Page:Madras Journal of Literature and Science, series 1, volume 6 (1837).djvu/220

198 Chandra Kula Dwipa. He was succeeded by fourteen princes, in the reign of the last of whom the province of Madura was first assailed by the Musalman arms; an occurrence which enables us to form some estimate of the dates of preceding transactions.

The first Mohammedan invasion of the Dekhin occurred in the reign of Alla-ad-din in 1293. The first army that crossed the Krishna was led by Kafur, or Malek Naib, in 1310-11; and, as he carried his conquests to Rameswar, the work cited may possibly refer to this incursion. According to another authority, the event was dated in 1325, which is sufficiently near, unless, which is not improbable, the allusion blends the first and second invasion together, in which last Mujahid Shah, in 1374, overran the countries between Vijayanagar and Cape Comorin, and advanced to Rameswar. In either case we have a period of less than three centuries assigned to fifteen princes, which would leave no very disproportionate average for their reigns, except that, as the whole season was one of tumult and disorder, and as the rulers were usurpers and intruders, they must claim considerably lest than the average duration which might be assigned them in tranquil times, and under long prescriptive sway.

Any deduction to be made from the average duration of the reigns in question, may partly be filled up by the period of anarchy which succeeded the destruction of Madura. How long this continued does not appear; nor, indeed, can its existence lo the full extent of the authority here followed be admitted. The sovereign of Madura, deposed by the Chola prince, was subsequently restored by him; and in the inscriptions of the Belala race, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, it is said, they made the kings of Madura their tributaries. It is probable, therefore, that legitimate princes of the ancient house continued to sit on the throne of Madura, some time after the capture or conflagration of their capital, till, weakened by foreign aggression and domestic disobedience, they finally yielded to the enterprise of an adventurer, and the establishment of a new dynasty.