पृष्ठम्:मथुराविजयम्.djvu/२१

10 Let us now turn our attention to the account of the subjugation of the Tondal-mandalam, as graphically narrated in the poem. It is stated that Kampans with a large army commanded by eminent generals first moved on to the bank of the river Palar (Dugdha-sarit) and ercamped in the town of Virinchipuram. It should be noted here that at the time of this event, as it is even now, the high road between the country on the east of the plateau of Mysore and the low-lying western taluks of the North Aroot district bordering on the Mysore State, lay through the Mugli and the Sinigunta passes in the Eastern Ghats. The former of these is in the Chittur taluk and the rise of the ghat is gradual, admitting of wheeled traffic. The Sinigunta pass, on the other hand, leads from Gudiyattam to Palmaner and the road through it joins the road from the Mugli pass. The ascent up this pass is steep and an army consisting of a large number of elephants, horses and infantry, and carrying with it a long train of supply wagons, would naturally have chosen the easier route, namely, that through the Mugli pass. The immediate object of the move was to attack and subjugate the powerful chief of the region bordering on the Palaru-the Champaraya, Samparaya or Sambuvaraya of the poem and the inscriptions. He appears to have ruled over a larg tract of country with Padavidu as his stronghold and perhaps Conjeevaram as his capital. As soon as the army of Kampana was sighted at Virinchipuram, Sambuvaraya opposed its fording the river and gave battle to it near Virinchipuram. After some fighting, his army had to suffer defeat at the hands of the powerful forces of the Vijayanagara king and it fled in the direction of Padavida, with the enemy in hot pursuit. Sambuvaraya with a select portion of his army, however, took refuge in the strong fortress on the hill called the Rajagambhira bill near Padavidu, and defended it with all the strangth that he could muster,