The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.143

v3.c29.143

Reverting to the history of this struggle between the kingdoms, the Cholas had the upper hand to begin with, and carried all before them in the days of Rājarāja and his son, leaving to the Chālukyas the possession of only Banavāsi, one of the three divisions of what is now the State of Mysore. It has already been stated that Rājēndra held possession of important fortresses on this frontier which are often described as 'the key to the south,' or 'the bolt against the south.' He seems to have inflicted a defeat upon his contemporary Chālukya Jayasimha, but does not appear to have pressed the enemy farther. When he died, in the forty-fourth year of his reign, he was succeeded by three of his sons, one after another. His immediate successor carried the war into his enemy's country, as far north as Kolhāpur itself. By this time the Chālukya territories were under the rule of Sōmēsvara Āhavamalla (or 'the Great in War'). Sōmēsvara was able to hold up the Chola army at Koppa on the Krishna, a few miles south-east of Kolhāpur, and after a strenuous fight the day went against the Cholas, Rājādhirāja falling in battle. His younger brother, who brought up reinforcements, retrieved the fortunes of the day, and claims to have set up a pillar of victory in Kolhāpur itself. The war continued between Sōmēsvara and the next Chola brother who succeeded these two with varying fortunes. In the course of one of the wars Sōmēsvara seems to have entrusted the southern division of his kingdom, the most vulnerable at the time, to his second and most talented son, who afterwards ascended the throne as Vikramāditya. This Prince did his utmost to maintain his position in the south and carried the war into the Chola country itself, but was checked on the banks of the Tungabhadra by the energetic Chola ruler Vīra Rājēndra. Vikramāditya tried diplomacy when war failed, and seems to have created a diversion against Vīra Rājēndra on the eastern Chālukya frontier. He ultimately succeeded in coming to an understanding with Vīra Rājēndra in regard to the debatable frontier, the treaty being sealed by the marriage of Prince Vikramāditya with Vīra Rājēndra's daughter. While these negotiations were still in progress, the Chālukya king Sōmēsvara had an attack of a malignant fever and died, in obedience to religious advice, by drowning himself in the Tungabhadra. His eldest son Sōmēsvara succeeded to the throne. At the same time the other enterprising Chālukya prince Kulottunga attempted to seize the Chola throne. Records bearing on this affair are laconic, merely stating that Vikramāditya entered the Chola capital Gangaikonda-Solapuram, a new foundation of Rājēndra, the Gangaikonda Chola, and placed on the throne his brother-in-law, who, however, was immediately deposed by his subjects. Whether Kulottunga, the Chālukya prince, had any share in this is not known; but that he actually occupied the throne and succeeded to the kingdom is undoubted. His father died seven years before this at Rājahmundry, his ancestral capital. There is nothing to show that Kulottunga ever occupied his father's throne at Rājamandri. He seems to have remained in the territory of the Cholas in the region round Kānchi, and let others govern the Eastern Chālukya territory, perhaps in his name. Kulottunga occupied the Chola throne from 1070 to 1118 at least, and his contemporary Vikramāditya ascended the throne six years later and continued to rule till 1128.