The Colas c14.34

c14.34

It must be admitted, however, that our view of the relation between the Cōḷas and the Pallavas in the time of Vijayālaya and in the early years of Āditya I is not final. It is quite likely that the aggrandisement of Vijayālaya at the expense of the Muttaraiyar had nothing whatever to do with the struggle between the Pāṇḍyas and the Pallavas. In that case, Vijayālaya took advantage of the confusion in the borderland between the dominions of the Pāṇḍyas and the Pallavas, and his son also gained by the weakening of both after Śrī Purambiyam. See, however, *EI.* xix p. 87 n. 6. Yet another view may be taken: The Muttaraiyar being allies of the Pallavas, the Cōḷas may, under Vijayālaya, have found occasion to join the Pāṇḍyas and to throw off the Pallava yoke. On this supposition the capture of Tanjore by Vijayālaya would be at once an act of aggression undertaken by him against the Pallava, to favour the Pāṇḍya, and a decisive step in the assertion of Cōḷa independence from Pallava suzerainty. On this assumption, it is not unlikely that Āditya fought on Varaguṇa’s side at Śrī Purambiyam. An objection to this view is the difficulty of explaining how, after the defeat he suffered on this occasion, Āditya recovered sufficiently to overthrow Aparājita later, and why Aparājita failed, after his success at Śrī Purambiyam, to reassert his supremacy over the Cōḷa.