The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c12.19
The Pāṇḍyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c12.19
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It is not known if Madhurāntaka Uttama Chola undertook any expedition against Madura as his biruda may imply, or as seems more likely, if he only inherited his title from his father Gaṇḍarāditya who has been identified with Maduraikoṇḍa Rājakēsari of the inscriptions.² At any rate, there is no reason to doubt that the Chola power was not fully restored in the Pāndya country by the success of Aditya II and that later, it became more firmly established in the time of the great Rāja Rāja I who came to the Chola throne in A.D. 985. That Rāja Rāja took great credit for his conquest of the Pāndya country is clear from his inscriptions. A record of the twenty-ninth year of Rāja Rāja says, for instance, ‘that he deprived the Śeliyas (i.e. the Pāndyas) of (their) splendour at the very moment when (they were) resplendent (to such a degree) that (they were) worthy to be worshipped everywhere.’³ But we know little of the details. ‘It is in inscriptions of the eighth year A.D. 994) of the king's reign that the usual historical introduction, beginning with the words *Tirumakaḷpōla*, which was evidently composed after the conquest of the Pāṇdyas, occurs for the first time' (Venkayya) and the conquest of the south may be taken to have far advanced by that time.
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The little that is known of the campaigns of this conquest has been summarised by Venkayya¹ as follows: 'In his first campaign the king is said to have destroyed a fleet in the port of Kāṇḍaḷūr, which appears to have been situated in the dominions of the Chera king. The Tiruvālaṅgāḍu plates which furnish a lengthy account of Rāja Rāja's campaigns do not mention this item at all. They begin with the war against the Pāṇdyas and report that Rāja Rāja seized the Pāṇdya king, Amarabhujanga, and that the Chola general captured the port of Viḷiñam. Perhaps, Kāṇḍaḷūr or Kāṇḍaḷūr Śālai was near Viḷiñam. It is not unlikely that the Chola king fought on more than one occasion against the Pāṇdyas. The Cheras and the Pāṇdyas appear to have been allied together in their war against the Chola king, for in the Tanjore inscriptions reference is frequently made to the conquest of the Chera king and the Pāndyas in Malainādu, i.e. the west coast. Kāndalūr Śālai which is stated to belong to the Chera king in later inscriptions was probably held by the Pāndyas when it was attacked by Rāja Rāja.¹ Many inscriptions of Rāja Rāja have been found in various places in the Pāndya country and these range from the ninth to the twentieth years of his reign. Other facts also show that the Chola suzerainty in the Pāndya country was firmly established by Rāja Rāja.
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Even the name of the Pāndya country undergoes a change and becomes Rāja-rāja-Mandalam or Raja-rāja-Pāndinādu in the Chola records;¹ and we come to hear of a sub-division Pāndya-kulāśani-valanādu for the first time in the age of Rāja Rāja or possibly a little earlier.² Among the queens of Rāja Rāja is one Pancavanmahādēvi referred to in inscriptions from the tenth year of Rāja Rāja (No. 254 of 1907); and in the twenty-eighth year of the king a grant is made by one of his queens Vēmban Śīrudaiyār alias Mīnavan Mahādēviyār.³ Rāja Rāja apparently also used the Pāndya country as a base for a successful raid on Ceylon between the seventeenth and twentieth years of his reign.⁴ A Tanjore inscription of the twenty-fourth year of Rāja Rāja⁵ contains an order dealing with defaulters in land-revenue in Pāndinādu alias Rāja-rāja-valanādu, among others. Above all, Rāja Rāja's son and successor Rājēndra inherited the Pāndya country from his father. His Inscriptions are found in places like Tinnevelly and Cape Comorin in the Pāndya country which he does not claim to have conquered.¹ Rājēndra’s relations with the Pāndya kingdom can be traced clearly from the records of his time. The Pāndyas of the old line seem to have continued their rule in a subordinate capacity; an inscription in the third year of Rājēndra (No. 46 of 1907) from Tiruvīsalūr in the Tanjore district, records a gift of ornaments by the queen of the Pāndya king, Śrīval-luvar. In the sixth year of his reign, A.D.
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1017, or a little earlier, Rājēndra undertook his famous expedition against Ceylon in which he seized ‘the crown of the king of Īlam (on) the tempestuous ocean; the exceeding-ly fine crowns of the queens of that (king); the beautiful crown and the necklace of Indra which the king of the South (i.e. the Pāndya) had previously deposited with that (king of Īlam); the whole Īla-mandala (on) the transparent sea.’² Rājēndra was also called Madhu-rāntaka and Uttamachola; these names were perhaps given him by his father Rāja Rāja who had a great regard for his father’s cousin Madhurāntaka Uttama-chola. It seems more likely that two coins, one of gold and the other of impure silver, bearing the legend Uttamachola in grantha characters and the tiger and fish designs were issued by Rājēndra rather than by the earlier Uttamachola who was the contemporary of Rāja Rāja.³ In the tenth year of his reign or very soon after, surely before the twelfth, Rājendra had to undertake an expedition against the Madura country in order to reassert his authority which seems to have been challenged in some way or other. The early inscriptions of the king dated before his tenth year make no mention of any conquest of Maduramaṇḍalam; and we hear of it for the first time in a record of his twelfth year from Tirumalai.¹ It is possible that this reconquest is referred to in verses 91-93 of the Sanskrit portion of the Tiruvālaṅgāḍu plates.² ‘The daṇḍanātha of this crest jewel of the solar race (i.e.
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Madhurāntaka), struck the Pāndya king who had a powerful army. (And) the Pāndya, leaving his own country from fear of Madhurāntaka, sought refuge in the Malaya hill which was the residence of (the sage) Agastya. (Then) the politic son of Rāja Rāja took possession of the lustrous pure pearls which looked like the seeds (out of which grew) the