History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c5.14.4

c5.14.4

This happened at the end of the reign of Pulikesan II, and his son Vikramāditya was able to turn the tables upon the Pallavas and carry the war into their territory by a flank movement, so as to fight on the banks of the Kaveri near Trichinopoly against the Pallavas supported by all the Tamil powers this time. One of his successors was able to carry the war into Kanchi itself, occupied the town in his turn, and, instead of destroying it, as the Pallava Narasimhavarman had done at Vātāpi, their capital, not merely restored, but even made a fresh donation to the temple, showing thus distinctly that he was more humane in warfare than perhaps the Southern power. It is in revenge for this insult that Nandivarman Pallavamalla took the tide on the turn when, on the occasion of a marriage alliance brought about diplomatically between the Ganga princess, the daughter of Śrī Purusha Muttarasa, and the Pandyan prince, Neḍum-Śaḍaiyan Parāntaka, the donor of the Veḷvikuḍi plates, the Pallavas led the combination of the southern powers, in which the Pandyan minister got distinction, and inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Chāḷukyas at the battle of Veṇbai. Kīrtivarman II was so thoroughly defeated that the Chāḷukya power found it impossible to recover from the defeat. It is this again that was taken advantage of by the feudatory Rāshṭrakūṭa Dantidurga, himself, the son of a Chāḷukya princess to subvert the Chāḷukya power.