The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c14.20

c14.20

Rāja Rāja III ruled from A.D. 1216 to about A.D. 1243. About A.D. 1220-23 must have taken place the first invasion of Māravarman Sundara Pāndya, and the conquest and restitution of the Chola country recorded in his inscription of the seventh year. A record of Hoysala Vīra Narasimha II in the year A.D. 1222 states that he was marching against Śrīrangam in the south while another dated two years later, A.D. 1224, calls him the establisher of the Chola kingdom.¹ Then, there is the gestion is supported by references to a Periyanāyaṇār Vikrama Pāṇdyadēva in the records of both these rulers.¹ Māravarman Sundara Pāṇdya's records often contain a fairly long and ornate introduction beginning பூமருவிய திருமந்தையும் (e.g. No. 49 of 1890), which is of considerable interest to the historian.² His well-known Tirupparankuṇram inscription (No. 49 of 1890) is dated in the seventh year of his reign and furnishes very important and interesting particulars; while another record dated thirteen years later (No. 140 of 1894) from Tinnevelly tells us a little more about the intervening years.³ The earlier record tells us that after his coronation, the Pāṇdyas extended their sway at the expense of the Cholas and refers to an expedition of Sundara Pāṇdya against the Chola country in the course of which he set fire to the cities of Tanjore and Uraiyūr and laid waste the surrounding country. The Chola king had to seek refuge in flight and then the Pāṇdyan invader celebrated a *Vīrābhiṣeka* in the coronation hall of the Cholas. After that he proceeded north to worship at the shrine of Naṭarāja in Chidambaram. Apparently, during his sojourn in Chidambaram, he sent for his defeated enemy saying that he would restore to him the country and crown that he had recently lost; and the Chola king returned and together with his son prostrated before the royal seat of the victorious Pāndya; the victor, true to his word, restored the crown and country of the Chola in the form of a religious gift, which was confirmed by the issue of a royal rescript with the Pāndyan seal on it and the title of Choḷapati to the vanquished ruler. So much we learn from the record of the seventh year. It may also be noted that in the records of the seventh and subsequent years Sundara Pāndya gets one or another of the titles சோணாடு கொண்டருளிய, சோணாடு கொண்டு முடி கொண்ட சோழபுரத்து வீரர் அபிஷேகம் பண்ணியருளிய and சோணாடு வழங்கியருளிய, the first title appearing even as early as the third year of the king (No. 362 of 1906).