The Colas c14.8

c14.8

The date thus obtained for the beginning of Vijayālaya's rule is some years earlier than the date of the accession to the Pāṇḍyan kingdom of Varaguṇavarman, who sustained defeat at Śrī Puṛambiyam, near Kumbakōṇam in the Tanjore district. The power of the Pāṇḍyas was still, at the accession of Varaguṇa, quite considerable in spite of the set-back it suffered after the battle of the Ariśil in the reign of his father.¹³ At this time, moreover, the enterprising chieftains known to history as the Muttaraiyar were in possession of part of the fertile delta land in the Tanjore district; their inscriptions come from Śendalai¹⁴ and clearly describe them as ruling Tanjore also, though they had their head-quarters at Śendalai or Niyamam. Like the Cōḷas, the Muttaraiyar found it impossible to set up an independent rule, and had to support themselves by clinging to the Pāṇḍyas or the Pallavas.