Studies in Cola History and Administration c14.44

c14.44

*The Political Position of Naralōkavīra*: In some of Naralōkavīra's inscriptions which give a detailed account of his exploits and of his charities, Nos. 6, 7, and 8 in the list given above, no regnal year of the ruling sovereign is quoted as in the others, and this may raise a doubt that at some time he might have set up independent rule, throwing off his allegiance to his Cōḷa overlord. Moreover these records are undated, and consequently it may be questioned if these inscriptions can be referred to the chieftain of the dated records at all. All such doubts are, however, settled by the following considerations. *First*, the dated and the undated records alike use identical expressions for describing the chieftain e. g., Kāliṅgan, Mānāvatāra, Naralōkavīra, ruler of Maṇavil etc., and it is extremely unlikely that all these titles applied to two different persons who lived at different times. Secondly, these undated inscriptions are all in verse, and we have several instances in Tamil epigraphy of inscriptions in verse which record in a free literary form facts relating to well-known persons mentioned in other contemporary records of a more formal character giving reliable details of time and place. It is quite probable therefore *a priori* that Nos. 6, 7, and 8 are such literary records of the life and achievements of the chieftain whose date and position are more exactly recorded in Nos. 1-5. Lastly, Nos. 7 and 8 contain sufficiently precise references to the contemporary Cōḷa monarch and the subordinate relation of Naralōkavīra to him. Thus in No. 7 we read: