South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c8.s2: Hoysala Occupation of Kaṇṇanūr Against the Pāṇḍya
South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c8.s2
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- c8.s2.2 — 4 parts
Hoysala Occupation of Kaṇṇanūr Against the Pāṇḍya
c8.s2.1
In the course of these wars, Kopperunjinga, the chieftain of Śendamangalam, was apparently in active alliance with the Pāṇḍyas, and therefore Pāṇḍya intervention was regarded as imminent. The conquest of the Magaras in the north by the Hoysala, and the absence of mention of the Śambuvarāya chieftain go to show that the northern frontier was left to their charge and looked after by them. Thus for the time being we find the Hoysalas established firmly in the Chola country, though at the same time we find Rājendra III ruling as the Chola sovereign. The establishment of the Hoysala near Śrīrangam seems definitely to have been intended against the rising power of the Pāṇḍyas, (whose history we shall study in the next lecture), and to prevent their junction with their active ally Kopperunjinga at Śendamangalam.
c8.s2.2.1
Rājendra Chola III.—About the year A.D. 1243 there arose in the family of the Cholas a new aspirant to the Chola throne with the title Rājendra Chola, the third of the designation.
c8.s2.2.2
He claims in a record of his seventh year at Śrīrangam to be ‘the very Rama (in destroying) the northern Lanka which was renowned to be the abode of Vīra Rākshasas (great-heroes), the elevator of the race of Manu, the terror of his enemies in the battlefield, the chastiser of those who despised the Chola family, the cunning hero who killed Rājarāja after making him wear the double crown for three years, the subduer of the Pāṇḍyas and the Chēras, the plunderer of the Pāṇḍya country, (the hero) whose sword was clever in cutting off the crowned head of the Pāṇḍya king, he who placed his feet on the jewelled crown of the Pāṇḍya, who was death itself to the Karnāṭa king, who drowned the figure of the Kali Age in the ocean, and on whose leg Vīra Somēśvara, ‘ the wrestler of hill forts (the capturer of hill forts is better for giridurga-malla) placed (with his own hands) the anklet of heroes.’ He also lays claim in another record where he styles himself Mahārājādhirāja Tirubhuvana Chakravartin Rājēndra Choladēva, ‘ who took the crowned heads of two Pāṇḍya kings, and was entitled Konērimaikonḍān, to have made a gift to the temple of Tiruchirrambalam Uḍāiyar in the village of Nenpākam (modern Lepaka) in Pottappi Nāḍu, a sub-division of Rājēndraśoḷa-Maṇḍalam.¹ The recital of his deeds contained in the above extracts makes his position clear. He was a distinguished member of the Chola family (race of Manu).
c8.s2.2.3
His conquest of the Vīra Rākshasas does not from their location, refer to any conquest of Ceylon. It seems clearly to refer to the northern portion of the Chola dominions extending northwards into the territory of the Kākatīyas. The ‘ northern Lanka ’ here seems to be a variant of the old Tamil Māvilangai territory which at the time of Rājēndra III was under the Śambuvarāyans, and further north of them the Telugu-Cholas of Nellore, who were feudatories of the Kākatīyas. The reigning chief of Nellore, contemporary with Rājēndra was Manmasiddha, the patron of the Telugu poet Tikkana-Somayāji, the author of the Telugu Bhāratam and Nirvachanōttararāmāyaṇam. The latter work states of Manmasiddha that he was turned out of his kingdom by his cousins, but was restored by the Kākatiya king, Gaṇapati, through the poet's intervention.¹ He calls himself the ally of Rājendra Chola III, and the existence of the latter's records so far out as Cuddapah confirms this. It is likely that in the northern exploits of Rājendra III he got into alliance with the Nellore chief. The next following statement that he allowed Rājarāja to wear the double crown for three years and killed him afterwards is clearly a reference to his having helped Rājarāja to regain a considerable portion of his territory from the rebel chieftains within, the Pāṇḍya without, and it may be even Vīra Somēśvara in alliance with the latter.
c8.s2.2.4
That seems the condition reflected in the next following statement that Vīra Somēśvara was at first hostile to him and then submitted to the Chola, according to the Chola records; whereas apparently the same incident is referred to in Hoysala records that Vīra Somēśvara ‘uprooted’ Rājendra Chola in battle and reinstated him when he begged for protection. Thus then it is clear that during the last three years of the reign of Rājarāja III there was a civil war between Rājarāja III and Rājendra III, in which the Śambuvarāyans on the one side, the Pallava Kopperunjinga on the other within the Chola dominions, the Telugu-Chola Tikka, the father of Manmasiddha and later, Kākatiya Gaṇapati from the north, and Māravarman Sundara I, and later his successor Sundara II, and Vīra Somēśvara from the southern side, played each one his part and succeeded ultimately in crippling the power of the Cholas. Rājendra III's initial date falls in A.D. 1246, and he continued to rule for at least twenty-one years. He gave himself the title *Manukulamēduttaperumāḷ* (the king who raised the fame of the family of Manu, the ancient Chola) apparently in consequence of his efforts to maintain the power and prestige of the imperial Chola family.²
c8.s2.3
¹ Ep. Rep. 1912, sec. 32.
