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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
(l. 6 f.), destroyed Toṇḍaimânallûr, and halted at Tiruppâdirippuliyûr (l. 7). Next they
destroyed Tiruvadigai and Tiruvekkarai (l. 7) and the country between the Vâraṇavâśi river
in the north, Śêndamaṅgalam in the west, and the sea in the east (l. 8). As far as the route
of Narasiṁha’s two officers can be followed on the map, it appears that they crossed the present
South Arcot district from south to north. Eḷḷêri and Kalliyûrmûlai (now Kaliyamalai) are in
the southern portion of the Chidambaram tâluka.[1] Ponnambalam is one of the Tamil names of
Chidambaram itself. Toṇḍaimânallûr is perhaps the modern Toṇḍamânattam in the Cuddalore tâluka,[2] and Tiruppâdirippuliyûr is the well-known ancient name of Tirupâpuliyûr,[3] a railway station north of Cuddalore. Tiruvadigai is Tiruvadi[4] near Panruṭṭi,[5] and Tiruvekkarai is
Tiruvakkarai in the Villupuram (Viluppuram) tâluka.[6] As regards Śêndamaṅgalam,[7] where
Kôpperuñjiṅga kept the Chôḷa king prisoner and at the gates of which the war seems to have
ended,─ the Postal Directory of the Madras Circle mentions no less than eighteen villages of this
name, three of which belong to the South Arcot district. The Śêndamaṅgalam which is intended
here is probably the one in the Tirukoilur (Tirukkôvalûr) tâluka.[8] I am unable to identify the
Vâraṇavâśi river, which has to be looked for to the north of Śêndamaṅgalam,[9] and the village
of Toludagaiyûr, which must have been situated south of Chidambaram. It is not clear why
Appaṇa and Samudra-Goppaya selected the temple of Tiruvêndipuram for engraving this account
of their achievements. Perhaps it was at this village that they took leave of the Chôḷa king
Râjarâja III., whom they had rescued from the hands of Kôpperuñjiṅga at Śêndamaṅgalam.
As far as we know at present, Narasiṁha II. was the first among the Hoysaḷa kings who
possessed a portion of the Trichinopoly district. In an inscription on a ‘ vîrakal, dated in A.D.
1222,[10] he is stated to be “ marching against the Raṅga in the South,” i.e. the island of
Śrîraṅgam, and in the Harihar inscription of A.D. 1224[11] he is already called ‘ the uprooter of
the Makara kingdom’ and ‘ the establisher of the Chôḷa kingdom.’ Hence his conquest of
Śrîraṅga seems to have taken place between A.D. 1222 and 1224. This first invasion of the
Makara and Chôḷa kingdoms was distinct from and prior to the conquest of the same two kingdoms which is related in the Tiruvêndipuram inscription, and it is presupposed by the wording
of the latter, which implies that the king started on his new campaign in order to vindicate his
previously earned title ‘establisher of the Chôḷa country.’ A further testimony to Narasiṁha’s
influence in the Chôḷa country is supplied by an inscription in the Gôkarṇêśvara temple at
Tirugôkarṇam near Pudukkôṭṭai (No. 410 of 1902), which is dated in the 10th year of
Tribhuvanachakravartin Râjarâjadêva, i.e. A.D. 1225-26, and records a grant of land by a servant
of Sômaladêvî,[12] the wife of Sômêśvaradêva, the son of the Pôśaḷa king Vîra-Nârasiṁadêva of
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[1] Nos. 274 and 290 on the Madras Survey Map of this tâluka.
[2] No. 229 on the Madras Survey Map of this tâluka.
[3] No. 204 on the Madras Survey Map of the Cuddalore tâluka.
[4] See above, Vol. VI. p. 331 and note 8.
[5] No. 79 on the Madras Survey Map of the Cuddalore tâluka.
[6] ‘ Tiruvakarai,’ No. 239 on the Madras Survey Map of this tâluka.
[7] This word is derived from Śêndan, ‘ the red one,’ a name of the god Skanda.
[8]No. 288 on the Madras Survey Map of this tâluka.
[9] The nearest river on the north of Śêndmaṅgalam is the Gedilam.
[10] Mr. Rice’s Ep. Carn. Vol. VI., Cm. 56 :─ Saka-varusa 1144 Chitrabhânu-saṁ | rada Âśvîja-sudda 10
[da*]sami Maṁgaḷavârad=aṁdu. On this date Professor Kielhorn remarks as follows :─ “ For Âśvina-sudi 10 of
Śaka-Saṁvat 1144 expired=Chitrabhânu this date is wrong ; it would correspond to Friday, the 16th September A.D.
1222. If we could read sudda 7 sa[pta*]mi, it would regularly correspond to Tuesday, the 13th September A.D. 1222.”
11 Dr. Fleet’s Dyn. Kan. Distr. p. 507.
12 See above, Vol. III. p. 9, note 6. Another princess of the same name is mentioned in Mr. Rice’s Ep. Carn.
Vol. IV., Kp. 63 She is there compared to Lakshmî, and Narasiṁha II. to the Moon. Hence she must have been
his sister, and not his wife as Mr. Rice thinks (ibid., Introduction, p. 21). According to other inscriptions, the wife
of Narasiṁha II. and the mother of Sômêśvara was Kâḷaledêvî ; see ibid. Vol. III., Md. 122 ; Vol. IV., Ng. 98 ; and
Vol. VI., Kd. 125. |
