so, to lead armies to battle on behalf
of his master, to represent him on the battle-field and champion his cause. See N. Venkataramanayya, The Eastern Cāḷukyas of Vēṅgī, p. 245, note 1.
[2] Rājamahēndra was a title of Rājarāja-narēndra, the Eastern Chāḷukya king and the father of Kulōttuṅga I.
[3] It is worth nothing that many titles, characteristically Western Chāḷukyan, are borne by Kulōttuṅga I.
[4] Above, Vol. V, p. 70 ff. ; VI, p. 334 ff. ; SII, Vol. I, p. 49 ; A. R. Ep., 1922, Part II, para, 6 ; K. A.
N. Sastri, The Cōḷas, Vol. II, pp. 30-32, 45.
[5] SII, Vol. II, No. 68.
[6] Above, Vol. IV, p. 235, vv. 22-24.
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