c8.s2.4
¹ Ep. Rep. 1908, sec. 75.
c8.s2.5
² Ep. Rep. 1911, p. 33, sec. 75.
c8.s2.6
Kaṇṇanūr : the Hoysala capital of the south ; the Bhojēśvara Temple (cor. of Hoysalēśvara Temple) (by permission of the Madras Archæological Department)
c8.s2.7
Divisions in the Chola Kingdom.—At the stage at which we have now arrived, we find the kingdom of the Cholas proper divided into three parts with a variety of political interests. The first is the territory extending south-wards from Chidambaram and the Veḷḷār to well into the interior of the present day district of Ramnad. This still continued to be nominally under the Cholas, constantly struggling to keep out the Pāṇḍya with the assistance of the Hoysala. The capital was still at Gaṅgaikoṇḍaśolapuram, and the northern frontier seems to have extended along the Uḍaiyārpāḷayam road to Kaṇṇanūr, north of Śrīraṅgam, which was the head-quarters of the Hoysala Someśvara. This last ruler was still in occupation of Kaṇṇanūr. The Chola for the time being was Rājēndra III, after the death of Rājarāja III, but Rājēndra’s territory to begin with seems to have lain farther north in the Chola country, and beyond that, into the territory of the Telugu-Choḍas of Nellore. He was the successful rival for the Chola throne and was in occupation of it about the year A.D. 1250.
c8.s2.8
The second was the territory nominally included in the Chola kingdom, but just outside of its boundary. It comprised the South Arcot district and was in the occupation of a family of Pallava chieftains of whom at the time Kopperuñjinga was the actual representative. He assumed titles such as *Sakalalokachakravarti* and *Avaniyāḷappirandān*, which indicate great power. He seems to have been a constant source of trouble to the Cholas, and to have allied himself with their enemies as occasion offered. On one occasion he was in alliance with Someśvara, but the latter was generally in alliance with Rājarāja III, to save whom from imprisonment by Kopperuñjinga he actually came into the Chola country. We find this Pallava chieftain in alliance with the Pāṇḍya ruler for the time being, Māravarman Sundara Pāṇḍya II, and later even with Jaṭāvarman Sundara I.
c8.s2.9
The third was the territory to the north embracing within it North Arcot and Chingleput, with an extension perhaps even into the farther north. This was the territory which probably was the actual sphere of Rājēndra III, but in which we find both Rājēndra III and the Śambuvarāyans at considerable conflict of interests. About the time that the Hoysalas intervened on behalf of the Cholas, the Telugu chieftain Tikka of Nellore entered the Chola country from the north, ostensibly in the interests of the Cholas, and apparently against the Pāṇḍyas and the Pallava chieftain of South Arcot. But having come, he showed no more inclination to retire to his territory than his contemporary, the Hoysala monarch. Rājēndra III therefore had first of all to struggle against the Śambuvarāyans, during which struggle he obtained assistance from Tikka, but later on he had to war against Tikka and his son Manmasiddha, and carry the war into their own territory into the districts of Nellore and Cuddapah. In this enterprise Rājēndra was on the whole successful. It was this success that ultimately paved his way to the Chola throne, and that is perhaps what is meant when his inscriptions state that he helped the Chola Rājarāja III to wear the double crown, and killed him at last. What exactly were the actual circumstances that led to the killing, we are not able to see. It is probable that Rājarāja’s subserviency to the Hoysala was objectionable to Rājēndra III, and finding it impossible to persuade him into a more vigorous policy he managed to get rid of him and ascend the throne in his stead. This act of his naturally put him at once into hostility with Somēśvara. Rājēndra’s records claim that he defeated Somēśvara, and compelled him to put the anklet of heroes on the Chola’s feet. On the other hand, the records of the Hoysala claim that Somēśvara defeated Rājēndra and bestowed upon him the Chola kingdom when he submitted. These apparently contradictory versions mean the same ultimately, that Rājēndra III and Somēśvara, the Hoysala, first of all fought against each other and afterwards came to an understanding between themselves. The cause of his unexpected peace perhaps was the advance of Māravarman Sundara Pāṇḍya II through the Chola territory in the Pudukoṭṭa State on which about this time the Pāṇḍya had established his hold, and the likelihood of his proceeding further north in alliance with the Pallava chieftain Kopperunjinga of Śendamangalam. We must now go back to consider the position of the Pāṇḍyas to whom we have had to make so many references in the course of our study of the history of the Cholas.