The Colas c23.60

c23.60

Kulōttunga III must have died soon after the Pāṇḍyan invasion. The latest regnal year found in his inscriptions is the fortieth,¹¹⁷ a.d. 1217-18. Kulōttunga III was also called Vīrarājēndradēva, and a whole series of inscriptions containing this title, though not the name Kulōttunga, undoubtedly belong to this reign and are dated in regnal years ranging from the second to the thirty-sixth. As already noted, the king seems to have had also the title Komara or Kumāra Kulōttungan.¹¹⁸ A new street formed in Tiruppugalūr in the tenth year of the reign was called Rājākkaḷ-tambirān-tiruvīdi,¹¹⁹ possibly after another surname of the ruling king. One inscription from Tiruvaṇṇāmalai¹²⁰ is dated in the eleventh year of Tribhuvana-Vīra-Cōḷa-dēva; but considering the fact that the astronomical details preserved by this record were found by Kielhorn¹²¹ not to work out correctly for this reign, it may be doubted if this title was assumed by the king so early in his reign. The earliest genuine record containing this title seems to be dated in the twenty-fourth year;¹²² the name recurs thereafter in several later inscriptions and in the great temple, Tribhuvanēśvara, in Tribhuvanam, in the Tanjore district. The form Tribhuvanaśōḷadēva is also known.¹²³ The town of Karuvūr was renamed Muḍivaḷangu-śōḻapuram;¹²⁴ there is also mentioned, in another inscription, a village of the name of Muḍi-vaḷangu-śōḻa-caturvēdimangalam;¹²⁵ these facts show that Muḍi-vaḷangu-śōḻa was one of the titles of the king, assumed, doubtless in commemoration of the restitution of the Pāṇḍya crown to the rulers of that country.¹²⁶ An inscription of the twenty-third year gives the characteristic titles of Kulōttunga III and calls the ruler Tribhuvanacakravartin Śōḻa-Kēraḷadēva,¹²⁷ thus confirming the statement of the Pudukkottah inscriptions that after the conquest of Karuvūr, he assumed that title. Kongu came to be called Śōḻa-Kēraḷamaṇḍalam. It is doubtful, however, if some inscriptions with no other titles in them than Śōḻa-Kēraḷadēva can be ascribed to Kulōttunga III.¹²⁸ Lastly, as can be seen from a record of one of his feudatories, the king seems to have also had the title Karikāla-Cōḻa.¹²⁹