The Colas c23.37

c23.37

When the Cōḷa forces had gone back after installing Vikrama Pāṇḍya on the throne of Madura, Vīra Pāṇḍya made another effort to retrieve his fortune, and this led to the second campaign in which Vīra Pāṇḍya's attempt was crushed on the battle-field of Neṭṭūr. This battle must have taken place before A.D. 1189 when it is briefly mentioned, though not by the name, for the first time. Later inscriptions embellish the account by the addition of fresh details. The main feature of this part of the struggle was the co-operation of the ruler of Kēraḷa with Vīra Pāṇḍya. After the defeat at Neṭṭūr, Vīra Pāṇḍya apparently sought refuge in Quilon (Kollam) with the Kēraḷa ruler of Vēṇāḍ; but the latter had no desire to harbour his dangerous guest for long, and they both made up their minds to surrender themselves to Kulōttunga and thus put a stop to further fighting. Vīra Pāṇḍya seems on the whole to have been treated better than he had a right to expect; he had to eat the humble pie in the open durbar of Kulōttunga and naturally lost his kingdom and the insignia of royalty including the harem; but his life was spared and possibly he got some land and other forms of wealth suited to his new situation.⁷³ Who the chief of the Kaikayas was who named his son after Kulōttunga, who the Pāṇḍya Vīra Kēraḷa and who 'the chief of the family of the Sun', we seem to have no means of determining. Again, though the Tirumāṇikuḻi inscription states that Kulōttunga placed his foot on the crown of the king of Ceylon, this can hardly be accepted as true. Of the date of the second campaign, we can only say that it must have taken place before A.D. 1189; whether it came to an end in the life-time of Parākramabāhu I of Ceylon who lived to 1187, or dragged on to the reign of Niśśaṅkamalla, separated from that of Parākramabāhu I only by the short reign of Mahinda VI, is therefore uncertain; it may be noted, however, that Īḻam first figures in the tenth year (A.D. 1188)⁷⁴ among the countries taken by Kulōttunga and that, in his numerous inscriptions, Niśśaṅkamalla claims to have led three successful expeditions to the Pāṇḍya country and to have renovated a temple at Rāmēśvaram.⁷⁵ The last claim is borne out by a Sinhalese inscription in Rāmēśvaram engraved on a stone which, according to the inscription itself, was the seat (*āsana*) on which Niśśaṅkamalla used to sit witnessing theatrical performances and listening to music. The inscription also records that the king spent vast treasures in renovating the temple which came thereafter to be called Niśśaṅkamallēśvara. The Pāṇḍyan expeditions of the Ceylon ruler were not by any means so brilliant as these inscriptions make out, and this may be the reason for the silence of the chronicle on the subject. ⁷⁶