The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s2.t3.73

v2.c15.s2.t3.73

*Ganapati and the Sēuṇas.* The relations between Gaṇapati and his western neighbours the Sēuṇas appear to have been on the whole peaceful. The Gaṇapēśvaram epigraph does indeed refer to the Sēuṇa king as one of the enemies conquered by him;¹ but the circumstances in which he came into conflict with the Sēuṇas are completely unknown. Very probably Gaṇapati lent support to his friend Chōḍa Tikka of Nellore to ward off the Sēuṇa attack on his dominions. However that may be, there is reason to believe that subsequent to the battle of Kurumalūr the relations between the two kingdoms underwent a change for the better, and that they even joined together to resist the attacks of the Pāṇḍyas. Among the enemies conquered by Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāṇḍya I, a king bearing the name Kshēma or Kshēmāsura is mentioned in connexion with the Sēuṇas.² The identity of this king has been a matter of considerable doubt. It has however been suggested on the strength of the phrase *Gaṇapati-kshēmāsura*, occurring in a fragmentary record on a temple at Tirupati, that he was none other than the Kākatīya monarch of that name.³ Accepting for the moment the soundness of this identification, it may be suggested that Gaṇapati and the Sēuṇa king joined forces and attempted to check the expansion of the Pāṇḍyan power in the early years of the reign of Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāṇḍya I. This is not at all unlikely, since a few years later, in A.D. 1263, when the Pāṇḍya king advanced on Nellore, he found arrayed against him the Telugu Chōḍa, the Kākatīya, and the Ārya (i.e. Sēuṇa) forces on the battlefield of Muttukūr.⁴