The Colas c21.34

c21.34

Two facts have been cited in support of this view: Kulōttunga restored peace in the Eastern lands in his youth, like Viṣṇu gently raising the Earth from the waters of the ocean; secondly the names of the high official who visited China as envoy from Śrī Vijaya in 1067 and of the Cōḷa emperor who sent the embassy to China (noted above) ten years later are the same, Ti-hua-kia-lo—Dēvakala, probably a part of Dēva Kulō (ttunga). The first is obviously the result of a misunderstanding of a Tamil phrase.⁷⁴ It is very surprising that if Kulōttunga had such a romantic career across the seas before taking possession of the Cōḷa throne we should not get more specific information about it in the numerous records of the reign. One inscription⁷⁵ indeed says that a beautiful stone was shown to Kulōttunga by the king of Kāmbhōja as a curio (*kātci*). When did he do so? Did Kulōttunga visit Kāmbhōja, the Khmer kingdom?