The Colas c17.37
The Cōḷas c17.37
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c17.37.1
The history of the reign may be concluded with an account of the leading officials and feudatories who distinguished themselves in the royal service. Mention has been made already of the place held by Mahādaṇḍanāyaka Pañcavan Mahārāya, (probably identical with the crown-prince) the sphere of whose command extended over the Ganga and Vēṅgī *maṇḍalas*, and the Noḷamba feudatories of the king in the Ganga country. Paraman Maḷapāḍiyār *alias* Mummuḍi-śōḻan was a general who conquered the Śīṭpuli and Pāki *nāḍus* early in this reign. In the Trichinopoly district, the Paḻuvēṭṭaraiyar, of uncertain origin but closely allied to the royal family from the days when Parāntaka I married a Paḻuvēṭṭaraiyar princess, were occupying a respected position, and were apparently in the enjoyment of full responsibility for the administration of a small area around Paḻuvūr. The inscriptions of Aḍigaḷ Paḻuvēṭṭaraiyār Kaṇḍan Maṟavan, which clearly acknowledge the overlordship of Rājarāja are found in Kīḻa- and Mēlappaḻuvūr from the third year of the reign and show him ruling in state.
c17.37.2
He had for instance officers or nobles of the *perundaram*, like the Cōḷa monarchs and princes themselves.⁹¹ This chieftain built a temple of Tiruttōṟṟam-uḍaiyār in Mēlappaḻuvūr,⁹² and adopted the ancient standard prevailing at Nandipuram for regulating taxation in Paḻuvūr.⁹³ The latest records mentioning him seem to be dated in the fifteenth year of Rājarāja.⁹⁴ Madhurāntakan Gaṇḍarādittan, apparently a son of Madhurāntaka Uttama Cōḷa,⁹⁵ served Rājarāja as an important official in the department of temple-affairs, so to say. We see him conducting enquiries into the affairs of temples in various parts of the country, punishing defaulters⁹⁶ and making proper arrangements for the prevention of neglect in subsequent years. He has been wrongly identified with Gaṇḍarādittar, the author of the *Tiruviśaippā*, which was in reality composed by his grandfather.⁹⁷ In the district of North Arcot there were the Iḷāḍarāya (Lāṭa) chieftains who had apparently been ruling the region round Pañcapāṇḍavamalai continuously from the days of Parāntaka I; in the eighth year of Rājarāja, Uḍaiyār Vīraśōḷar, son of Uḍaiyār Iḷāḍarājar Pugaḻvippavargaṇḍan, remitted, at the request of his queen, some taxes in favour of a Jain temple.⁹⁸ The regal titles employed in the inscriptions of these chieftains are perhaps an indication of the high favour in which they stood with their Cōḷa overlords.
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In the sixteenth year of the reign of Rājarāja, we find mention, in a Tiruvallam inscription,⁹⁹ of a Tiruvaiyan Śaṅkaradēva who claimed descent from the Gaṅga kings of Kōlār and built at Tiruvallam a temple called Tiruvaiya-Īśvara apparently after his father. The high-sounding titles that precede the name of this obscure chieftain constitute a clear warning against hasty inferences from such titles in regard to the political status of the person employing them. Nannamarāyar of the Vaidumba family, the son of Tukkarai who possessed the Ingallūr-nāḍu in Mahārājapāḍi, in the Cuddapah district, gave an endowment at Tiruvallam in North Arcot about a.d. 1005.¹⁰⁰ Like the Vaidumbas, the Bāṇas, who shared the same fate with them at the hands of Parāntaka I, seem to have become officers sharing in the administration of the country under the Cōḷas.
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A Bāṇa prince, Maravan Narasimhavarman, whose records commence with the usual introduction of Rājarāja and then proceed to give the traditional titles of the Bāṇas in all their fullness, was apparently ruling some part of the South Arcot district in the neighbourhood of Jambai towards the close of Rājarāja’s reign, as we learn that he excavated a new irrigation tank in that locality.¹⁰¹ The Tanjore inscriptions mention Sēnāpati Śrī Kṛṣṇan Rāman of Amaṇ-kuḍi,¹⁰² who is called Rājēndraśōḻa Brahmamārāyan in the larger Leyden grant,¹⁰³ as the person who built the *tiruccuṟṟālai*, the surrounding enclosure and *maṇḍapa* of the Tanjore temple under the king's orders. Īrāyiravan Pallavaraiyan *alias* Mummuḍi-sōḻapōśan was another officer of *perundaram* rank who presented an image and some jewels to the Tanjore temple.¹⁰⁴ He was doubtless a high official in the secretariat of the revenue department as we find him attesting the Leyden grant and an important inscription from Ukkal¹⁰⁵ relating to revenue settlement. Sēnāpati Kụṟavan Ulagaḷandān *alias* Rājarāja Mahārājan who is also mentioned in the Tanjore inscriptions,¹⁰⁶ apparently got his surname Ulagaḷandān (one who measured the world) after carrying out the revenue survey which began in the sixteenth year (A.D.
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1001), formed one of the most original and important administrative achievements of the reign¹⁰⁷ and furnished the basis for the revenue policy for many years thereafter, as can be seen from the numerous references to the survey in subsequent records.