The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c13.35

c13.35

According to the *Mahāvamśa* the war was undertaken after the sixteenth year of Parākramabāhu I, i.e. after A.D. 1168-9. But the Ārpākkam inscription of Rājādhirāja is dated in his fifth year which began in A.D. 1167 and shows that the war must have begun before that date. It is not easy to say whether the discrepancy is due to an error in the *Mahāvamśa* chronology or in that of the Arpākkam record. Attention may be drawn however to the fact that in the Arpākkam record and in some others¹ the Chola king is called Parakēsarivarman whereas the usual epithet of Rājādhirāja II (*acc.* A.D. 1163) is Rājākēsarivarman. It must also be noticed that if Śrīvallabha reigned till A.D. 1169 the war commenced more probably after A.D. 1168-9. In any case, the error is not much and the exact manner of adjusting it will have to be decided after further study.²