A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c14.6

c14.6

The capture of Tanjore by Vijayālaya, some time before 850, and his founding of a temple there to the goddess Nishumbhasūdinī (Durgā) were the first steps in the rise of the Chola power. He was perhaps a Pallava feudatory at the time, and he must have wrested Tanjore from the Muttarayar who had transferred their allegiance from the Pallava to the Pāndya. The success of Vijayālaya meant the weakening of Pāndya influence north of the Kaveri and the strengthening of the power of Nripatunga who by the victory of Ariśil had already retrieved the Pallava power from the disgrace it had suffered from Śrīmāra Śrīvallabha (see p. 154).