History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c24.12

v1.c24.12

He was succeeded by his son Rājarāja I, whom we know to have been reigning in 1075 A. D. An inscription discovered in the small village of Dirghāsi, four miles to the north of Kaliṅga-patam in the Ganjam district, records the erection of a maṇḍapa in front of the temple of Durgā at Dīrgharāśi or Dīrghāsi in the Śaka year 997-1075 A. D., by a Brāhmaṇa chieftain named Gaṇapati in the service of king Rājarāja of the Gaṅga dynasty. According to this inscription, Gaṇapati was a Pratihārin, hereditary in the family, and he defeated the army of the Choḷa king, often defeated the king of Veṅgī and destroyed the troops of the king of Utkala.¹ These references can be better understood by a reference to the Vizagapatam plates of Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga of the Śaka year 1040. In this inscription Rājarāja is said to have gained a great victory over the Choḷa king and then married his daughter Rājasundarī. The Choḷas are called Dramiḷas in this record. This Choḷa invasion is no doubt that of Kuloṭtuṅga Choḷa I, one of whose Tamil inscriptions has been discovered in the temple of Nṛisiṃha-svāmin at Siṃhāchalam near Waltair in the Vizagapatam district. This inscription is dated Śaka 1021-1099 A. D. It mentions a minister (Sāmdhi-vigrahin) named Madurāṃtaka-Brāhmamaṛayar.² As both parties claim the victory, the result of the Northern campaign of Kulottunga Chola I must be taken to be indecisive. Another factor in this war was the Eastern Chalukya king Vijayaditya of Vengi, who according to the Vizagapatam plates had grown old and was about to lose his kingdom to the Cholas. This is no doubt the Eastern Chalukya king, Vijayaditya VII, the younger brother of the Maharajadhiraja Rajaraja Vishnuvardhana of Vengi, who ascended the throne in 1022 A. D., and was married to Ammangadevi, a daughter of the great Rajendra Chola I of Tanjore. This king, Rajaraja Vishnuvardhana, ruled for 40 or 41 years, say upto 1063 A. D., and, therefore, his younger brother, Vijayaditya VII, who ruled at Vengi for 15 years becomes the contemporary of his nephew Kulottunga Chola I of Tanjore and Rajaraja, son of Vajrahasta III, of Kalinga. The Vizagapatam plates of Saka 1040 state that having rescued Vijayaditya VII from the Chola peril Rajaraja replaced him in the Western region. Rajaraja's marriage with the Chola princess Rajasundari has caused some difference of opinion among scholars. The late Mr. Monmohan Chakravarti was of the opinion that "this Chola king was Vira Rajendra Deva I, surnamed Parakesarivarman (A. D., 1052-70); and thus Coraganga became related to the great Chola king Kulottunga Chola I, as his sister's son."[1] This is clearly inadmissible, as the Vizagapatam plates of the Saka year 1057 state clearly that Rajasundari, the chief queen of Rajaraja, was the daughter of Rajendra Chola. The late Prof. Kielhorn, therefore, identificd this Rajendra Chola with Rajendra Chola II, alias Kulottunga Chola I.[2] Moreover, Kulottuṅga Choḷa I was not a son of Rājendradeva Parakeśarivarman, but of the Eastern Chālukya king Rājarāja from Ammaṅgadevī, the daughter of Rājendra Choḷa I. He married Madhurāntakī, a daughter of Rājendradeva.¹ This Kulottuṅga Choḷa I ruled at Veṅgī before his accession as Choḷa king at Tanjore.² The real object of his attack on his nephew, Vijayāditya VII of Veṅgī, was to add his ancestral possessions to the Choḷa empire. He married his daughter Rājasundarī to the Eastern Gaṅga king Rājarāja after being defeated by the latter.