The Colas c9.22

c9.22

The number of late chronicles and Sthalapurāṇas is legion. The *Navacōḷacarita*, a Vīra-śaiva compilation available in a Kannaḍa and a Telugu version, the *Bṛhadīśvara-māhātmya* or the *Cōḷavaṁśacarita* in Sanskrit, of which there is a Tamil translation among the Mackenzie Mss., and the *Koṅgudēśa-Rājākkaḷ*, also in the same collection of manuscripts, are the leading examples of this class. But as Fleet has observed,²⁹ the fanciful nature of such works and their utter want of reliability for any purposes of early history ‘are disclosed at once by the very slightest thoughtful examination.’