The Colas c24.14

c24.14

‘Defeated in battle by the Pāṇḍya ruler, King Rājarāja abandoned his capital and together with his retinue (*saparivāram*) sought to reach the side of his ally, the ruler of Kuntala; while on his way, he was overtaken by the Kāḍava king—who had a vanguard of forest troops and had grown strong by the accession of the troops from foreign lands (*mlēcchadēśa*),—and together with his followers was taken captive after a fight. By this enemy who had descended on him like a bolt from the blue, who, by his many stratagems, seemed a partial incarnation of Śambara, who was the very embodiment of guile in the cunning devices he adopted,—by this enemy, the King (Rājarāja) was dragged to his own city Jayantamangala. When he heard this painful news, (Narasimha) started (from his capital) in a few days, reached the northern bank of the Kāvērī and encamped in the neighbourhood of Śrīrangam, and despatched his *daṇḍanātha* to punish all the enemy *sāmantas*, brought about the release of his friend, the Cōḷa king, and levied tribute from the Pāṇḍya….’.