A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c14.42

c14.42

Kulottunga could not afford to neglect the revolt of the Pāndya and Kerala countries on the mainland. He led a strong expedition to the south, and after some hard-fought battles at Śemponmāri, Kōttāru, Vilinam, and Śālai he subjected the whole country once more and compelled the numerous Pāndya and Kerala princes who had opposed him to acknowledge his supremacy. He established a number of military colonies along the important routes of communication in both countries, but the old administrative arrangements of Rājarāja I and Rājendra were not revived and the local rulers were left in charge of internal affairs. About 1084-5 Vijayabāhu of Ceylon declared war on the Cholas when he heard that the envoys he had sent to Vikramāditya VI had been mutilated. While he was preparing the expedition, the vēlaikkāra mercenaries, unwilling to fight their Tamil kinsmen, mutinied, and burnt the royal palace. The king fled to Wakirigala, but returning crushed the insurrection, the ringleaders being burnt at the funeral pyre of the royal generals whom they had murdered. The vēlaikkāra forces learnt the lesson, and at the end of the reign set up the fine Tamil stone inscription, still extant at Polonnaruva, in which is recorded their agreement to protect the Tooth Relic temple.¹ Kulottunga apparently made his peace with Vijayabāhu, for one of his daughters, Śuttamalli, married Virapperumāl, the Sinhalese prince.