Studies in Cola History and Administration c14.66

c14.66

Of the fighting in the south more details are forthcoming. The ulā specifies Viḷiñam and Kollam as the places round which the campaign centred. And the inscriptions confirm this to a remarkable extent. According to these, the campaign was undertaken against the Pāṇḍyas and the Cēras. By the time of Kulōttuṅga’s accession to the Cōḷa throne, these two powers had been politically subject to the Cōḷa rulers for nearly a century. They never reconciled themselves, however, to the Cōḷa yoke and must have found occasion in the confusion that preceded Kulōttuṅga’s accession to rise against the Cōḷa power. In any event, we know from Kulōttuṅga’s inscriptions that he led a great expedition to the south, defeated five Pāṇḍya kings, captured the fortress of Kōṭṭār, and, after a great deal of fighting, settled a number of military colonies in the country restored to subjection to the Cōḷa power. One of these Pāṇḍya kings was a Māṟavarman Parākrama Pāṇḍya.† As there are two inscriptions of