The Colas c21.19

c21.19

At the close of his war with Vikramāditya VI, Kulōttuṅga turned his attention to the south. The Pāṇḍya country was never reconciled to the imposition of Cōḷa overlordship, and its rulers had always been a source of trouble to the most powerful Cōḷa emperors. The period of confusion that followed the death of Vīrarājēndra, the popular rebellion against his successor Adhirājēndra, and the hard struggle forced on Kulōttunga in the early years of his reign by the policy of Vikramāditya VI, provided a golden opportunity to the kingdoms of the south to reassert their independence. The administrative arrangements made by the Cōḷas in these lands went to pieces, and the native rulers of the countries began to rule in their own right as their inscriptions show.⁴⁵ The most sustained efforts of Kulōttunga resulted in the reconquest of the Pāṇḍya and Kēraḷa countries between the seventh and eleventh years of his reign, but Ceylon permanently disappeared from the Cōḷa empire. Some account may be given of the establishment of Ceylonese independence before the story of the reconquest of the south is taken up.