The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c7.5.3

c7.5.3

It seems that his enemies took the offensive, greatly underrating the strength of the youthful ruler and hoping for an easy partition of his territory among themselves.² Neḍuñjeḷiyan had to begin his fights almost at the gates of Madura (*Aham* 116) and pursue his foes up to the scene of the decisive engagement in the Tanjore District. It must have been in this campaign that Māndaram Chēral Irumporai, the son of the Chera King of the Elephant-look must have been captured alive, as is seen from *Puram* 17, in literal fulfilment of Neḍuñjeḷiyan's vow referred to above (*Puram* 72). After thus surmounting his initial difficulties in the defensive war that was forced on him by his jealous and aggressive neighbours, Neḍuñjeḷiyan appears to have taken the offensive in his turn and won substantial successes against his foes. Two separate campaigns seem to be mentioned, one against the Kongu chief, an Adigan, the chief event of the war being an engagement in a place somewhere near Uṟaiyūr;³ and another against the Nīdūr chieftain Evvi which resulted in the annexation to the Pāndyan kingdom of the Miḷalaikkūṟram and the Muttūṟrukkūṟram, apparently territories in the modern district of Tanjore.⁴ That this king was a follower of Brahminical Hinduism is clear from the reference to a vedic sacrifice performed by him with the assistance of Brahmins learned in the Vedas.