Karikala Chola
கரிகால சோழன்

Karikala's Territories c.120C.E.
Reign	?c.120 C.E.
Title	Peruvalattan Tirumavalavan
Capital	Urayur
Queen	Unknown Velir princess
Children	?Nalankilli Nedunkilli Mavalattan
Predecessor	Unknown ?Ilamcetcenni
Successor	Unknown
Father	Ilamcetcenni
Born	Unknown
Died	Unknown

Karikala Chola was the greatest among the Chola kings of the Sangam age in South India. He was the son of Ilamcetcenni and ruled around 120 C.E and is known by the epithet Karikala Peruvallattan (கரிகால பெருவளத்தான்) and Thirumavalavan (திருமாவளவன்). Image File history File links Karikala_territories. ... Uraiyur: Literally meaning the living place, Uraiyur was an ancient Chola city with a fortress and citywall on the southern banks of river Ponni and was made the official capital of the Chola empire around 540 B.C.E. by Tittan ( henceforth he was called Uraiyur thandha Thiththan). ILancaeN Cenni... Ilamcetcenni was a Chola king during the Sangam age in South India. ... Ilamcetcenni was a Chola king during the Sangam age in South India. ... Areas under direct control of the Chola Empire, 1030 CE. The Chola Empire rose to power in the 9th century in the Tamil speaking districts of Southern India. ... The Early Cholas of the pre and post Sangam period (100 C.E. – 200 C.E.) were only the three main kingdoms of the ancient Tamil country. ... The lists of legendary early Chola Kings are recorded in Tamil literature and in the inscriptions left by the later Chola kings. ... Ilamcetcenni was a Chola king during the Sangam age in South India. ... Nedunkilli was one of the Early Cholas mentioned in Sangam Literature. ... Nalankilli was one of the Early Cholas mentioned in Sangam Literature. ... Killivalavan was one of the Early Cholas mentioned in Sangam Literature, and of a period close to that of Nedunkilli and Nalankilli. ... Kopperuncholan was one of the Early Cholas mentioned in Sangam Literature. ... Kocengannan was one of the Early Cholas mentioned in Sangam Literature. ... Perunarkilli was one of the Early Cholas mentioned in Sangam Literature. ... Medieval Cholas rose to prominence during the middle of the 9th century C.E. and established the greatest empire South India had seen. ... Vijayalaya was the Chola king of South India who captured Thanjavur during c. ... Aditya I (870-906) was an Indian ruler. ... Parantaka Chola I (907 c. ... Gandaraditya Chola succeeded his father Parantaka I and became the Chola king c. ... Arinjaya Chola succeeded Gandaraditya Chola c. ... Parantak Chola II (957 c. ... Uttama Chola ascended the Chola throne c. ... Rajaraja Chola I ascended the Chola throne in July 985 C.E. Raja Raja the Great, as he is known in history reigned for 29 years, and conquered the whole of southern India and the Chola empire expanded as far as Sri Lanka in the south, and Kalinga (Orissa) in... Rajendra Chola I was the son of Rajaraja Chola I, the great Chola king of South India. ... Rajadhiraja Chola I (1018-1054) was the king of the Cholas empire in southern India and the eldest son of king Rajendra Chola I. Although not supreme king untill his fathers death in 1044 he was associated in kingship since 1018 He maintained Cholas authority over most of Lanka, despite... Rajendra Chola II (1054 – 1063 C.E.) reigned as the Chola king succeeding his brother Rajadhiraja Chola. ... Virarajendra Chola (1063 – 1070 C.E.) became the Chola king succeeding his brother Rajendra Chola II. Rajamahendra, Rajendra’s son and heir apparent died before his father and Rajendra made his younger brother Virarajendra his heir. ... Athirajendra Chola ( 1070 C.E.) reigned for a very short period of few months as the Chola king succeeding his brother Virarajendra Chola. ... The Chalukya Chola dynasty ruled the Chola Empire from 1070 C.E. until the demise of the empire in the second half of the 13th century. ... Kulothunga Chola was the offspring of two rival dynasties - the Cholas of Thanjavoor and the Chalukyas of Vengi when he came to the throne in 1070 A.D. The Cholas and the Chalukyas had always existed in constant warfare, spaced by periods of uneasy peace, for decades, due to differences... Vikrama Chola succeeded his father the famous Kulothunga Chola I to the Chola throne in 1120 C.E. He inherited an empire that had been severely confined to the Tamil country and a few out-lying areas of the Telugu country. ... Kulothunga Chola II succeeded his father Vikrama Chola to the Chola throne in 1135 C.E. Vikrama Chola made his heir apparent and coregent in 1133 C.E and so the inscriptions of Kulothunga II count his reign from 1133 C.E. Kulothunga II reigned over a period of general... Rajaraja Chola II succeeded his father Kulothunga Chola II to the Chola throne in 1150 C.E. He was made his heir apparent and coregent in 1146 C.E and so the inscriptions of Rajaraja II count his reign from 1146 C.E. Rajarajas reign began to show signs... Rajadhiraja Chola II (1163 – 1063 C.E.) reigned as the Chola king succeeding Rajaraja Chola II. He was not the direct descendent of Rajaraja Chola II, but a grandson of Vikrama Chola by his dauther. ... Detail of a Statue of Rajaraja I at the Brihadisvara Temple The period of the imperial Cholas (c. ... Poompuhar is a town in the southern part of India in the state of Tamil Nadu. ... Uraiyur: Literally meaning the living place, Uraiyur was an ancient Chola city with a fortress and citywall on the southern banks of river Ponni and was made the official capital of the Chola empire around 540 B.C.E. by Tittan ( henceforth he was called Uraiyur thandha Thiththan). ILancaeN Cenni... Temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram Gangaikonda Cholapuram is a village in the inland Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu, India. ... Thanjavur, formerly known as Tanjore, is a city in Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. ... The Cholas were the most famous of the three dynasties that ruled ancient Tamil Nadu. ... The Sangam is a collection of Tamil literature composed between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago. ... Ilamcetcenni was a Chola king during the Sangam age in South India. ...

