History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c12.42

c12.42

The details of the Pallava-Chālukya campaign are not clearly known from any records, but it is certain that success did not uniformly attend on the Chālukya invader. The Kūram record already referred to, which belongs to this period, after giving an elaborate account of the martial exploits of Paramēśvaravarman I mentions in particular the fact that he made Vikramāditya ‘whose army consisted of several *lakshas* take to flight covered only by a rag.’¹ Similarly the Vēlūrpāḷayam record² makes pointed reference to Paramēśvaravarman having crushed the conceit of his enemies like the sun destroying the mists. Neither of these grants furnishes any detail which might help us to locate the exact place where the Pallava and the Chālukyan forces met in battle. This very important detail is obtained from the Udayēndiram plates³ which mention the name of the site of battle as Peruvaḷanallūr which we may correctly identify with the village of Peruvaḷanallūr in the Lalgudi taluk of the Trichinopoly District. As we know that the Gadval plates mention the important detail that the Chālukya emperor was encamped in Uragapuram, this identification receives added confirmation, especially as this place lies a few miles from this village. The campaign between the Pallavas and the Chōḷas must have been therefore conducted in and around the town of Trichinopoly. A glowing description of the battle is given in the Kūram plates from which we learn that Paramēśvaravarman’s war-elephant was called Arivāraṇa and that his horse was known as Atiśaya.⁴