The Colas c19.43

c19.43

therefore, that the future Vīrarājēndra was also present on this field; and if that was so, this battle must be treated as identical with that of Kūḍal-Śangamam of the records of Vīrarājēndra. A long description of this battle of Kūḍal-Śangamam, with some details not found in Rājēndra's records, is given in Vīrarājēndra's inscriptions even of the second year¹¹² (A.D. 1063-4). It seems hardly likely that two first-class engagements took place on the same field in less than three or four years. In some of his later inscriptions¹¹³ occur expressions which imply that Vīrarājēndra had taken part in the fight at Muḍakkāṟu before he became king, and that, in consequence, he came to be called Iraṭṭarāja-kula-kālan. If this view is correct, at least three Cōḷas were present at the battle of Kūḍal-Śangamam and took part in the fight: the king Rājēndradēva, the heir-apparent Rājamahēndra, and the king's brother Vīra-Cōḷa Karikāla (Vīrarājēndra), whose achievements came to be recorded in his inscriptions in detail when, after the death of Rājamahēndra, he became heir-apparent and later king.