Chera Chola Pandyas

– by D.Om Prakash Narayan

After the release of the movie, Ponniyin Selvan, much interest has been shown by people into the history of the Chera, Chola and Pandyas. Giving a brief outline of their history ….

South Indian History is largely interlinked with Sangam and Tamil Literature from where the historians drew parallels and information about that age.

To understand the approximate time period of the Chera, Chola, Pandya Kingdoms and Dynasties, we need to understand that they were contemporaries with different timescales interlapping with each other. Of which we find that the Pandyas time period was the longest with nearly 2100 years of rise and wane, followed by Cholas with nearly 1600 years approximately. However, the Chola rule was more stable than the Pandya rule except for some exceptional periods during the Pandya rule. 

500 BC – 1600 AD- Pandyas (on and off the seat of power) 
300 BC – 1279 AD - Cholas  (with rise and fall of the kingdom at various times) 
200 BC – 400 AD (later the Chera Dynasties split up and ruled as separate split kingdoms till 900 CE) 

CHERAS

In Sangam Literature, we find mentions of Chera Chola Pandyan Dynasties as concurrent territories at war with each other. Chera Dynasty ruled the western part of Tamil Nadu (present day Kerala and Coimbatore, Erode regions) The ancient Chera kingdom came traces its origin from Kuttanad in Kerala, and established itself in the Kongu region of present day Tamil Nadu. The Musiri Harbour was famous during  the Chera regime. Cheran Senguttuvan was the most famous Chera King who is mentioned in the Sangam Literature of Ettuthogai, Pathupattu, and Silapathigaram. The Chalukyas, the Pandyas, and cholas have invaded the Chera Kingdom at various times until the Chera Kingdom was split between succeeding kings and clan and was no more by the 10th Century A.D. 

CHOLAS 

The Chola history can be seen as four periods, namely, the Early Cholas of the Sangam literature, the waning period of Early Cholas and rise of warlords like Pazhuvettairayar, rise of the medieval Cholas esp Vijayalaya sometime around 850 AD, and the successive rulers following Vijayalaya, and finally the Later Chola dynasty of Kulothunga Chola and others following him.

Due to lack of evidence like rock edicts, the main source of information about early Cholas upto to the 7th Century AD is derived from Sangam and Tamil Literature. There is mention of the early Chola Empire in some of the rock edicts of King Ashoka and Maurya. 
It was the poets of those years who immortalised the kings – Parimelazhagar, a 13th Century AD poet, praises all three kings of the Chola Chera and Pandyan kings for their generosity. Some of the famous Chola Kings were Vijayalaya Chola (848–881) Parantaka I (907–955)Gandaraditya (950–957) Arinjaya (956–957) Parantaka Chola II (957–970) Uttama Chola (973–985) Rajaraja Chola I (985–1014) – In the Srilankan epic Mahavamsa, written in the 5th Century BC, chronicling the history of Sri Lanka during that time, mentions about a Chola Prince Ellalan, who invaded a part of Sri Lanka with the help of an army from Mysore(?!) around 235 BC. 

The Pandyan Kings and the Chola kings were constantly at war with each other, each vowing to destroy the clan of the other (Perhaps they didn’t know that they will all become one Tamil Nadu thousands of years later  ) and thus led to a number of wars between the two kingdoms. Parantaka Chola II, also known as Sundara Chola (for his good Physique) almost destroyed Madurai when he waged war against Vira Pandian and during his time, he was constantly at war with the Pandyas one way or the other along with his  famous son, Adita Karikalan – the one whose leg is black – Legend has it that once Adita was captured in a den and the den was set afire. He escaped but his leg got burnt – hence the name, Kari kalan (the one with the black leg) – the most famous among the Chola Kings, is of course, Arul mozhi Varman, more popularly known as Raja Raja Cholan, who built the Thanjavur Brihadeeswarar Temple and introduced various reforms during his reign in which he expanded the chola kingdom overseas like never before. Which is why he is known as Raja Raja Cholan the great in History. The construction of the Thanjavur Temple has various legends – one being that an ordinary lady would often distribute Butter milk to the workers when the temple was being built. Impressed with her service, Raja Raja asks her what she wants – She points to a huge boulder near her house which she says can be used for the temple – Raja Raja made it a point to roll this boulder and place it on top of the temple tower – which stands even today – of course most of these information comes from local legends and folklore. Another Legend says that the famous siddhar, Karuvurar, gave secret designs to Raja Raja Cholan which prevented other kings who invaded the chola kingdom from remaining in power. Even today, the belief is that whoever enters the temple from the main entrance showing authority, will lose power or authority. Which is why they say that VIPs are taken into the temple only by a side entrance even today.

