South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c8.s1.20

c8.s1.20

*Rājarāja III*.—Rājarāja III (with titles Rājakēsari and Parakēsari-varman) ascended the throne nominally in the year A.D. 1216, but actually perhaps two years later as we have records of Kulottunga’s fortieth year. The date of his accession is put beyond doubt by No. 268 of 1910 which equates his twenty-sixth year with Śaka 1165. The Hoysala Vīra Baḷḷāḷa II died in A.D. 1220, and his son Vīra Narasimha II’s accession took place in A.D. 1218. The enterprising Pāṇḍya ruler of the time, Māravarman Sundara Pāṇḍya I ascended the throne of his father in A.D. 1216. During the first few years of Rājarāja III everything seems to have gone on smoothly, and the records of these years give one the impression that he became ruler to a quiet patrimony which required no extraordinary ability to maintain unimpaired. Appearances are often, if not always, deceptive. The Pāṇḍya contemporary was a young aspiring ruler, and Kulottunga’s treatment of his predecessor was apparently rankling in his breast. Revenge was not possible under Kulottunga himself. Why not under his successor? Inscriptions of the ninth year of Māravarman Sundara Pāṇḍya I claim for him various achievements, among them the burning of Tanjore and Uraiyūr. He brought a victorious campaign to a close by driving the Chola out of his patrimony, and anointing himself in the hall at Muḍikoṇḍaśoḷapuram. That was not all. He marched into Chidambaram and had his anointment as a hero-victor in the great temple there. More than this, he exhibited his magnanimity to the fallen enemy by returning him his kingdom on terms. This gives a clear indication where the danger to the Choḷa Empire lay. There is one other particular in this Pāṇḍya record of Māravarman Sundara I’s nineteenth year (A.D. 1225), which throws light upon contemporary history. The two rulers of Kongu came to the Pāṇḍya for the settlement of a dispute. He took them to Madura, gave them apparently a satisfactory award and sent them back. This was perhaps responsible for bringing down Vīra Narasimha II into the Choḷa country for the first time. Records of the Hoysalas show that Narasimha II’s intervention in the affairs of the Choḷa-kingdom had been called for, and we find that this intervention took place in the region round Śrīrangam between the years A.D. 1222 and 1225-6.¹