The Colas c23.88

c23.88

The princelings of the line of Malaiyamāns apparently adopted in this period the two titles Cēdiyarāya and Kōvalarāya. The former title is evidence of the new tradition that was growing by which these chieftains sought to establish a connection with the Haihayas of Cēdi at a time when all ruling chieftains were busy finding a Puranic pedigree for themselves. One of them is even called Śiśupālan.¹⁶⁸ The other title indicates that the power of this group of feudatories centred round Kōval, Tirukkōvalūr on the bank of the Peṇṇār in the district of S. Arcot. Some of the names and titles imply close dynastic connections among the different feudatory rulers: such names, for instance, as Vāṇa-kula-rāyan borne by a Kiḷiyūr Malaiyamān;¹⁶⁹ Vāṇa-kōvaraiya Malaiyamān;¹⁷⁰ and, strangest of all Śōḷa-Ganga-Pallavaraiyan, a surname of the Śiśupālan already noticed.¹⁷¹ There is also a Pon-parappinān among the Malaiyamāns of Kiḷiyūr;¹⁷² the origin of the title is not explained. The mention of a Malaiyan Narasimha-varman, also called Karikāla Śōḻa Āḍaiyūr Nāḍāḻvān, in inscriptions from Cengama and Tiruvaṇṇāmalai,¹⁷³ shows that the Narasimha title, which first occurs in the name of Narasinga-munaiyadaraiyar, a contemporary of Sundaramūrti, and again in that of a contemporary of Rājēndradēva II,¹⁷⁴ still survived in the family of Malaiyamāns in the days of Kulōttunga III.