1844.] 



with a Transcript and Translation. 



41 



cal language of the inscription does not imperatively require 

 such a rendering, it is very possible that Rajendra Chola 

 may not have commanded in person, but may have intrusted 

 the expedition to one of his generals who, as shewn by nu- 

 merous inscriptions of that age, were in the habit of assum- 

 ing the family name of the sovereigns under whom they 

 served. The date of the inscription, the 9th of his reign, 

 would therefore be S. S. 995 or A. D. 1073. The battle 

 of Lakshmeswar must have occurred very shortly after his 

 accession, for the Gangondaram inscription already quoted 

 is dated in the 5th of his reign. The synchronism therefore 

 of the three records is perfect. 



The last object of inquiry is the identity of the places re- 

 ferred to as the scene of the war. The term Iraitaippddi used 

 in both the Chola grants, does not occur in any of the Dehhan 

 inscriptions that I recollect. It may however have been the 

 familiar term for Kuntala desa in the south. Instances of 

 such diversity of nomenclature are not uncommon. In the 

 JDekhan, at this day the Tamil country and people are inva- 

 riably called Konga-des and Kongas. At Malacca and by 

 the Malays generally, the people of southern India pass un- 

 der the name of Klings, from the ancient Kalinga. Now we 

 know that a powerful race, the Ratta Kula, originally over- 

 come by the Chalukyas and held in subjection for several cen- 

 turies, again obtained the ascendancy about the 9th century, 

 and were finally subdued by Teilapa Deva Chalukya the great- 

 grandfather of Ahawa Malla in S. S. 895 or A. D. 973. 

 Among the titles of Ahawa Malla himself, we find an indica- 

 tion of the more recent independence of the Rattas. In an 

 inscription at Nilgund in the Damhal Talook of the D/iar- 

 war district, he is described as " possessing the lofty golden 

 parasol and the whole territory that had belonged to the Ratta- 

 kula chief, Sri Vira Martanda" A distinguished family of 

 this Rattacida, likewise flourished at Parsghur and Samdat- 

 ty in the Dharwar district under the Chalukya dynasty, and 



J 



