184 Historical Sketch of the Kingdom of Pandya. [July 



Vira Pandyan was killed, whilst hunting, by a tiger : he left many 

 sons by the women of his household, and one, the youngest, by his 

 queen, whom the ministers placed under the tutelage of the Chola 

 monarch, to secure him from the treachery of his elder brothers. 

 When old enough he was conducted to Madura, and installed ; upon 

 which, his brothers fled to Chera; they do not seem to have given him 

 any subsequent molestation. This prince was named Abhisheka 

 Pandyan ; he was succeeded by Vikrama, of whom no traditions are 

 given; and he by Raja Sek'hara,* in the time of which latter, it is 

 said, the Chola prince led an army of Samanals, or Buddhists, against 

 Madura. He was defeated ; but no consequences of his repulse are 

 recorded. The next sovereign of Pandya-desa is named Kulottunga, 

 in whose reign we have abundant legends illustrative of the might of 

 Choka Natha, but nothing that can be conjectured into history. He 

 was succeeded by his son, Anantaguna, in whose reign the kingdom 

 was again invaded by the Samanal; but, with the aid of Siva, the 

 assailants were repulsed. On this, as on the former occasion, the 

 heretical invaders are conducted by the Chola monarch, whose seat of 

 empire is called Kanchi, or Conjeveram. That the territories of the 

 Chola prince lay higher north than the modern Tanjore there is pro- 

 bable evidence in other manuscripts, as, also, that Conjeveram was in- 

 cluded within his dominions. That it was the ancient capital of Chola 

 is, however, quite irreconcilable with all the local accounts which have 

 been procured of that empire, and the foundation of Kanchi itself ap- 

 pears from them to be an event of comparatively recent occurrence. 

 The same accounts, however corroborated by the vestiges of Bauddha 

 architecture, found still abundantly at Conjeveram, attest the preva- 

 lence of that faith there for some considerable period. This might 

 have been the case at the time the legendary tales which profess to 

 record the Pandya history were compiled; and hence, these supposed 

 religious aggressions emanating from the Chola monarchs of Conje- 

 veram. That frequent contests between the Chola and Pandya prin- 

 ces occurred in remote periods there is no reason to doubt; but it is 

 not quite so certain that the particular occasions are specified with 

 much accuracy, or that hostilities, embittered by religious differences, 

 disturbed the tranquillity of the Dekhin some centuries before the 

 Christian era. 



'Anantaguna was succeeded by his son, Kula Bhushana, in whose 

 reign, it is said, in the Pandya Rajakal, that the Pandya kingdom 



* All the lists agree iu inserting Vikrama's name. The translation of the Tiruvaley. 

 'Jclal omits him making Raja Sek'hara the son of Abhisheka, ' S 



