The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13.s2.t2.1

v2.c13.s2.t2.1

Vimalāditya ascended the throne in A.D. 1011 and ruled until 1018 for a period of seven years. He was a colourless king, quite satisfied with the conditions of life as he found them. The only facts really known about him are his apparent conversion, either temporary or permanent, to Jainism, and his marriage with two princesses of the Chōḷa family. His first wife was Kundavai, the daughter of the great Chōḷa emperor Rājarāja I, by whom he had a son named after his maternal grandfather Rājarāja; Rājarāja was appointed crown prince and succeeded his father on the throne of Vengi. Melama, the second wife of Vimalāditya, was probably a daughter of Jaṭā Choḍa Bhīma, and by her he had also a son called Vijayāditya. Though he is styled like his predecessors a *parama-brahmanya* and *parama-māheśvara* in the Raṇasthipūṇḍi grant, Vimalāditya appears at one time to have favoured Jainism. An undated epigraph at Rāmatirtham in the Vizagapatam District refers to a Jaina monk named Trikālayogi Siddhāntadeva as his *guru*,¹ and it is not unlikely that Vimalāditya received religious instruction from him, possibly after first relinquishing the throne.