A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c14.20

c14.20

Unable to brook this extension of Chola power into the eastern Deccan, Satyāśraya invaded Vengi in 1006, his general Bāyalanambi reducing the forts of Dhānyakataka (Dharanikota) and Yanamadala to ashes, and established himself in Chebrolu in the Guntur district. Acting on the principle that attack is the best form of defence, Rājarāja ordered his son Rājendra to invade Western Chālukya at the head of a strong army (1007). Rājendra marched up to Donūr in the Bijapur district and, in the words of a Chālukya inscription, ‘plundered the entire country, slaughtering women, children and brahmins’. He also captured Banavāsi and a good part of the Raichur doab, and sacked Mānyakheta. At the same time another section of the army operating from Vengi advanced on Kollipākkai (Kulpak), 45 miles north-west of Hyderabad, and captured its fortress. Satyāśraya was thus compelled to withdraw his forces from Vengi and only with difficulty succeeded in freeing his country of the Chola army, which retired behind the Tungabhadra with much booty.