South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c8.s2.2
South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c8.s2.2
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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