The Colas c21.4

c21.4

Of the early wars fought by Kulōttunga in his youth (*iḷangōp-paruvam*), some account has been given in discussing his position between a.d. 1063 and 1070. It has been pointed out that he levied tribute from the Nāgavaṁśi ruler Dhārāvarṣa and possibly also carved out for himself a separate and independent principality in that quarter. The first few lines of the *praśasti* beginning *pugaḻ śūḻnda puṇari* refer to the same events and add that by the strength of his arm he routed an army of the king of Kuntala,¹³ and thus donned the garland of victory in the north before he turned his attention to the south. This war with the king of Kuntala, doubtless the Western Cāḷukya king, waged before 1070, was part of Kulōttunga's activity in the region of the modern Bastar state, and the circumstances that led to this conflict are the same as those recorded in some of the later inscriptions of Vīrarājēndra and in Bilhaṇa's account of Vikramāditya's *digvijaya* in so far as it relates to Vēṅgī and Cakrakūṭa. After Sōmēśvara I failed to turn up for the second encounter fixed to take place at Kūḍal-Saṅgama, Vīrarājēndra threw down a challenge to the Vallabha (Cāḷukya), proceeded to recover Vēṅgī, and after the victory of Bezwada, bestowed that kingdom once more on Vijayāditya VII. These data corroborate Bilhaṇa's statements that in his war-like career as *yuvarāja* Vikramāditya had conquered Vēṅgī and Cakrakūṭa, and was encamping on the banks of the Kṛṣṇā when the news of his father's illness and death reached him. The *Kalingattupparaṇi*¹⁴ also implies that Vikramāditya fought against Kulōttunga in the north at this time and that it was in this war that Kulōttunga earned the title Virudarājabhayankara, i.e. terror to Virudarāja or Vikramāditya. These events took place in a.d. 1067. And now it becomes clear from Kulōttunga's *praśasti* that his northern adventure might have helped Vīrarājēndra in the war against Vikramāditya. Whether this means that Kulōttunga, on his own account, repulsed Vikramāditya's attack on Cakrakūṭa, or whether we may infer further that Kulōttunga co-operated with Vīrarājēndra and was present at the battle of Bezwada, it is not easy to decide. In any case, the effective assistance of Kulōttunga in the release of Vēṅgī from the Western Cāḷukya hold shows that Kulōttunga might have been on friendly relations with Vīrarājēndra and kept up a live interest in the affairs of the Vēṅgī and Cōḻa kingdoms. That, as a result of the wars, the kingdom of Vēṅgī was restored to Vijayāditya gives us the measure of the truth of Kulōttuṅga's statement made later to his son Rājarāja that in his youth he preferred a life of war and adventure and so left the kingdom of Vēṅgī to be ruled by his uncle Vijayāditya. It is probable that this exile was not altogether voluntary and was in the first instance brought about by the ambitions of Vikramāditya and Vijayāditya.¹⁵