1S6 Historical Sketch of the Kingdom of Pandya. [July 



to him instead of his brother, and to co-operate with him in an attempt 

 to drive Rajendra from the throne. The confederate princes march- 

 ed towards Madura for that purpose; but they were encountered by 

 the Pandya king, defeated, and taken prisoners. Rajasinha was 

 detained in confinement during the rest of his life, but the Chola 

 monarch was released and dismissed with civility to his own do- 

 minions. 



Saundarya Pada Sek'hara, the son of Rajendra, succeeded his father* 

 Like his predecessors, he is said to have been engaged in hostilities 

 with the Chola monarch ; and, whatever we may think of the circum- 

 stantial details of these repeated conflicts, it seems not at all improba- 

 ble that a struggle for supremacy in the peninsula did exist, at a re. 

 mote date and for a long period, between these rival dynasties, which 

 terminated in the temporary ascendency of the Pandya monarchs. On 

 this occasion it is related, that the Pandya king was forced to fly be- 

 fore his invaders, but their prince was drowned in the pursuit of his 

 defeated foes, and the kingdom of Madura was thus preserved from 

 foreign subjugation. Of course, the accident was not a mere casualty, 

 but was brought about by the seasonable interference of the tutelary 

 deities of Madura. Saundarya Pa la died soon after his return to his 

 capital, or, as it is said of every Pandya prince, he went into the adytum, 

 or inner chamber, of the temple of Mula Linga, and was united to the 

 god. If we do not suppose that this was a contrivance of the priests to 

 get rid of those princes of whom they were tired, or with whom they 

 were dissatisfied, we must conclude the ceremony to have been part of 

 the religious institutes of the kingdom, and that the princes and per- 

 sons of note were carried to the temple, to die in the presence of the 

 tutelary gods, in the same spirit as that which, in Upper Hindustan, 

 conveys the expiring individual to breathe his last Upon the banks of 

 the Ganges. 



Yaraguna, the son of the last prince, succeeded. His reign con- 

 tains the usual proportion of marvels; but nothing of a historical 

 character in the authorities hitherto followed. This omission is the 

 more remarkable, as the Chola records ascribe the disappearance of 

 the series of their princes to the transfer of the kingdom to Yaraguna, 

 by his marriage with a Chola princess, as has been noticed above ;* 

 and the union of the two principalities under a common sovereign 

 appears to have actually occurred about the period at which this 

 prince may possibly have reigned. The fact is supported by another 



* According to the Cf.ola Desa Purriha Cttaritra Vyohhyanam, Yaraguna was the son of 

 Balaehandra Paadyan. His wife was the daughter of Kulottunga Chola. Their descend- 

 ants occupied the united Pandya and Choia kingdoms, for twelve generations and five 



