The Colas c23.45

c23.45

The genealogy of the family starts with two shadowy figures. The first of them was Madhurāntaka Pottappi Cōḷa, so called because he is said to have conquered Madura and founded Pottapi, which has been identified with a village of the same name in the Pullampet taluq of the Cuddapah district.⁸² The other king was Telugu Vidya (Viccaya of the Tamil Cōḷa inscriptions), who erected a pillar of victory with a Garuḍa on its top at a place called Ujjapuri (Ujjini, Kudligi tq., Bellary Dt.). The historical part begins with Bēta, the feudatory of Vikramacōḷa.⁸³ Bēta's son was Eṟasiddhi who had in his turn three sons—Nallasiddha *alias* Manmasiddha,⁸⁴ Bēta and Tammusiddha. Some inscriptions⁸⁵ of Tammusiddha state that the younger Bēta had no mind to rule and that, on the death of Manmasiddha, he gave up his rights in favour of his younger brother Tammusiddha who crowned himself at Nellore in Ś. 1127 or a little before that date;⁸⁶ on the other hand, another inscription from Kāvali, dated Ś. 1129,⁸⁷ omits all mention of the younger Bēta, and states that while Nallasiddha⁸⁸ was the crowned king (*abhiṣikta*), his younger brother, Tammusiddha, was ruling the kingdom by his grace—*tat kaṭākṣādēva rājyam karōti*. It is therefore difficult to say whether Tammusiddha ruled only after Manma's death, or conjointly with him. A review of the inscriptions of Kulōttunga III which mention the kings of this line will show that the Kāvali inscription seems to be nearer the truth; it will also bring out clearly the relations in which these kings stood to Kulōttunga in the different stages of his reign.⁸⁹