The Colas c20.23

c20.23

To sum up the results of the discussion. Despite the statement in the *Kalingattupparaṇi* that Vīrarājēndra made Kulōttunga his crown prince, the evidence of Adhirājēndra's inscriptions, the *Vikramāṅkadēva Carita* and the *Vikramaśōḻanulā* makes it clear that this could not have happened, and that, consequently, we have to assume that the court-poet of Kulōttunga introduced this story to give validity to Kulōttunga's title to the Cōḷa throne. There is no direct statement even by Jayangoṇḍār that Kulōttunga was either adopted into the Cōḷa family or that he was brought up in the Cōḷa court. The copper-plate grants of the Eastern Cāḷukyas, those of Vijayāditya VII, of Śaktivarman II and of the sons of Kulōttunga himself, together with the early Tamil records of Kulōttunga's reign, lead us to reconstruct the period of Kulōttunga's youth and his career until he came to the Cōḷa throne somewhat as follows. At the time of his father's death, his uncle Vijayāditya made himself master of the Vēṅgī kingdom and kept the prince Rājēndra, as he was then called, out of his inheritance. Alone and unaided, he sought a life of adventure across the Vēṅgī frontier in the land of Cakrakūṭa (Bastar). Possibly he carved a small principality for himself and after making his peace with his uncle Vijayāditya, especially as, after the death of Śaktivarman II, this must have been easy, he bided his time hoping that in some manner he might gain the Cōḷa throne for himself. The confusion that followed the death of Vīrarājēndra in the internal affairs of the Cōḷa kingdom helped him to achieve his object in spite of the attempts of Cāḷukya Vikramāditya VI to prevent the union of the Vēṅgī and Cōḷa kingdoms in the same hands. The evidence is not clear on the question of Kulōttunga's complicity in the rebellions that at first obstructed the accession and then shortened the rule of Adhirājēndra. There is just a possibility that these disturbances were religious in origin and connected with the Cōḷa persecution of Vaiṣṇavism in the days of Rāmānuja, a fact well attested in legends, though the details of the story are very obscure. In any event, Kulōttunga began to rule in the Cōḷa kingdom from about 9 June A.D. 1070.⁵⁰ In his later inscriptions Kulōttunga claims to have obtained the Cōḷa crown by right and thereby become an acceptable companion to the land of the Kāvēri in her loneliness.⁵¹ reference to Kaḍāram here (*Ancient India*, pp. 130-1), are alike wrong. The correct explanation was first put forward by A. V. Venkatarama Aiyar in his Śankara-Pārvati lecture (1943) in the University of Madras—see *Proceedings, Indian History Congress, Aligarh, 1943*, pp. 161-2.