PANDYAS  

Just like the Chola Dynasty, the Pandyas too, can be classified into different time periods. The early Pandyas, (500 BC to 4th Century AD – nothing much is known of the Pandyas during this period)  the medieval Pandyas, (6th to 10th Century AD) Under the Chola Influence (10th Century AD to 12th Century AD - amid wars and annexures by royal matrimony) and the Imperial Pandyas (13th and 14th century AD) 

The Pandya Kingdom was best known for its legacy that Goddess Meenakshi herself ruled the capital along with Lord Shiva for quite some time. The early Pandya dynasty seems to have come into existence during the 5th Century BC and were at various timelines, invaded by others. Between the 6th and 10th Centuries AD, the Pandyan Kingdom was mostly dormant – It was only during the later period of 13th and 14th Century AD that the Pandya Kingdom expanded their kingdom extensively, as far as Sri Lanka. 
Famous for the three Sangams, (Legend has it that Lord shiva himself presided over the first Tamil Sangam in the submerged land of Lemuria where there was another Madurai, known as “Then Madurai” – these interesting legends have no historical evidence as it is believed that an entire land mass with the famous mountain of Gold, “Meru” submerged under the water in a cataclysm that brought the Himalayas into existence)

Madurai is often referred to in the Sangam Literature along with Kaveri poompattinam, the port city and the southern port of Korkai. Ancient Emperor Ashoka in his rock edicts mentions Madurai and the ancient Pandyan Kingdom. 
However, between the 6th Century AD and 9th Century AD, the Pandyan Kingdom was mostly obscure with the rise of Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas an Pallavas. After the Pandyas fell into a decline for nearly 300 years, they again slowly started gaining prominence after the 9th Centrury onwards and were at their peak under Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan during the 13th Century (1251 A.D) who managed to expand the empire as far as Nellore in the north, and also as far as Kerala and invaded Sri Lanka! When they invaded Sri Lanka, they took away the teeth Lord Buddha from Sri Lanka after conquering North Sri Lanka. During this time, the Pandyas made Kancheepuram their second Capital. During the 13th Century AD, Pandyan Kingdom was plunged into  a crisis due to infighting and the entire south was invaded by Khalji. Mallik Kafur, the lieutenant of Allaudin Khalji, invaded and looted Madurai with a huge army. 
Legend has it that the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple’s Shiv Ling, was protected by three priests by constructing a wall that hid the orginal lingam, and by placing a duplicate lingam in front. Mallik Kafur as expected, destroyed the lingam (what did these foreign invaders have against lingams? I wonder) and threw it – the deformed lingam can still be found near the steps of the Potramarai Kulam in Sri Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple. After the invasion of Mallik Kafur, the Pandya Kingdom lost South Kerala as well as North Sri Lanka. Madurai became a Sultanate in 1335 till Kumara Kampana a commander from the Vijayanagar Empire, invaded the region and defeated Aluadin Sikandar Shah, the 8th Sultan of Madurai Sultanate. One of the first acts of Kumara Kampana was to re-open the gates and doors of Sri Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, closed for over forty years. He believed that it was Sri Meenakshi who led him to Madurai and helped defeat the Sultan.  Again, legend has it that one of the priests who hid the original Shiv Ling by building a wall, revealed the hidden lingam to the new rulers. And when they broke open the wall, they found the lingam adorned with fresh flowers and incense, and lamps were burning inside the fully closed sanctum santorum. This miracle was widely discussed and celebrated in Madurai.  
Some of the famous Pandya Kings were Kadungon (7th century AD) Parakrama Pandyan I (1161–1162 AD) Maravarman Sundara II	 (1238–1251AD) Jatavarman (1309–1345 AD) Sadaavarman Parakrama Pandya	 (1422–1463 AD) and Sadaa Varman Adeevira Pandya	 (1564–1604 AD) 
After the Mughal Invasion and the Vijayanagar Empire, commanders of the Vijayanagar empire, the Nayakars, took over Madurai from 1529 until 1736. The most famous among the Nayakars were Thirumalai Nayakar and Rani Mangammal, who truly developed Arts and culture in Madurai during their reign. The Nayak rule ended in 1736 when the Nawab of Arcot sent an army for collecting taxes. The collusion of alliances ruled Madurai until 1801 when the British took over the region.