Sources

The story of Karikala is mixed with legend and anecdotal information gleaned from Sangam Literature. Karikala has left us no authentic records of his reign. Only source available to us are the numerous mentions in Sangam poetry. The period covered by the extant literature of the Sangam is unfortunately not easy to determine with any measure of certainty. Except the longer epics Cilappatikaram and Manimekalai, which by common consent belong to the age later than the Sangam age, the poems have reached us in the forms of systematic anthologies. Each individual poem has generally attached to it a colophon on the authorship and subject matter of the poem, the name of the king or chieftain to whom the poem relates and the occasion which called forth the eulogy are also found. Sangam Literature is the collective name for the Tamil literature created over 1800 years ago. ... Sangam Literature is the collective name for the Tamil literature created over 1800 years ago. ... Cilappatikaram (The Anklet) also spelled as Cilappadhikaram or Silappadhigaram, is one of the five great epics of ancient Tamil Literature. ... Manimekalai is one of the masterpieces of Tamil literature and belongs to The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature. ... In publishing, a colophon describes details of the production of a book. ...

It is from these colophons and rarely from the texts of the poems themselves, that we gather the names of many kings and chieftains and the poets and poetesses patronised by them. The task of reducing these names to an ordered scheme in which the different generations of contemporaries can be marked off one another has not been easy. To add to the confusions, some historians have even denounced these colophons as later additions and untrustworthy as historical documents.

Any attempt at extracting a systematic chronology and data from these poems should be aware of the casual nature of these poems and the wide difference between the purposes of the anthologist who collected these poems and the historian’s attempts are arriving at a continuos history.

Pattinappaalai, Porunaratruppadai and a number of individual poems in Akananuru and Purananuru have been the main source for the information we attribute now to Karikala. Akananuru (அகநானுறு) is the seventh book in the Sangam literature anthology Ettuthokai. ... Pura Nanooru or Pura Nanuru is an ancient Tamil Sangam collection of poems, dating from 900 BCE to 220 CE. It is one of the oldest Tamil anthologies. ...

