Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/433

 CHOLAS AND PALLAVAS 375 portion of the Ceded Districts, and more especially with the Cuddapah District, which possesses the hot climate and other characteristics noted by the pilgrim, and was still notorious for brigandage when annexed by the British in 1800. The pilgrim speaks merely of the " country " of Chola, and makes no mention of a king, doubtless for the reason that the local raja was a person of small importance, subordinate to the reigning Pal- lava King of Kanchi, the powerful Narasimha-varman, who two years later destroyed the Chalukya power. In the ninth century, the Chola rajas seem to have begun to recover their authority, and at the beginning of the tenth century, an able and vigorous prince, Pa- rantaka I (907-47 A. D.), succeeded in making himself formidable to his neighbours, with whom he was con- stantly at war during his long reign. He claims to have carried his victorious arms even to Ceylon. Inscrip- tions recorded in the North Arcot and Chingleput Dis- tricts prove the extension of his power into the heart of the Pallava dominions, and are of especial interest to students of village institutions by reason of the full details which they give of the manner in which local affairs were administered by committees, or panchayats, exercising their power under royal sanction. Rajaditya, the son and successor of Parantaka, was killed in battle with Krishnaraja IH, the Rashtrakuta king, in 949 A. D. His death was followed by a period of disturbance lasting for thirty-six years, during which the names of five obscure rajas are recorded. The accession in A. D. 985 of a strong ruler, Rajaraja-