A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c14.54

c14.54

Soon after the installation of Rājādhirāja II, a fierce succession dispute in the Pāndya country led to the intervention of the Chola and Sinhalese rulers on opposite sides which brought no good to either. Out of the ashes of this civil war arose the Pāndya power which in its renewed strength soon swallowed both the Chola and Ceylonese kingdoms. After the conquest of the Pāndya country by Kulottunga I, the princes of the local royal family were allowed to rule as they liked, subject to the vague suzerainty of the Cholas. Parāntaka Pāndya, as we have seen, took part in the first Kalinga war of Vikrama Chola. But hardly any Chola inscriptions are found in the Pāndya country after the reign of Kulottunga I. About 1166, Parākrama Pāndya of Madura and Kulaśekhara quarrelled about the succession, and Kulaśekhara invested the city of Madura. Parākrama appealed to Parākramabāhu I (1153-86) of Ceylon, but before aid could reach him from Ceylon, Kulaśekhara took Madura and killed Parākrama, his queen and some of his children. In spite of this, Parākramabāhu sent word to his general Lankāpura that he should continue the war until the kingdom of Madura was taken and bestowed on a prince of the house of Parākrama Pāndya. Kulaśekhara put up a brave resistance: the war was so protracted that Lankāpura had to get reinforcements from Ceylon. Kulaśekhara then appealed to the Chola monarch, and a large force was sent to his aid under the command of Pallavarāya. Nevertheless the war went at first against Kulaśekhara who was defeated in a number of battles in the Ramnad district, and the Ceylonese commander installed Vira Pāndya, a son of Parākrama Pāndya, on the throne. Soon, however, the Chola army under Pallavarāya began to make itself felt and the Sinhalese troops were beaten. The heads of their commanders, including that of Lankāpura, were nailed to the gates of the city in literal fulfilment of the orders of the Chola monarch. Kulaśekhara re-entered Madura, and the conversion of the Pāndya country into a province of Ceylon was thus averted.