The Colas c20.2

c20.2

Vīrarājēndra died early in A.D. 1070, the eighth year of his reign. He was succeeded on the throne by Parakēsari Adhirājēndra who had a very short reign of some weeks' duration and was followed by Rājakēsari Kulōttunga Cōḷa I on 9 June A.D. 1070.¹ As we find inscriptions of Adhirājēndra dated in his third year, and as the exact date of Kulōttunga's accession is quite clearly attested by his dated stone inscriptions from the Telugu country, it is evident that Adhirājēndra must have been chosen heir-apparent by Vīrarājēndra some time in 1067-8. Adhirājēndra's relation to Vīrarājēndra may be inferred from the explicit statement in the *Vikramāṅkadēva Carita* that on the death of his father-in-law, Vikramāditya started for Kāñcī and Gaṅgākuṇḍapura in order to place his wife's brother on the Cōḷa throne.² Why his reign was so short and how the Eastern Cāḷukya prince Rājēndra II came to occupy the Cōḷa throne in 1070 are questions that do not admit of decisive answers. The evidence bearing on them proceeds from several quarters. These various sources differ so much from one another, and suggest so many explanations of the occurrences that the conviction is borne in upon us that almost every one of our authorities had strong motives to put forward a separate version of the course of events.