The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c13.58

c13.58

The intervention of Kulōttunga III in favour of Vikrama was apparently the last occasion on which the Cholas were able to interfere effectively in the affairs of the southern kingdom. ‘Either during the latter portion of his reign or on his death, the power of the Cholas seems to have declined, though the causes cannot now be easily ascertained. He was succeeded about the year A.D. 1216 by his son Tribhuvanacakravartin Rājarājadēva III whose capacity for military organization does not appear to have been very high. He has no exploits to boast of. . . . It was evidently the weakness of the Cholas that led to the occupation of the Chola country by the Hoysalas under Vīra Sōmēśvara and to the conquest of Kānchi by the Kākatīya king Ganapati.’² After the close of the civil dissensions in the Pāndya country brought about by Kulōttunga’s intervention, the Pāndya kings appear to have recovered remarkably and it turned out that Kulōttunga had thus only increased the difficulties of his successor and forced him to seek the help of the Hoysalas—a step which only added still further to his troubles and those of the Chola empire. But we are touching on the political conditions out of which was to grow the Second Empire of the Pāndyas which lasted in great power throughout the thirteenth century A.D.