the wrongs he had shared with brother and invaded the Chola country soon after his accession'. Kulothunga Chola III, having ruled for almost 40 years, was aging and did not have the support of his erstwhile feudatories and subordinates at this time. The zeal and determination of Maravarman Sundara Pandya under whom the Pandyas would gradually but firmly revive and become the paramount power in South India under his capable successors, and 'the swiftness of the attack rendered Chola resistance feeble'. In the absence of any allies to support him against the Pandyas, Kulothunga Chola III had the ignominy of seeing Thanjavur and Uraiyur being sacked by the forces of Maravarman Sundara Pandya. Kulothunga Chola III and his son, yuvaraja Rajaraja Chola III were driven into exile. It was now Maravarman Sundara Pandya's turn to repeat the act of Kulothunga Chola III, in performing a virabhishekam in the coronation hall of the Cholas at Ayirattali in Thanjavur district. The Pandya monarch did not stop at this, he marched up to Chidambaram where he worshipped at the famous shrine of Nataraja. On his way back, Maravarman Sundara Pandyan fixed his camp at Pon Amaravati in Pudukottai. At this time, Kulothunga Chola III appealed for aid to Hoysala Veera Ballala II, with whom the Chola monarch had marital alliance. Veera Ballala II responded quickly, and 'sent an army under his son Vira Narasimha II to Srirangam. Maravarman Sundara Pandya, therefore, had to make peace with the Cholas and restore the Chola kingdom to Kulothunga Chola III and Rajaraja Chola III, after they made formal submission at Pon Amaravati and acknowledged him as suzerain. This was the beginning of the second empire of the Pandyas though it was not yet quite the end of that of the Cholas. The wheel of fortune had thus, turned a full circle during the last part of Kulothunga III's reign itself, and from being the powerful suzerains of the once-dominated Pandyas, it was the turn of Cholas to remain dominated and subservient to their arch-enemy, during the best part of their remaining existence between 1217 CE to 1280 CE. The period 1217–1280 CE was a period was a period of continuous decline of the Cholas which is also characterized by the steady and constant growth of the renewed power of the Pandyas. Kulothunga Chola III and his son Rajaraja Chola III became tribute-paying subordinates of Maravarman Sundara