Epigraphia Indica Vol 22

SR No.: 032576
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1933
Total Pages: 408
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 21 MB

Page 182

No. 23.]
DRAKSHARAMA INSCRIPTION OF KULOTTUNGA I.
141
30th year and after, one is strongly inclined to believe that this should have taken place in or a little before A.D. 109. Some of the inscriptions of the king dated in the 42nd and 45th years of his reign refer to an invasion of Kalinga in which the king himself is said to have left his throne, crossed the Vērgi-mandalam in the north, set fire to Kalinga, destroyed in battle a number of chiefs and took possession of the seven Kalingam." From the fact that the king himself is said here to have taken the lead in this war, and greater details are furnished regarding it than in the earlier records, it appears to be different from and later than the one already mentioned and may have to be assigned to A.D. 1111 or thereabout. But as the historical introductions of Kulottunga I. do not regularly record all his achievements, adding year by year the later conquests, as do those of the early Chõla kings, it will not be safe to assign these events to the years in which we find them noticed at present.
If the capture of Kalinga mentioned in the 26th year record (A.D. 1096) proves to be the one effected by the king himself, whether it is identical with or different from the Kalinga war described in detail in the 42nd and the 45th year inscriptions (A.D. 1111-14), the war celebrated in the Kalingattupparani and referred to in the Drākehārāma inscription has to be assigned to & much earlier date as will be seen from the sequel. In enumerating the achievements of Kulot. tunga I., Kalingattupparani speaks chiefly of his conquests of the Pandya and the Chēra, the capture of Sālai and the destruction of Viliñam with a passing reference to Navilai and Manalūr which were perhaps connected with his war against Kuntala. The book is quite positive about the king's stay at Kāñchi while the chief Vandaiyarkon, at his instance, invaded Kalinga, waged a deadly war, planted a pillar of victory there, returned with heaps of treasure and elephants and bestowed Kalinga pparani on him. The inscription under publication confirms this account in the main and adds a very important statement that he defeated Dēvēndravarman and others as we have already noted. Dēvēndravarman here referred to cannot be any other than the Eastern Ganga king Rājarāja I., who, according to the Vsihatködila grant, bore that surname and had his coronation performed in A.D. 1070, the very year in which Kulottunga was also crowned. His son and successor Chōdaganga, for all that we know about him, does not seem to have borne the surname Dévēndravarman but was Anantavarman which name, we may note, was assumed by all his successors. Dēvēndravarman Rājarāja I. reigned for 8 years, i.e., up to A.D. 1078. He was a supporter of the cause of Vijayāditya VII., for the Korni plates record that when Vijayāditya grew old and like the setting sun left Vēngi which was like the west and was about to sink in the ocean of troubles caused by the Cholas, Rājarāja of Kalinganagara, the refuge of the distressed, caused him to enjoy prosperity in that region. Here is evidence to show that Rājarāja was an enemy of his Chola contemporary who was none other than Kulottunga I. Thus the invasion of Kalinga, undertaken solely by the chief and minister Vanduvarāja-Pallavarāja, at the instance of king Kulõttunga I. as detailed in the Kalingattu pparani and the inscription under publication, must have taken place before A.D. 1078 and probably about A.D. 1076-7.
Now if there is any truth in the statement of the Kalingattupparani that the Kalinga king withheld the payment of tribute twice, it must have reference to a treaty or agreement probably
1 Kielhorn's Southern List, Nos. 777, 782 and 8.1.., Vol. III, No. 72.
2 No. 608 of the Madras Epigraphical collection for 1904 is dated in the 42nd year and No. 44 of the same collection for 1891 is dated in the 45th year of the reign of Kulottunga I. and have the same introduction
18.1. 1. (Texte), Vol. IV, No. 446 lines 22 to 27; the chiefs overcome in the war are here mentioned by name.
• C. P. No. 4 of the Madras Epigraphical collection for 1918-19.
His coronation took place in Saka 992, Jyēshtha, bu. 8 (= A.D. 1070, May 20) (4. R. on 8. I. Epigraphy 1918-19, p. 86) and that of his son Anantavarman Chodaganga in Saka 999 ( A.D. 1078) (Ind. Ant., vol. XVIII, p. 161ff).
. Ind. Ant., Vol. XVIII, p. 171.