A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c13.24

c13.24

In the Pāṇdya kingdom, Arikēsari Parāṅkuśa was succeeded by his son Kōccaḍaiyan, also called Raṇadhīra (c. 700-30). This monarch waged aggressive wars against his neighbours and extended the Pāṇdya power into the Kongu country. He also suppressed a revolt of the mountain chieftain Āy who occupied the hilly country between Tirunelvēli and Travancore. His reign ended about 730, and his son Māṛavarman Rājasimha I succeeded him. Early in his reign Rājasimha espoused the cause of Chitramāya, and after inflicting a number of defeats on Nandivarman Pallavamalla besieged him in a place called Nandigrāma, i.e., Nandipuram, near Kumbakonam. The able Pallava general Udayacandra, who encountered the Pāṇdya forces in many battles, raised the siege of Nandigrāma, beheaded Chitramāya, and thus made the Pallava throne secure for his monarch. He also dealt with other enemies of Pallavamalla like the Śabara king Udayana and the Niṣāda chieftain Prithivīvyāghra who were probably acting in collusion with the Chālukya, Vikramāditya II. The invasion of Vikramāditya (c. 740), in which his Ganga feudatory Śrīpuruṣa co-operated, was indeed the greatest danger that threatened the kingdom of Pallavamalla in the early years of his long reign. But Vikramāditya behaved on the whole very considerately; though he defeated Nandivarman and occupied his capital for a time, he did no damage to the city, pleased the people by his liberal gifts and returned to the Kailāsanātha and all other temples the heaps of gold that belonged to them. After recording these transactions in a Kannada inscription engraved on a pillar in Kailāsanātha and thus wiping out the disgrace that had befallen the Chālukyas by the occupation of Bādāmi by Narasimhavarman I, Vikramāditya withdrew to his own country leaving the Pallava ruler to resume charge of his kingdom. Towards the end of his reign Vikramāditya sent out another expedition against the Pallava under his son Kirtivarman, who carried out a successful raid and returned with many elephants and much gold and jewellery captured from the enemy.