The Colas c23.85

c23.85

We see thus that this family worked its way up more or less steadily from the days of Vikramaśōḷa, if not from the latter part of the reign of Kulōttunga I. And the Vṛddhācalam *praśasti* is extremely interesting from this point of view. It says that Vaḷandānār fought against the Sinhalese and the Gangas, and this may well be true as his age would fall in the later part of Kulōttunga I's reign when there was much fighting in the Ganga country, though there is no definite evidence of a war against Ceylon or even the Pāṇḍya country at the time. The verses on the next two chiefs, Āṭkolli and the 'conqueror of the four quarters', contain no data of historical value. To Araśanārāyaṇaṇ is attributed an expedition against the enemy stronghold Vādāvi, *muraṇ iraṭṭar temmalai Vādāvi śenṟerindāy*, which is by no means easy to explain. His humbler, and certainly less apocryphal, achievements have been noted under Kulōttunga II. There are three verses, mostly of empty rhetoric, on Vīraśēkhara; the only fact mentioned of him is that he started from the western side of Gaṇḍarādittan Vāśal on an expedition against Kūḍal of Karkaṭaka-mārāyan and the land of Adiyamān and that he devastated both the territories named. Evidently these are local conflicts among the feudatories of Kulōttunga III. But the capture of Kūḍal appears to have marked a definite stage in the rise of the Kāḍavas who thereafter style themselves;