Studies in Cola History and Administration c14.91

c14.91

We have followed the life and work of Naralōkavīra with the clear testimony of contemporary inscriptions and literature. There are many gaps in the story, and obviously we cannot accept everything that is stated in the inscriptions as literally true. It is quite possible that when more texts of inscriptions from the south (Madura, Tinnevelly, Travancore) are published or fresh inscriptions copied, we may get more light on the life and times of this chieftain which will enable us to fill some of the gaps in our story. But the evidence at hand is quite definite on the services rendered by Naralōkavīra to Kulōttuṅga I and his son and successor Vikrama Cōḻa, and on the position he held among the official nobility of the land. Though he fought in several campaigns, his greatest distinction was doubtless his success in the southern campaign of Kulōttuṅga which resulted in the establishment of military colonies on the main road through the Pāṇḍya country to Koṭṭār and Cape Comorin. We have seen that he was connected in some special manner with Maṇavil; most likely he was granted by the king an assignment of the revenues due from the place. Once indeed he is called *mā-Mayilai-ttoṇḍaiyar-kōṉ kūttaṉ* (v. 1064); but this, I think, is only in obedience to a poetic convention which treated Mayilai (Mylapore) as one of the beauty-spots of the Toṇḍaināḍ to which Naralōkavīra belonged. The religious constructions and charities at Kāñcīpuram, Tiruvadi, Siddhaliṅgamaḍa, Tribhuvani, Cidambaram and other places undoubtedly gave him opportunities for the encouragement of artisans of various types. Masons and architects, jewellers and gardeners, weavers and musicians must have been employed by him in work suited to their qualifications and tastes. And one may add that the literary men whom he patronised, like the composers of the Sanskrit verses and the Tamil *veṇbas* of the Cidambaram and Tiruvadi inscriptions, on which this study is so largely based, were not mere versifiers, but could lay some claim to real poetic talent.