The Colas c14.5

c14.5

vālangāḍu plates⁴ quaintly affirm that Vijayālaya caught hold of Tanjore for his pleasure as if the city were his lawful spouse, and that he founded a temple to goddess Niṣumbhasūdinī (Durgā). Hultzsch suggested that some Parakēsari inscriptions from such distant places as Kāñcīpuram and Śucīndram may be assigned to Vijayālaya;⁵ though naturally one may doubt if he became so powerful as to leave stone inscriptions over so extensive a territory at such an early stage in the rise of the Cōḷas, evidence is increasing that this king was really powerful, and in a record of his third year from Vīracōḷapuram in Tirukōyilūr taluq of South Arcot he is clearly described as *Tañjai-koṇḍa parakēsari*, Parakēsari the captor of Tanjore⁶. Some of the parakēsari records near about Tanjore are unquestionably his.⁷ In a record of the fifth year of Vikrama Cōḷa from Kīlputtūr in the North Arcot district, there is a specific reference to a stone inscription of the fourth year of Vijayālaya. Possibly Vijayālaya, though a vassal of the Pallava ruler, still dated records in his own regnal years—a privilege exercised by certain vassals at all times and by all of them when the power of their suzerain was on the decline.