The Colas c13.15

c13.15

Cāḷukya and Pāṇḍya grants. The Vēlūrpāḷaiyam plates describe Buddhavarmā of the late fourth or early fifth century a.d. as 'the submarine fire to the ocean of the Cōḷa army.’²² Again, Siṁhaviṣṇu (c. a.d. 575-600) is stated to have seized the Cōḷa country watered by the Kāvēri and adorned by groves of areca-palms and rich paddy fields.²³ About the same time the Cāḷukyas claim to have conquered the Cōḷas²⁴; either the claim is false, or the Rēnāṇḍu Cōḷas are meant. Mahēndravarman (c. a.d. 600-630) was proud of his sway over the Cōḷa country; and in his inscriptions the Trichinopoly rock is called the crown of the Cōḷa country,²⁵ and Lord Śiva enjoins the king to build a temple for him on the rock as otherwise he would miss the sight of the rich splendour of the land of the Cōḷas²⁶. In a grandiose and apparently meaningless enumeration of kings overthrown by Narasimhavarman I (c. a.d. 630-660), the Kūram grant (of Paramēśvara-varman I) includes the Cōḷa among the countries conquered by him.²⁷ The Aihōḷe inscription of Pulakēśin II (a.d. 634) states that he confined the power of the Pallavas inside the four walls of Kāñcīpuram and thus brought prosperity to the Cōḷa, Kērala and Pāṇḍya.²⁸ Vikramāditya I, the successor of Pulakēśin II, also claims conquest of the Cōḷa country, and his Gadvāl plates (a.d. 674) mention his victorious camp in the ancient Cōḷa capital Uṟaiyūr on the southern bank of the Kāvēri.²⁹ The Vēḷvikuḍi grant tells us that the Pāṇḍya king Kōccaḍaiyan Raṇadhīra (c. a.d. 710-40) assumed the title Śembiyan, among others, thereby implying that a part of the traditional Cōḷa country passed under his sway. The Trichinopoly inscription³⁰ of Māṟañjaḍaiyan calls him the *tilaka* of two races, the lunar and the solar. The Cōḷas are counted by the Śinnamanūr plates among the allies of the Pallavas who sustained a severe defeat near Kumbakōṇam at the hands of Śrī Māra Śrī-Vallabha (c. a.d. 815-62).