South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

without any distinguishing title and without any meykkīrtti but in characters of about the 12th century A.D., registering the grant of land as tiruviḍaiyāṭṭam to Tiruvayōttipperumāḷ of Śrī-Madhurāntaka-chaturvēdimaṅgalam, a taniyūr in Kaḷattūr-kōṭṭam, a sub-division of Jayaṅgoṇḍaśōlamaṇḍalam.^[1] This Parāntakadēva can be no other than the king Parāntakadēva of the two inscriptions now being edited.

It cannot also be said that Vikrama-chōḷa was chosen by his father Kulōttuṅga I to succeed him on the Chōḷa throne because of the demise of Parāntaka, for, we find from the Drākshārama inscription referred to above^[2] that Parāntaka was alive on or about the 7th May, 1119 A.D., i.e. more than ten months after the date of the accession of Vikrama-chōḷa.

The only alternative therefore left for us is to presume that Vikrama-chōḷa did not recognise the selection of Parāntaka as co-regent and claimed that he alone was the rightful person for that position. If that be the case, Vikrama-chōḷa could not have asserted his right and achieved his object by peaceful means. There must have been a civil war between these two brothers for the Chōḷa throne.

The Tanjavur temple inscription of Vikrama-chōḷa dated in the 4th year of his reign contains a significant passage in his meykkīrtti beginning with the words Pūmālai miḍaindu, which runs : ‘ He joyfully stayed [a while] in the Vēṅgi-maṇḍalam and put on the garland of victory over the northern region, and in the south he put on the sacred-jewelled crown by right so as to put an end to the commonness of the goddess of the sweet-smelling lotus-flower (i.e. Lakshmī) and the loneliness of the good earth-maiden who had the Ponni (i.e. the river Kāvēri) for her garment.’^[3] It means in other words that Lakshmī, the wealth of the southern country, had become common (i.e. ownerless) and the land of the Kāvēri lonely (i.e. unaccompanied) and that both of them found a remedy for their situation in the coming of Vikrama-chōḷa. This very same passage, describing the state of the southern region at the time of the accession of Vikrama-chōḷa to the throne is also found in the meykkīrtti of Kulōttuṅga I beginning with the words Pugal śūlnda puṇari,^[4] thereby indicating that Vikrama-chōḷa had to face the same situation^[5] as prevailed at the time when Kulōttuṅga I ascended the Chōḷa throne.^[6]

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^[1] A foot-note to the text of this record published in the SII, quoted above, states that ‘the characters in which the inscription is engraved appear to be of a later date then that of Parāntaka ’ (evidently I or II). The mention of the name Jayaṅgoṇḍaśōlamaṇḍalam in the record for Toṇḍaimaṇḍalam clearly points out that the record cannot be placed earlier than the time of the Chōḷa king Rājarāja I, after whose title Jayaṅgoṇḍa the territorial division was named.
^[2] SII, Vol. IV, No. 1226.
^[3] Ibid, Vol. II, No. 68. The relevant portion of the original text is given below arranged in the metrical form : Vēṅgai-maṇḍala-ttāṅg=inid=irundu vaḍa-tiśai vāgai śūḍi=tten-riśai- ttē-maru-kamala-ppūmagaḷ podumaiyum Ponniy-āḍai-nannilap-pāvaiyin tanimaiyum tavirap-punidat-tirumaṇi makuḍam=urimaiyir=chūḍi.
^[4] Ibid., Vol. III, No. 68.
^[5] The chief queen of vikarma-chōḷa is mentioned in the Vikrama-śōlan-ulā (Kaṇṇi 10) and the Tamil-Nāvaler Charutai (verse 142) as peṇ chakravartti (i.e. a female chakravartin). This title is not applied to any other queen. We have already stated that the practice of mentioning in the meykkīrtti the queen seated along with the king on the throne came into use only in the time of Kulōttuṅga I, This was necessitated probably because, being a Chāḷukyan by birth, he claimed a right to the Chōḷa throne not only as the grandson of a Chōḷa emperor, but also as the consort of a Chōḷa princess. A similar situation possibly arose for Vikrama-chō ḷa also, of which we do not have the details.
^[6] Relying on this passage, Dhirendra Chandra Ganguly has suggested (The Eastern Chālukyas, pp. 129-30) that there was a civil war for the Chōḷa throne during the last days of Kulōttuṅga I and that Vikrama-chōḷa, one of the contestants came out successful.