The Colas c18.49.2

c18.49.2

From this Venkayya concluded that Māpappāḷam must be a place in the Talaing country of Lower Burma, and he has been followed by other writers who have proceeded to make other identifications on this basis.¹¹⁹ In fact it seems at first sight that this mention of Pappāḷam in an expedition against Rāmaññadēśa violently contradicts the assumption that all the places captured by Rājēndra were dependent on Palembang and within easy reach of it. Coedès however, draws attention to the fact that the long list of the grievances which Parākrambāhu had against the ruler of Rāmañña ends with his capture by force of a Sinhalese princess whom the ruler of Laṅkā had sent to the Kāmbhōja country;¹²⁰ and suggests that 'as it is infinitely probable that the messengers going from Ceylon to Kāmbhōja passed by the isthmus of Kra, it is in this region that the abduction (of the princess) must have been committed, and consequently, the authority of the king of Pagan might have extended so far.'¹²¹ In the beginning of the eleventh century, however, the suzerainty of Palembang extended up to the Bay of Bandon, and there is no difficulty therefore in assuming that Māpappāḷam was a locality in the region of the isthmus of Kra, though its exact identity cannot now be made out.