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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA The indifferent use of both the titles Rājakēsarivarman and Parakēsarivarman for Vikrama-chōḷa might also be constructed as pointing to such a conclusion ; but it may also merely the result of a mistake of the kind, of which other instances are also known. Kulōttuṅga, being a Rājakēsarivarman, his immediate successor on throne should have been a Parakēsarivarman. The occasional use of the title Rājakēsarivarman by Vikrama-chōḷa[1] presupposes the existence of another king with the title Parakēsarivarman between him and Kulōttuṅga even though Vikrama-chōḷa did not perhaps recognise such a position and, claiming himself as the direct successor of his father Rājakēsarivarman Kulōttuṅga I, used the title Parakēsarivarman which is generally found applied to him in his inscriptions. There are about half a dozen undated inscriptions of Parāntakadēva at Drākshārāma registering the oaths of fealty taken by certain persons to serve Parāntakadēva faithfully.[2] The occasion which necessitated such a step is not clear. But it is significant to note that these oaths were taken to serve faithfully Parāntakadēva personally and not in respect of the throne or kingdom of the Chōḷa or Chāḷukya as the case may be, probably indicating that there was another person at that time claiming equal rights as Parāntakadēva and that the oath was meant to safeguard the interests of their liege-lord Parāntakadēva against the other person.
It may also be said that the political condition of the country at this period was favourable to Vikrama-chōḷa for embarking on a civil war. We known that towards the end of his reign, Kulōttuṅga I lost some portions of his territory, both in the west and in the north. In the west, the province of Gaṅgavāḍi was lost to the Hoysalas. Biṭṭiga Vishṇuvardhana, the Hoysala ruler of the period claims the title Taḷakāḍu-koṇḍa which is applied to him for the first time in an inscription dated in 1117 A.D.,[3] and in the same year he is described as ruling in Taḷakāḍu and Kōḷāḷa (Kolar) and over the whole of Gaṅgavāḍi Ninetysix Thousand as far as Koṅgu.[4] This province which was under the Chōḷas at the time and was regularly administered as a division of the Chōḷa empire was conquered for the Hoysala by Daṇḍanāyaka Gaṅgarāja. This event is graphically described in several of the Hoysala inscriptions.[5] The success of the Hoysalas was complete and this was followed by the expulsion of the Chōḷas from Gaṅgarāja. That this campaign was not in the nature of a mere raid and that the Hoysala was well-pleased with the result will be evident by his assuming the title Taḷakāḍu-koṇḍa and by the issue of gold coins bearing the legend śrī-Taḷakāḍu-goṇḍa. The victory gained in Gaṅgavāḍi was pursued by the Hoysalas even in regions beyond its frontiers. Of Puṇīsa-rāja, another general of the Hoysalas, who also seems to have taken part in the expedition against Gaṅgavāḍi, it is said in an inscription dated 1117 A.D. that he ‘frightened the Todas [of the Nilgiris], drove the Koṅgar underground (or to the low-country), slaughtered the Pōluvas, put to death the Maleyāḷas, trifled king Kala (Kalapāla) and offered the peak of the Nīlagiri to the goddess of victory.’[6] It also adds that on receiving the king’s order, Puṇīsa ‘ seized Nīladri, and pursuing the Maleyāḷas captured their forces and made himself master of Kērala before showing again in Poṅgal-nāḍu.’ The Pōluvas slaughtered by him are evidently the Pūluvas, a community of the Koṅgu country,[7] round about Avināśi. The region also came to be _____________________________________________
[1] E.g., A. R. Ep., 1908, Nos. 426, 431 ; ibid, 1926, No. 144; ibid., 1909, Part II, para. 46 ; ibid., 1926, part II,
para. 27.
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