The Rashtrakutas and their Times c12.s2.6

c12.s2.6

The Kanyakumari inscription of Parāntaka states that the Chola king had himself fought with Kṛṣṇarāja and defeated him, earning thereby the title of Vīrachola.¹⁴ The time and place of the defeat are not stated; but the record, if not an empty boast, must be referring to some engagements that may have been fought before 944 A.D., wherein he may have scored some local successes. But these were minor ones and did not affect the main issue; for, we have overwhelming evidence to show that Kṛṣṇa III was occupying Tondai-Maṇḍalam from c. 944 to the end of his reign. Siddhalingamādam inscription from South Arcot district, dated in the fifth year of Kṛṣṇa's reign, refers to the conquest of Kanchi and Tanjai or Tanjore;¹⁵ the Solapuram inscription from North Arcot district is dated in Śaka year 871 or 949-50 A.D., the year in which the emperor Kannaradevavallabha, having pierced Rājāditya, entered Tondai-Maṇḍalam;¹⁶ an inscription from the Ukkala Viṣṇu temple in the North Arcot district is dated in the 16th year of his reign and mentions him again as the conqueror of Kanchi and Tanjore.¹⁷ The same is the case with two inscriptions from Tiru in Chingleput district, dated in the 17th and 19th year of Kaṇṇaradeva.¹⁸ The Karhad plates¹⁹ were issued in 959 A.D., when Kṛṣṇa was encamped at Melpati in North Arcot district, engaged in parcelling out the territory there among his servants, and accepting heavy tributes from the lords of Maṇḍalas. An inscription from Vellore²⁰ district is dated in the 26th year of his reign. The very fact that so many inscriptions hailing from the territory usually governed by the Cholas and Pallavas are dated in Kṛṣṇa's reign shows, especially when considered in the light of the Karhad plates, that the whole of Tondai-Maṇḍalam was directly administered by Kṛṣṇa III throughout the major part of his reign.