Studies in Cola History and Administration c14.11

c14.11

Inscriptions form the principal source of our knowledge of Naralōkavīra. Some of these are directly concerned with him, while in the others he is mentioned incidentally. Two inscriptions, which happen to be very well preserved, give a rather long and full account, though in very ornate and sometimes obscure verse, of the life and activity of Naralōkavīra. Besides the inscriptions, there is a brief but invaluable allusion to him in the *Vikramaśōḷan-ulā*, a contemporary poem by the celebrated poet Oṭṭakkūttar. The inscriptions on which this study is based are the following:—