40 



Inscription at the Seven Pagodas 



[No. 31 



is described as (: having perpetuated his fame in the northern 

 country which he conquered, &c." 



The kingdom of Kalyan had not long before been rescued 

 from foreign enemies by the great grandfather of Someswara 

 Deva I. and may not have been yet fully re-established, there- 

 by inviting the attacks of its southern neighbours, who were 

 then in the height of their power. The inscriptions of the 

 father of Someswara Deva I. named Jayasinha, show that he 

 also was at war with the Cholas, but their differences must have 

 ceased with the contest recorded in the present inscription, 

 for the youngest son of Someswar Deva,— Vicramaditya II. 

 was the most powerful sovereign, not only of his race but of 

 his time, and ruled over an enlarged and extensive kingdom 

 for 52 years, in the numerous extant inscriptions of which, no 

 mention occurs of a Chola war. On the other hand, the 

 Cholas had attained their greatest prosperity at the period of 

 the inscription, in the time of Vir Rajendra Chola, whose 

 father Raja Raja Narendra, acquired possession of the whole 

 of Telingana, by intermarriage with the eastern branch of 

 the Ckalukya family, sovereigns of Vegidesam, and left to his 

 son a kingdom, extending along the coast from the mouth of 

 the Godavery to Rameswarani, and inland probably over the 

 greatest part of the southern provinces of this Presidency. 



The next point is to identify the era of Vir Rajendra Chola 

 with that of Someswara Deva I, surnamed Ahawa Malla. 

 The latter has been ascertained with tolerable precision in the 

 paper above referred to, and is shown from a comparison of se- 

 veral inscriptions, to be from about S. S. 962 to 991.* By a 

 valuable inscription recently procured, I find that Rajendra 

 Chola succeeded his father Raja Raja Chola'vn S. S. 986, and 

 the same authority shows that he still continued reigning in 

 S. S. 1001. It is clear therefore that he was not killed in the 

 action with Someswar Deva. But besides that the metaphori- 



* Journal Vol. VII. p. I®& 



V 



