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Kundavadevi

Chola princess, daughter of the Chola king Rajaraja I and younger sister of Rajendra Chola I. Early in the 11th century she married the Eastern Chalukya king Vimaladitya. She was the mother of Rajaraja Narendra. Her marriage began the alliance through which her grandson Kulottunga I came to rule the Chola empire.

Kundavadevi was a Chola princess who became queen of Vengi. The Eastern Chalukya records call her Kundava, Kundavadevi or Kundavamahadevi.123

Family

Kundavadevi was the daughter of the Chola king Rajaraja I and the younger sister of Rajendra-Chola.1 The Korumelli plates of her son name her father as Rajaraja “of the lineage of the Sun” and her brother as Rajendra-Choda.1

J. F. Fleet identified her father with the great Chola king Rajaraja-Rajakesarivarman.2 By the reckoning Fleet then used, this king came to the throne in 1003 or 1004.2 E. Hultzsch identified her brother with the Chola Rajendra-Chola who fought the Western Chalukya Jayasimha III.4

Kundavadevi married the Eastern Chalukya king Vimaladitya.1 Their son was Rajaraja Narendra, whom the Nandamapundi grant calls the son of Vimaladitya and Kundavadevi, “the goddess of fortune of the family of the Sun”.3 Fleet thought that the boy was named Rajaraja after his Chola grandfather.5

B. V. Krishna Rao wrote in 1930 about what Nannaya’s Mahabharata says of the family.6 According to him, the poem calls Rajaraja the eldest son, and his mother Kundavamba, daughter of Rajaraja Chola the great.6

The marriage

How the marriage came about is disputed. Hultzsch suggested in 1890 that it “was probably a forced one and the result of his conquest of Vimaladitya” by Rajaraja Chola.7

V. Venkayya thought that Vimaladitya was a prisoner at the Chola court after his defeat by Rajendra-Chola.8 In his view Vimaladitya married Kundava there, and was sent back to Vengi about 1015.8

Robert Sewell placed the marriage under the year 1009.910 He described Vimaladitya as on friendly terms with his father-in-law.910 He thought the marriage very important, as the first to unite the Eastern Chalukya and Chola houses.910 The Chellur plates of her great-grandson Vira-Choda give her husband’s reign without mentioning her.11

The Kundavai-Jinalaya

A Tamil inscription of Rajendra-Chola’s reign at Tirumalai records a gift to a Jain temple on the hill.12 The temple was called Kundavai-Jinalaya, “the Jina temple of Kundavai”.12 Hultzsch pointed out that two Chola princesses bore the name:12

  • one was the queen of Vimaladitya
  • the other, an earlier Kundavai, was the daughter of the Chola king Parantaka II, the elder sister of Rajaraja I and the queen of a Pallava king, Vandyadeva12

Tirumalai lies much closer to the Pallava country than to the Eastern Chalukya country.12 For this reason Hultzsch attributed the temple to the elder Kundavai, the king’s aunt, rather than to his younger sister.12

Footnotes

  1. J. F. Fleet, “Korumelli Plates of Rajaraja II [I]”, Indian Antiquary XIV (1885), p. 50 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. J. F. Fleet, “The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings”, Indian Antiquary XX (1891), p. 273 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. F. Kielhorn, “Nandamapundi Grant of Rajaraja I”, Epigraphia Indica IV (1897), p. 302 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  4. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I (1890), p. 96 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  5. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 277 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  6. B. V. Krishna Rao, “Telugu Academy Plates of Saktivarman II”, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society V, pt. 1 (1930), p. 36 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  7. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I (1890), p. 63 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. V. Venkayya, “Ranastipundi Grant of Vimaladitya”, Epigraphia Indica VI (1900–01), p. 350 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  9. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 59 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  10. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 61 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  11. E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I (1890), p. 51 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  12. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I (1890), p. 97 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

Dynasties

Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi

c. 615–1077 CE

A branch of the Chalukyas of Badami that ruled Vengi, the coastal country between the lower Godavari and Krishna, from the early 7th century. Its founder, Kubja Vishnuvardhana, was a younger brother of Pulakesin II. The kings fought the Rashtrakutas for two centuries. After about 1000 they were bound to the Cholas by marriage, and in 1070 their heir became the Chola emperor Kulottunga I. Their copper-plate grants record the length of every reign. The first Telugu literary work, Nannaya's Mahabharata, was written at their court in Rajahmundry.

Cholas of Tanjore

c. 985–1268 CE

The imperial Chola dynasty of Tanjore (Thanjavur) and Gangaikondacholapuram in the Tamil country, overlords of much of the Telugu country from about 1000 to the 12th century. Rajaraja I restored the Eastern Chalukya Saktivarman I in Vengi about 999 and married his daughter to Saktivarman's brother Vimaladitya. Rajendra I waited on the Godavari while his general marched to the Ganges, and Virarajendra fought the Western Chalukyas at Bezwada. In 1070 the Eastern Chalukya heir became the Chola emperor Kulottunga I, whose sons governed Vengi until 1118. After a Western Chalukya occupation, Vikrama-Chola recovered the coast, but by the mid-12th century Chola rule north of the Krishna was nominal. In the south, the Telugu Choda chiefs of Nellore and Pottappi acknowledged the Chola king until the dynasty ended in the 1260s.

References

Sources (7)
  1. J. F. Fleet and R. C. Temple (eds.), The Indian Antiquary, Vol. XIV (1885) (opens in a new tab), Education Society's Press, Bombay (scan of the 1984 Swati Publications facsimile reprint), 1885, pp. 50. J. F. Fleet, Korumelli plates of Rajaraja I. [Public domain]
  2. R. C. Temple (ed.); article by J. F. Fleet, Indian Antiquary, Vol. XX (1891), incl. J. F. Fleet, 'The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings' (opens in a new tab), Education Society's Press, Bombay, 1891, pp. 273, 277. J. F. Fleet, 'The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings'. [Public domain]
  3. F. Kielhorn (articles); E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IV (1896–97) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1897, pp. 302. F. Kielhorn, Nandamapundi grant of Rajaraja I. [Public domain]
  4. E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VI (1900–01) (opens in a new tab), Government of India, Calcutta, 1901, pp. 350. V. Venkayya, Ranastipundi grant of Vimaladitya. [Public domain]
  5. E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I: Tamil and Sanskrit Inscriptions (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1890, pp. 51, 63, 96–97. E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions I. [Public domain]
  6. K. V. Lakshmana Rao (article); Andhra Historical Research Society, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society, Vol. V, pt. 1 (July 1930), incl. K. V. Lakshmana Rao, 'Two Copper-plate Grants of the Salankayanas of Vengi' (opens in a new tab), Andhra Historical Research Society, Rajahmundry, 1930, pp. 36, 39. B. V. Krishna Rao, Telugu Academy plates of Saktivarman II (JAHRS V, 1930). [Public domain]
  7. Robert Sewell (ed. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar), The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (Collected till 1923) and Outlines of Political History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1932, pp. 59, 61. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]

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