Studies in Cola History and Administration c7.51

c7.51

IX. *Kalingattupparaṇi*:—A poem describing the conquest of Kaliṅga in the days Kulōttuṅga I. The author Jayaṅgoṇḍār gives in the eighth section of the work the genealogy of the kings, which opens with the statement that when Karikāla had by superhuman exploits won a victory over the Himalayas and subdued them, Nārada appeared before him and ordained that he should write on the mountain the story of his race as revealed to him by the sage (vv. 1-4). We learn from a stray Veṇbā * quoted by Aḍiyārkkunallār that the Śeṇḍu, whatever it was, with which Karikāla managed to spin the Himalaya round and round, was a gift vouchsafed to him by a Śāttan (a guardian deity) of Kāñcīpuram. The narration of Nārada includes the story of Karikāla as well as that of his predecessors and successors up to Jayadhara. Stress should not, however, be laid on the superhuman element in this narration, as it may be only a poetic device of the author suited to the conventions of the *Paraṇi*. But the quaint reference to Karikāla's conquest of the Himalaya recalls the lines of the *Śilappadikāram* on his northern expedition.—IV (*a*). Karikāla's conquest of the Pāṇḍya and the Cēra, an enigmatic statement on the construction of the banks of the Kāvēri by subordinate kings, the conquest of Kurumi and the presentation of 16,00.000 gold pieces to the poet of the *Paṭṭinappālai* occur among the events of his reign (vv 19-21). The next verse (22) on the Cēra and the Pāṇḍya being made alternately torch-bearers in the court is also to be referred apparently to the same reign.