The Colas c23.9

c23.9

The Ārppākkam (Chingleput Dt.) inscription¹⁰ of the fifth year of Rājādhirāja contains the earliest epigraphical account of this war. It says that the Ceylon army captured the Pāṇḍimaṇḍalam and drove out Rāja Kulaśēkhara from Madura; the army then proceeded against the *sāmantas* of Rājādhirāja, and made war in the region of Toṇḍi and Pāśī, and won victories which struck terror into the hearts of the people in the Śōḻamaṇḍalam and other tracts (nāḍus). Ediriliśōḻa Śāmbuvarāya, when he heard of these occurrences, became greatly concerned about how it was all to end and sought divine intercession through Svāmidēvar, a holy man, also called Umāpatideva or Ñānaśivadeva, a native of Dakṣiṇalāḍa in Gauḍa-deśa, whom he besought to ward off by prayer, sacrifice and worship the invasion of the Cōḷa country by the wicked troops from Ceylon and the resulting harm to the Brahmins and temples thereof; Svāmidēvar said in reply that he knew that the Ceylon army had put an end to worship in the temple of Rāmēśvaram and had plundered its treasury; he would endeavour by occult means to bring down disaster on the enterprise of the invaders who were Śivadrōhis. With this object he performed *pūjā* for full twenty-eight days, and then came news from Piḷ'ai Pallavarāyar that the *pradhānis* including Jayadratha and Lankāpuri *daṇḍanāyakas* and the entire force from Ceylon had sustained defeat. And the Śāmbuvarāya in his gratitude presented the village of Ārppākkam to Svāmidēvar.