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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Rajendra III (Chola)

The last Chola king (1246 to about 1267). His regnal years were still used by the Telugu Choda rulers of Nellore, among them Manumasiddhi, the patron of the poet Tikkana, and a Tamil record dated in his reign survives in the Gudur country of Nellore as late as 1263–64. An inscription of 1260–61 at Tripurantakam claims victories for him over two Pandya kings, which V. Rangacharya took for a real campaign and Robert Sewell did not. The Cuddapah gazetteer dates his death, and the end of the Cholas, to 1268.

Rajendra III was the last king of the Chola dynasty of Thanjavur (then Tanjore).1 Robert Sewell dated the start of his reign to 1246.2 The Telugu Choda rulers of Nellore still named him as their overlord.34 After his death the Chola line came to an end.41 See the Cholas of Tanjore.

Family and dates

Sewell’s table makes him probably the son of Rajaraja III.1 It ends with the remark that the Chola kingdom was extinct in 1267.1 Sewell also noted three records in the Nellore district that count his years from 1244.5 He took this to suggest a time of joint rule with his predecessor.5

The Telugu Chodas of Nellore

The Cuddapah District Gazetteer (1915) says that Manumasiddhi of Nellore “owed allegiance” to Rajendra III.3 Manumasiddhi was the patron of the Telugu poet Tikkana.3 The gazetteer adds that he accepted Rajendra III as overlord until Rajendra’s death in 1268.4 Then “the Cholas seem to disappear from history altogether owing to their conquest by the Pandyas”.4 Sewell, by contrast, has Manumasiddhi in some way subject to the Kakatiya king by 1250.6

Tamil inscriptions dated in his reign survive in the Gudur country of Nellore.78 One at Punjulurupadu is dated in Saka 1185 (1263–64; Saka is an Indian way of counting years), the 20th year of “Vira Rajendra-choladeva”.7 It records a gift to the god Santisvara.7 Sewell thought a record of 1253 was the last Chola regnal record in the Nellore district in his collection.8

Tripurantakam

A Tamil inscription in the temple at Tripurantakam, in the old Kurnool district, is dated in his fifteenth year, 1260–61.9 In V. Rangacharya’s summary, “the king claims to have taken the heads of two Pandyan kings”.9 Rangacharya thought Rajendra perhaps marched there about the time of the Kakatiya Ganapati’s death in 1260.9 Sewell thought the inscription was engraved by people loyal to the Chola crown, and no proof of Chola rule there.10 The 1942 Nellore gazetteer thought the claim might be true.11

The end of the Cholas

The Imperial Gazetteer of Madras (1908) says that the Nellore district “formed part of their kingdom till their decline in the thirteenth century A.D.”12 It then “seems to have passed to the Pandyas of Madura”.12 S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (1911) wrote that the empire the great Cholas built “thus passed ingloriously out of existence”.13 See the Pandyas and the Kakatiyas.

Where the sources disagree

  • The end of the reign. 1267 (Sewell’s table) or 1268 (the Cuddapah gazetteer).14
  • The Tripurantakam inscription. Evidence of a Chola campaign about 1260 (Rangacharya), or only of local loyalty (Sewell).910

Footnotes

  1. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 341, table of the Chola kings (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 342 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  3. C. F. Brackenbury, Madras District Gazetteers: Cuddapah (1915), p. 32 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Brackenbury, Cuddapah (1915), p. 34 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  5. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 146 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  6. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 148 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  7. A. Butterworth and V. Venugopaul Chetty, A Collection of the Inscriptions on Copper-Plates and Stones in the Nellore District, Part I (1905), p. 439, Gudur No. 85 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 150 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  9. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1919), p. 936, Kurnool No. 294 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 155 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  11. Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938 (1942), p. 46 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  12. Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 344 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  13. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ancient India (1911), pp. 157–158 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Dynasties

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. Alan Butterworth and V. Venugopaul Chetty, A Collection of the Inscriptions on Copper-Plates and Stones in the Nellore District, Part I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1905, pp. 439. [Public domain]
  2. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency (collected till 1915), with Notes and References, Vol. II (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1919, pp. 936. [Public domain]
  3. C. F. Brackenbury, Madras District Gazetteers: Cuddapah, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1915, pp. 32, 34. [Public domain]
  4. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1908, pp. 344. [Public domain]
  5. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ancient India (opens in a new tab), Luzac & Co., London; S.P.C.K. Depository, Madras, 1911, pp. 157–158. [Public domain]
  6. W. E. Johns, Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938, Vol. A (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1942, pp. 45–46. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  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. 146, 148, 150, 155, 341–342. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]

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