The Bhikṣuṇī Maṇimēkhalai

78 - The Historical Materials
relation between the three Tamil kings of the South that whenever
any one of the three got the dominant position the other two were
certainly opposed to him generally, and got into an active alliance
against him as occasion offered.
In the passage of the poem where a reference is made to the victory at
Kāriyāṟu the army of invasion is definitely said to have started from
Vañji, the Cēra capital. Among the flags hoisted in front of the army
on the field of battle, the flags of the fish and the bow are said to have
been fluttering. The two points therefore are clear. The object of the
invasion is also unmistakably stated to be ‘the desire for land,’ in
other words, earth-hunger, the desire for addition of territory. That
was the character of the invasion which was beaten back by the
viceroy at Kāriyāṟu. The location of the river therefore must be in the
vicinity of the Cōḻa frontier, which would answer to this actual
description.
It is at once be clear from this description that the attack could not
have been delivered anywhere on the frontier of the Cōḻa kingdom
proper, as in that case the army of the headquarters would have
repulsed the invasion, while it is possible that the younger brother, the
viceroy of Kāñcī, might none the less have led the army. In those
circumstances, it is not likely that the credit of the [44] victory would
have been assigned solely to the prince, commander-in-chief though
he might have been. The victory is described as having been won by
the viceroy-prince. It should therefore have been within the limits of
his vice-regal authority, and he must have won it without assistance
from the ruling monarch for the time being. Otherwise the
description would be from the point of view of language somewhat