The Colas c25.19

c25.19

A unique inscription from Tiruvālīśvaram near Ambāsamudram in the Tinnevelly district furnishes the military history of a regiment which calls itself Mūṉṟukai-Mahāsēnai (the Great Army of the Three Arms or sections).³⁶ Undated though it is, there can be no doubt that the record belongs to the period of Rājarāja I and Rājēndra I. In this inscription the Mahāsēnai is said to have constantly worshipped Viṣṇu and Śiva, to have defeated the Kannara and pursued him, to have killed the Gāṅgēya, to have captured Kalmāḍam and destroyed Viḷiñam on the sea, to have crossed the sea on the other (eastern) side and razed Mātōṭṭam to the ground, to have taken the Hill country (Malai-nāḍu) and routed the fleet (*kalamaruttu*) at Śālai, to have put to flight the Vallān (Cāḷukya) and captured Vanavāsi and to have been praised in song for these achievements by the Tamil poets of Kāḷahasti, to have also destroyed the fortress on the hill of Kucci and captured Uccandi (Uccangidroog), to have inflicted a defeat on the Vaḍugas (Northerners) who opposed them, and dismantled the fortifications of Vātāpi and done other things which, on account of a gap in the record, are not easy to follow. The army is also called—the residents of Pāṇḍi-nāḍu, the dauntless soldiers of the Great Army of the Three Arms. They took under their eternal protection the Temple of Tiruvālīśvaram and all its belongings, including its priests and servants. It is evident that the campaigns in which this regiment claims to have fought with such glory were those of the reigns of Rājarāja and his successor. The same regiment again proclaims its ideals of heroism in an inscription from Śērmādēvi in a.d. 1096³⁷ and solemnly takes under its protection another temple and its properties; here the regiment is called: 'the several armed thousands of the great army of the three divisions (*kai*).'