South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c9.s2.2

c9.s2.2

The Telugu Choḍas.—The northern power whose records state in clear terms an intervention in behalf of the Chola was that of the Telugu Choḍa chieftains of Nellore, known in inscriptions as Simhavikramapura or Vikramasimhapura. Under five generations of rulers these had gained possession of the northern districts of the Chola empire and even held possession of the town of Kāñchi, the head-quarters of the northern viceroyalty. Inscriptions of Manmasiddha and his brother Tammusiddha are available relating to early thirteenth century. The son of the former, Tikka by name, claims to have captured Kāñchi and defeated Sōmēśa at Champāpuri, (Śambuvarāyanallūr, near Tiruvallam) in the district of North Arcot, the country primarily of the Śambuvarāyans. His son Manmasiddha, who seems otherwise called Gaṇḍagopāla, which had become more or less a family title, was active in that region and having been dispossessed, sought and obtained the help of the contemporary Kākatīya ruler Gaṇapati. With his assistance, he fastened his hold on Kāñchī till the rival Chola Prince, Rājēndra Chola, rose to power and turned both Manmasiddha and Gaṇapati backwards perhaps as far as Nellore in the forties of the thirteenth century. He was followed by another ruler of that family usually known as Vijayagaṇḍagopāla, whose reign lasted from about A.D. 1250 to 1292. He was succeeded by a son of his Vīragaṇḍagopāla. These continued to be subordinate to the authority of the Cholas so long as the Chola power lasted, and afterwards perhaps to the Pāṇḍya, as we have already seen the great Pāṇḍya, Jaṭāvarman Sundara I, carried his arms successfully as far north as Nellore and performed there ‘the anointment of the victorious warrior.’