Karikala’s early life

Karikala was the son of Ilamcetcenni ‘…distinguished for the beauty of his numerous war chariots…( உருவப்ப·றேர் இளஞ்சேட் சென்னி)’ – (Purananuru – 266). The name Karikalan means 'the man with the charred leg' and perpetuates the memory of a fire accident in the early years of his life. Porunaraatruppadai describes the legend of this incident as follows: Ilamcetcenni was a Chola king during the Sangam age in South India. ... Pura Nanooru or Pura Nanuru is an ancient Tamil Sangam collection of poems, dating from 900 BCE to 220 CE. It is one of the oldest Tamil anthologies. ...

The king of Urayur Ilancetcenni married a Velir princess from Azhundur and she became pregnant and in due course Karikala was born. Ilamcetcenni died soon after. Due to his youg age, Karikala's right to the throne was overlooked and there was political confusion in the country. Karaikala was exiled. After the confusion was quelled, the Chola ministers sent a state elephant to look for the prince. The elephant found the prince hiding in Karuvur. The political opponents of Karikala plotted to assassinate the prince arrested and imprisoned him. The prison was set on fire that night. Karikala escaped the fire and with the help of his uncle Irumpitarthalaiyan defeated his enemies. Karikala’s leg was scorched in the fire and from thence Karikala became his name.

Pattinappalai, written in praise of Karaikala also describes this incident: Like the tiger cub with its sharp claws and its curved stripes growing (strong) within the cage, his strength came to maturity (like wood in grain) while he was in the bondage of his enemies. As the large trunked elephant pulls down the banks of the pit, and joins its mate, even so after deep and careful consideratio, he drew his sword, effected his escape by overpowering the strong guard and attained his glorious heritage in due course.

Military Conquests

Battle of Venni

According to Porunaraatruppadai 'Karikala Chola with the garlend of ar pleasing to the eye' fought a great battle at Venni near Thanjavur in which both Pandya and Chera suffered crushing defeat. Although we know very little about the circumstances leading to this battle, there can be no doubt that it marked the turning point in Karikala’s career, for in this battle he broke the back of the powerful confederacy formed against him. Besides the two crowned kings of the Pandya and Chera countries, eleven minor chieftains took their side in the campaign and shared defeat at the hands of Karikala. The Chera king, who was wounded on his back in the battle, committed suicide by starvation. Thanjavur, formerly known as Tanjore, is a city in Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. ... The Pandyan kingdom was an ancient state at the tip of South India, founded around the 6th century BCE. It was part of the Dravidian cultural area, which also comprised other kingdoms such as that of the Pallava, the Chera, the Chola, the Chalukya and the Vijayanagara. ... The Cheras were one of the three ancient Tamil dynasties who ruled the southern peninsula of India at the beginning of its recorded history. ...

Venni was the watershed in the career of Karikala which established him firmly on his throne and secured for him some sort of hegemony among the three crowned monarchs.

Other wars and conquests

After the battle of Venni, Karikala had other opportunities to exercise his arms. He defeated the confederacy of nine minor chieftains in the battle of Vakaipparandalai. Paranar, a contemporary of karikala, in his poem from Agananuru mentions this insident without giving any information on the cause of the conflict.

Pattinappaalai also describes the destruction caused by Karikala’s armies in the territories of his enemies and adds that as the result of these conflicts, the 'Northerners and Westerners were depressed… and his flushed look of anger caused the Pandya’s strength gave way…'

If we disregard the vague statements of the poet about Northerners and Westerners, we see that for all his heroism on the battlefield Karaikala’s permanent conquests did not extend beyond the land of the Kaveri.

