The Colas c17.24

c17.24

Rājarāja's intercession in Vēṅgī affairs was the direct and natural result of the political development of the early years of his reign, rather than of any diplomatic design to dissociate the Eastern Cāḷukyas from their Western cousins.⁵⁵ If Rājarāja and his successors found it easier to spread their power along the east coast than across the Tuṅgabhadrā, this was partly due to the different conditions in which the Eastern and the Western Cāḷukyas found themselves when the Cōḷas entered on their imperial career under Rājarāja. After more than three centuries of rule in Vēṅgī marked by many wars with the Rāṣṭrakūṭas of Western Deccan, the Eastern Cāḷukyas had become an old and decrepit race, and their kingdom was falling a prey to disputed successions and anarchy. The coming of the Cōḷas brought fresh blood into the family and became a source of strength to this declining dynasty which, sustained for nearly a century by the Cōḷas in a position of respected though subordinate alliance, soon after, more than repaid the debt by contributing largely to the continuance of the Cōḷa empire under Kulōttuṅga I and his successors, the Cōḷa-Cāḷukyas, as they are sometimes called. The Western Cāḷukyas, on the other hand, had just emerged under Taila II, after centuries of subordination to with the aid of the Kolanu chief Nṛpa Kāma whose daughter he married, and put an end to Tāla’s rule some time before 955, possibly even killed him in battle as hinted by the Pabhuparṟu grant of Śaktivarman I which says that Amma despatched a *dāyāda* of his to heaven.⁶⁰ But very soon after the Vēṅgī kingdom was invaded in force by Kṛṣṇa III, and Amma sought refuge in Kalinga a second time; it was after the eleventh year of his reign (956) that according to the Māṅgallu plates, Amma fled to Kalinga a second time.⁶¹ The government of Vēṅgī was now entrusted by Kṛṣṇa to Dānārṇava who was also supported by a party hostile to Amma within Vēṅgī. But when the Rāṣṭrakūṭa withdrew, Amma returned to Vēṅgī and apparently made it up with Dānārṇava, and once more ruled the kingdom for some time. At last Dānārṇava rose once again and having killed Amma in battle, took the throne for himself (970).⁶²