Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/359

Rh occupy, and re-name it. He, therefore, called himself Rājamahēndra. Amma II, who ruled between 945 and 970 A.D., bore the same title. His brother and successor was Danarnaya (970 —73 A.D.). Passing over the hiatus of thirty years, when the country was in the hands of the Chōlas, we come to the reign of Saktivarman,the eldest son of Danarnaya. If we are to believe the Kanyaka Purāna, then we must identify this Saktivarman with its Vijayarka. Saktivarman's successor, according to inscriptions, was Vimalāditya, who must be identified with the Vishnu Vardhana of the Purana. Vimaladitya's son, according to inscriptions, was Rāja Rāja I, surnamed Vishnu Vardhana VIII. He has been identified with the Rāja Rāja Narēndra of current tradition in the Telugu country, to whom Nannayya Bhatta dedicated his translation of the Mahābhāratha. He must also be the Rāja Rāja Narēndra of the Purāna. If that is so, we must set down the cardinal incidents mentioned in it to the first quarter of the 11th century A.D. The actual spots where the principal events of the tragedy were enacted are still pointed out at Penugonda. Thus, the garden in which king Vishnu Vardhana halted is said to be the site on which the hamlet of Vanampalli (meaning village of gardens) stands at present. The spot where the huge fire-pit for Kanyakamma was dug is pointed out as having been in field Nos. 63/3 and 63/4 to the north of the now non-existent Nagarasamudram tank. The 102 other pits were, it is said, in the fields round the bund (embankment) of this tank. The tank is now under cultivation, but faint traces of the bund are said to be still visible. It is about two furlongs to the north-west of the temple of Nagarēsvaraswāmi. It is locally believed that Kanyakamma's fire-pit was, on the morning following her tragic