Karikala legends

Northern Conquests

From very early time Karikala became the subject of many myths which in modern times have often been accepted as serious history. Cilappatikaram (c. sixth century C.E.) which attributes northern campaigns and conquests to all the three monarchs of the Tamil country, gives a glorious account of the northern expeditions of Karikala, which took him as far north as the Himalayas and gained for him the alliance and subjugation of the kings of Vajra, Magadha and Avanti countries. There is no contemporary evidence either in Sangam literature or from the north Indian source for such an expedition. Cilappatikaram (The Anklet) also spelled as Cilappadhikaram or Silappadhigaram, is one of the five great epics of ancient Tamil Literature. ... Vajji (aka Briji) was a [[[mahajanapada]] of ancient India. ... Magadha was an ancient kingdom of India, mentioned in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. ... Avanti ( modern Malwa ) was an important kingdom of western India and was one of the four great monarchies in India when Buddhism arose, the other three being Kosala, Vatsa and Magadha. ...

Raising the banks of Kaveri

The raising of the banks of the river Kaveri by Karikala seems to be first mentioned by the Melapadu plates of Punyakumara, a Telugu Choda king of the seventh or the eighth century C.E. Nothing can be more typical of the way the legends grow than the way in which this story mingles with another stream of legend centring around Trinetra Pallava, and culminates in the celebrated jingle of the late Telugu Choda inscriptions: Telugu may refer to: TELUGU PORTAL Telugu language Telugu script Telugu people This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

karuna - saroruha vihita - vilochana – pallava – trilochana pramukha kilapritvisvara karita kaveri tira

(He who caused the banks of the Kaveri to be constructed by all the subordinate kings led by the Pallava Trinetra whose third eye was blinded by his lotus foot.)

This has been made the basis of conclusions of the highest importance to the chronology of Early South Indian history.

Personal life and death

Pattinappaalai describes Karikala as an able and just king. It gives us a vivid idea of the state of industry and commerce under Karikala who promoted agriculture and added to the prosperity of his country by reclaimation and settlement of forest land. He also built a number of irrigation canals and tanks.

We know next to nothing regarding Karikala’s personal life. Naccinarkkiniyar, the annotator of Tolkappiyam, states that Karikala married a Velir girl from Nangur. He most certainly had more than one queen. There is evidence in Purananuru for Karikala’s faith in the then embryonic Vedic Hinduism in the Tamil country. Purananuru (poem 224) movingly expresses his faith and the grief caused by his passing away: The Tolkāppiyam (தொல்காப்பியம் in Tamil) is a work on the grammar of the Tamil language. ... The adjective Vedic may refer to The Vedas, the oldest preserved Indo-Aryan texts. ... Hinduism (Sanskrit/Hindi —, hindi , and ) is a religion originating in the Indian subcontinent, based on the Vedas, and among the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. ...

He who stormed his enemies forts undauntedly, who feasted his minstrals and their families and treated them to endless draughts of toddy, who in the assembly of Brahmins noted for thief knowledge of Dharma and purity of life, guided by priests learned in their duties and attended by his noble and virtuous queen, performed the vedic sacrifice in which the tall sacrificial post stood on a bird-like platform, within the sacrificial court surrounded by a high wall with round bastions, he, the great and wise king alas, is no more! Poor indeed is this world, which has lost him. Like the branches of the vengi tree, which stands bare, when their bright foliage has been stripped down by shepherds eager to feed their cattle in the fierce summer, are his fair queens, who have cast off their jewels.

Young Indian brahmachari Brahmin A Brahmin (less often Brahman) is a member of the Hindu priestly caste. ... Dharma - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

See also

• Sangam Literature
• Cholas in Sangam Literature
• Legendary Early Chola Kings

Sangam Literature is the collective name for the Tamil literature created over 1800 years ago. ... The lists of legendary early Chola Kings are recorded in Tamil literature and in the inscriptions left by the later Chola kings. ...

References

• Mudaliar, A.S, Abithana Chintamani (1931), Reprinted 1984 Asian Educational Services, New Delhi.
• Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1935). The CōĻas, University of Madras, Madras (Reprinted 1984).
• Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1955). A History of South India, OUP, New Delhi (Reprinted 2002).