Studies in Cola History and Administration c7.143

c7.143

Closely connected with this is the question of Karikāla's contemporaneity with Trilōcana Pallava, besides some others raised by the Telugu-Cōḍa inscriptions, and to these we may now turn our attention. Both Mr. P. T. Srinivasa Aiyangar and Dr. Venkata Ramanayya have pushed the Trilōcana synchronism to the front recently and made it the basis for the date they assign to Karikāla. In doing so, they seek to impart a finality and conclusiveness to suggestions made by some epigraphists in a more cautious spirit. Mr. Krishna Sastri for instance, sums up the evidence on Triṇētra as follows: ‡ "Triṇayana Pallava is synonymous with Trilōcana Pallava, Mukkaṇṭi-Pallava or Mukkaṇṭi Kāḍuveṭṭi (as the name sometimes appears in Telugu inscriptions). Trilōcana was the mythical Pallava king who was ruling the Telugu country prior to the advent of the Cāḷukyas under Vijayāditya of Ayōdhyā. In the mythical account of the Eastern Cāḷukyas given in copper-plates from the time of Vimalāditya downwards, Trilōcana Pallava is mentioned as the king who opposed Vijayāditya in his victorious campaign against the south and perhaps also killed him. Trilōcana is also mentioned in Telugu inscriptions as the contemporary of the early Cōḷa king Karikāla to whom he was subordinate. Mr. Venkayya places Karikāla (and consequently Triṇayana Pallava) roughly about the end of the 5th century A. D. * The Īśvara-vamśa to which Triṇayana Pallava belonged (as disclosed by the Hēmavati record) is not mentioned elsewhere. One record from Nandalūr (No. 580 of 1907) actually traces Mukkaṇṭi Kāḍuveṭṭi to the third eye of Śiva (Īśvara). The Pallavas of Kāñcī traced their descent from Brahma, through many Purāṇic sages, to the Mahābhārata hero Aśvatthāman.” In another place, † he says: “From the account given in the Eastern Cāḷukya copper-plates—whatever its historical value may be—it appears as if five generations had intervened between the mythical king Vijayāditya and Kubja-Viṣṇuvardhana before the latter came to rule over the Veṅgidēśa and founded the Eastern Cāḷukya dynasty.” The last event happened in or about A.D. 615 and “calculating backwards for five generations, we arrive at the conclusion that Vijayāditya of Ayōdhyā and, therefore, also Trilōcana-