The Bhikṣuṇī Maṇimēkhalai

77 - The Historical Materials
The reference in the Maṇimēkhalai makes it clear that the enemy
against whom operation had to be undertaken on that particular
occasion was the Cēra and the Pāṇḍya combined. But that detail is not
stated in the other connection. So far as this specific statement goes, it
gives a material point for identification of the locality that this battle
was a battle that the Cōḻa viceroy had to fight against the Cēra and
the Pāṇḍya.
Where is Kāriyāṟu then and when was the battle actually fought? The
battle was actually fought at a time anterior to the advent of
Maṇimēkhalai in Kāñcī, maybe in the reign of Śenguṭṭuvaṉ or even
anterior. But it seems likely that it was in Śenguṭṭuvaṉ’s reign that the
incident took place. We have already stated that the immediate
predecessor of Śenguṭṭuvaṉ claimed having brought the territory of
Kongu directly under his rule and extended his influence across to the
eastern sea. We have also a reference incidentally to the fact of the
Malayamān Kāri of Tirukkovilūr killing Ōri of the Kollimalais and
making over the territory to the Cēra. Therefore even before
Śenguṭṭuvaṉ came to the throne, the Cēra aggression in the east was
gradually extending, till it came into touch with the Cōḻa frontier all
along the line towards their west and north-west.
The effective [43] intervention of the Cēra Śenguṭṭuvaṉ at Nērivāyil a
place not far from Trichinopoly again shows that the territory under
the control of the Cēra was not very far from where the battle was
actually fought. We may, therefore, look for Kāriyāṟu anywhere
along this frontier, and the battle might well have taken place in one
of these campaigns in the reign of Śenguṭṭuvaṉ himself. In an
aggressive war of the Cēras it is not a very rare occurrence that the
Pāṇḍya was associated with him, as in fact it was a normal political