South Indian Inscriptions

KALACHURI OF SOUTH KOSALA

into conflict with Sōmēśvara, the Nāgavamśī king of Chakrakōtya. The latter was a foe worthy of his steel. He had defeated the rulers of Udra (Orissa) and Vēngī, and had carried fire and sword into Lānjī and Ratnapura.¹ He is said to have captured six lacs of villages together with the tract called shannavati (96 villages ) of Kōsala and assumed the imperial titles Mahārājādādhirāja and Paramēśvara.² The Kuruspāl inscription describes him as a huge elephant which destroyed and lotuses namely the towns, Lāñjī and Ratnapura.

Jājalladēva was not slow to take revenge. He marched against the Nāga king, slew his immense army and took him captive together with his wives and ministers. Ultimately, at the bidding of his mother, Jājalladēva set them free. His Ratanpur inscription proudly asks, “Have you seen or heard of another such prince on this earth ³ This event must have occurred some time before 1110 A.C., which is the approximate year of Sōmēśvara’s death.⁴

Jājalladēva’s fame spread to distant lands. The contemporary king of Chēdi who was Yaśahkarna the erstwhile suzerain of the Tummāna branch, had to court his friendship. He probably sough his aid in his campaign against an Andhra king, which, as we have seen, occurred early in his reign.⁵ In the Ratanpur inscription Jājalla boasts that he was honoured as an ally by the rulers of Kānyakubja and Jajābhuktika with presents of wealth ‘because he was valiant’. The ruler of Kānyakubja was probably the ambitious Gāhada- vāla king Gōvindachandra, who, even while a yuvarāja, had wielded considerable authority. He came to the throne about 1110 A.C. and was thus a contemporary of Jājalla. The other ruler who sought Jājalla's alliance was plainly a king of the Chandēlla dynasty. Three Chandēlla princes Kirtivarman, Sallakshanavarman and Jayavarman ruled contem- poraneously with Jājalla.6 Of these, Sallakshanavarman was probably Jājalla’s ally. This contact with the Chandēllas is reflected in the Kalachuri coinage as shown below.

These rulers of distant Northern countries sought Jājalla’s friendship because his kingdom occupied a strategic position on the route of communication between the north and the south. Earlier conquerors from the north like Samudragupta and Iśāna- varman had to pass through Dakshina Kōsala in the course of their southern digvijaya. Similarly, Rājēndra Chōla I’s general had to conquer Kōsala before he penetrated into Bengal. The object of this alliance with Jājalla was probably to check the advance of the Chōla Emperor Kulōttunga I (1070-1122 A.C.). By his occupation of the Chōla throne, Kulōttunga had already united the kingdoms of the Eastern Chālukyas and the Chōlas. He entertained aggressive designs of North–Indian conquests, in pursuance of which he had subjugated Vairāgarh and Chakrakōtta.⁷ In some records he is said to have measured swords even with the Paramāra king of Malwa. The aforementioned northern powers must have regarded Jājalla as a bulwark against a possible Chōla invasion of North India.

We have seen above that Jājalla defeated the king of Dakshina Kōsala. The latter is probably identical with Bhujabala, the lord of Suvarnapura, modern Sonpur, the chief
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¹Ep. Ind., Vol. X, p. 29.
²Loc. cit., p. 30. Shannavati as the name of a territorial division occurs in a grant of Mahāśivagupta- Yayāti. See also J.A.S.B. Vol. I, pp. 19 ff. 3No. 77, v. 22. 4Somēśvara was living at the time of the Barsur inscription dated 1108 A.C. (Ep. Ind., Vol. III, p
³14; Vol. IX, p. 162) and had died when the Nārāyanpāl inscription was put up in 1111 A.C. (ibid., Vol. IX, pp. 161 ff.) So he seems to have died in circa 1110 A.C.
⁵See above, p. cii
. ⁶V. A. Smith has given the following approximate dates for these three kings-Kirtivarman, 1060- 1100 A.C., Sallakshanavarman 1100-1110 A.C. and Jayavarman 1110-1117 A.C. Ind. Ant., Vol. XXXVII, p.127.
⁷S.I.I., Vol. III, part ii, pp. 132-34.