The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c12.19.2

c12.19.2

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.