The Colas c24.4

c24.4

The most common *praśasti* of the reign is a relatively short description of the glories of Cōḷa rule under Rājarāja III; it begins *sīr manni iru nāṅgu tiśai*,⁶ and does not contain a single historical fact, and it is not worth studying the minor variations in the words of the *praśasti*. Two inscriptions containing the *praśasti* call for some remark. One of them comes from Tiruvoṟṟiyūr⁷ and is dated in the third year of a Parakēsari *alias* Tribhuvana Cakravarti Ulaguyya-vanda-perumāḷ. Now the expression Ulaguyya-vanda-perumāḷ, the lord by whose coming the world was saved, is a title rather than a name, and is found in the inscriptions in relation to Kulōttunga III⁸ and Rājarāja III.⁹ The title Parakēsari in this inscription points to Kulōttunga III; but no other inscription of that king is known to contain the *praśasti* now being considered. On the other hand, the *praśasti* itself and the contents of the record which have reference to the punishment of some persons for treason, a recurring feature of the reign of Rājarāja, point to the successor of Kulōttunga III. This record is, therefore, best assigned to the reign of Rājarāja, the Parakēsari title given in it being held to be mistake for Rājakēsari.¹⁰ The same explanation holds also with regard to the second of the inscriptions mentioned above, a record from Tiruverumbūr with *sīr manni* introduction and Parakēsari title.¹¹ Such chance mistakes can hardly justify the assumption, sometimes put forward, that, in this period, the Rājakēsari and Parakēsari titles were applied rather indifferently to one and the same king.