The Colas c23.89

c23.89

The ancient line of Adigaimāns of Tagaḍūr rise into prominence again in this reign as the subordinate allies of the Cōḷa monarch. It seems probable that, as has been observed already, the Cōḷa power regained in this period, with their assistance, part of what had been lost in consequence of the wars of Hoysaḷa Viṣṇuvardhana. The mention of Ballāḷa II in an inscription of Kulōttunga and the name Cōḷa-mahādēvi of Ballāḷa's queen also imply a more friendly relation between the Cōḷas and Hoysalas, perhaps the result either of a successful campaign or diplomatic mediation undertaken for the Cōḷas by the Adigaimāns. Rājarājadēvan alias Adiyamān of Tagaḍūr in Gaṅga-nāḍu made a gift to the temple of Tiruvaṇṇāmalai of the entire village of Malaiyanūr on the north bank of the Peṇṇār in Tagaḍūr-nāḍu.¹⁷⁵ His title Rājarājan shows that the friendly relations between the chiefs of Tagaḍūr and the Cōḷas had been resumed in the life-time of Rājarāja II, if it had been at all completely broken off before. Rājarājadēvan's son was the more celebrated Viḍugādaḷagiya-Perumāḷ (*vyāmuktaśravaṇōjjvala*), who describes himself as of the family of Eḻini, famous in Śaṅgam literature, and has left many interesting inscriptions. The Sāmantan Adiyamān who gave a golden zone to the deity of Tirumāṇikuḻi in the nineteenth year of Kulōttunga III¹⁷⁶ might have been either the father or the son. The inscriptions of the son are found in Salem, North Arcot and South Arcot. Only some of them are dated in the reign of Kulōttunga; but as most of them are in verse, the absence of the suzerain's name need not necessarily mean that the chieftain declared his independence.¹⁷⁷ In an inscription dated in the twenty-second year of Kulōttunga, he calls himself lord of the three rivers Pālār, Peṇṇār, and Kāvērī, and states that he built a stone temple at Śiṟukōṭṭai on the banks of the Peṇṇār and called it after his own name.¹⁷⁸ Another inscription from Tirumalai says that he renovated the images of a Yakṣa and Yakṣī near the Jain settlement on the Tirumalai hill originally set up by the Cēra king Eḻini, one of his ancestors.¹⁷⁹ Yet another inscription from Cengama, North Arcot,¹⁸⁰ engraved at his instance, shows how very influential he was in reality among the feudatories of the Cōḷa in this part of the country. It mentions an earlier compact concluded by him, in the twenty-first year, perhaps of Kulōttunga III, with two chiefs, and renews the terms of the alliance. The two chiefs are Karikāla-śōḻa Āḍaiyūrnāḍāḻvān and Śeṅgēṇi Ammaiyappan Attimallan *alias* Vikrama-śōḻa-nāḍāḻvān. The terms of the compact include the provision that, so long as this mutual alliance holds, the Adigaimān should contract no alliance with certain other chiefs, Śīyagangan being one of them. These local compacts of a political and diplomatic character with no reference whatever to the suzerain ruler furnish clear proof of the growing disruption of the Cōḷa kingdom.