History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c35.7

v3.c35.7

Rājarāja was married to Rūpasundarī a daughter of the great Chola king Rājendra but this did not prevent his fighting with Cholas for protecting Vengi. Anantavarman son of Rājarāja and Rūpasundarī succeeding Rājarāja became, as said above, the greatest king of this line. He has left many inscriptions (Kielhorn mentions four against his name, Genealogies E. I. VIII). The inscription dated 1080 noted above (I. A. XVIII p. 166) is most detailed. It mentions that Rājarāja fought against Dramila (Chola) and protected Vijayāditya. Anantavarman also himself set up Vengi in the east and Utkala in the west and thus set up two pillars of victory in two directions. Cholas allege that they conquered Kalinga at this time but it does not appear to be likely. Anantavarman is better known as Chodaganga a name which we have explained above. His coronation year is given as 1076 A. D. with exact details about the auspicious moment, and he made a grant on that account (I. A. XVIII p. 163) and there are three more grants of his dated 1081, 1118 and 1135 published in the same I. A. XVIII in one of which he makes a grant to a Śiva temple built by his father and hence named Rājarājeśvara.