The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c12.48

c12.48

The accession of Kulōttunga I marks a turning-point in the history of the Chola empire. This king was not of the direct Chola imperial line; he was an Eastern Chāḷukya prince; and many troubles seem to have attended the accession of a comparative stranger like him to the Chola throne. Whether as a result of his intrigues or not, the empire was reduced to a state of great confusion bordering on anarchy¹ and from these troubles it seems never to have completely recovered under Kulōttunga and his successors. At any rate, we do not find under Kulōttunga and his successors the same vigour in the administration of the empire that characterized the Vijayālaya line; and the Pāndya kingdom, now apparently freed from the presence of the Chola-Pāndya viceroys, slowly began to pass more and more under the domination of the descendants of its ancient rulers until at last it not only secured its own independence but helped a good deal to pull down the power of its erstwhile dominant foe. But before we take up this part of the story, something remains to be said about the administration of the Pāndya country under the imperial Cholas of the Vijayālaya line.