The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13.s2.t3.4

v2.c13.s2.t3.4

But Rājarāja was not allowed to remain long in undisturbed possession of his realm. In the last years of the reign of Rājēndra Chōḷa, about the year A.D. 1042, the Western Chālukyas invaded Vengi. The circumstances under which this invasion took place are not quite clear, but we may suppose that the new ruler of Kalyāṇī, Somēśvara I, had begun to pursue an aggressive policy. The news of this Western Chālukya invasion quickly reached the Chōḷa capital Gaṅgāpurī. Rājarāja very probably went in person to his uncle’s court to seek help. Rājēndra was then too old to take the field himself, and his sons were in the extreme south of his dominions with the greater part of the army. Nevertheless, he gathered together such forces as were available and dispatched them to Vengi under his Brāhman general Rājarāja Brahmamahārāja, accompanied by two other commanders, Uttama Chōḍa Milāḍuḍaiyān and Uttama Chōḍa Chōḍakōn. The Chōḷa army soon reached Vengi and immediately engaged the enemy. A sanguinary battle took place at Kaliḍinḍi in the neighbourhood of the city of Vengi in which the commanding officers on both sides perished.³ The issue of the battle was indecisive.