Studies in Cola History and Administration c14.87

c14.87

It must be noticed here that from the inscriptions of Vikrama Cōḷa dating from the eleventh year of his reign (c. 1128-9 A. D.), we learn that that monarch takes credit to himself for many things in the temple of Naṭarāja which bear a close resemblance to what Naralōkavīra is reported to have done. Not only are the constructions and endowments briefly mentioned in Vikrama Cōḷa's inscription similar to those in the record analysed above, but that king is said to have undertaken this extensive reconstruction of the great temple from funds provided out of tributes collected by him from subject kings. It seems hardly possible that the undated Cidambaram record of Naralōkavīra and the inscriptions of Vikrama Cōḻa, so similar in their contents, refer to two different sets of operations unrelated to each other. We may therefore assume that the later years of Naralōkavīra’s life were spent by him in assisting his sovereign in carrying out the programme of religious works he had made for himself. Nothing was more natural in those days than that an old warrior who, in his younger days had seen a great deal of fighting in distant countries, should, in the evening of his life, find congenial occupation, still in the service of his king and country, in renovating and beautifying holy places of ancient renown. And perhaps it is proof alike of the mutual trust between the king and his feudatory, and of the impersonal attitude which characterised their action in the service of God, that their works are reported in the inscriptions in a manner calculated to conceal from our view their relative shares in the great task.