Hi Folks, There are some short stories of Kalki which are a tad boring. However, we must acknowledge the fact that he had a great gift of describing events in detail. Since we live many years away from the past, it is only but natural to get facinated by the way of life, stories and events of several centuries ago. The spirt of nationalism he tried to evoke with PS in those years is commendable. Good author when he had to write about past events. Great imagination. Sometimes unable to lace multiple events with no loopholes :)
you seem to know a lot about kalki for someone not familiar with the tamil script I am also reading kalki's short stories atleast one or two a week. I am able to see a common thread but what fascinated me was his obsession for life after death. for a descriptive man like kalki such situations are like halwa.he comes out in flying colours in such stories where he uses last life memories.
his best was solaimalai ilavarasi where he spins a tale of a freedom fighter on the run after destroying a railway track. he hides in a dilapitated fort and is helped by a local girl who father is a staunch british supporter. he dreams of his past life in the same fort. the girl is there too in the past life. a very great portrayal of freedom fighting in 2 eras. pre congress and post congress.
that if you ask me is kalki's materpiece in nationalism. but frankly speaking kalki always talks about infighting with tamils or indians in his historic books. I dont think there was much nationalism involved in his historic books though they were deeply recorded in his alai osai and thyga bhomi. what he talked about was the victory of one indian clan over another. highly localised nationalism in fact. glad if you could point some instances of nationalism in his historic books.
Kalki's forte was his ability to mix facts with the fiction. I remember one particular story well. It is called poimaan karadu. It is about a illusion in a hill that looks like a deer at some place near Namakkal. When traveled through the same route i could looking for similar kind of hill structure along the road.
You may not be able to find nationalism in his historic writing may be, but his attachment to Rajaj and Gandhi is well known and can be seen in many of his non-fiction works.
I think Nationalism has to be seen in the context of the time that the story is set in. Nationalism in our current time means the geopgraphical entity of India. In the Chola/Chera/Pandya/Pallava times, nationalism meant a love for the respective kingdoms. In that sense VanthiyathevAn etc were Chola nationalists while even Ravidasan and co were Pandya nationalists. :)
okay agreed. but what sense of nationalism could such a book have given in times of an independence struggle? ( or for the matter in a freshly independent country)
did it not enforce what the british were telling us all along. that india was full of warring tribes which they and they only united and if they left everything would go back to chaos.
the individual nationalism is still alive even in this group.try talking to rahul dhinakaran about chola superiority and expecta mile long mail denying it.
whaty kalki was trying to tell his readers was that " we were not always slaves. we were conquerors at one time. and those before us were brave in battle. not docile like us.
PS was penned during a period when pride and self esteem of Tamizh population was at its lowest and honour consisted of identification with the British Regime (this phrase was coined by somebody in Orkut, i loved it) This is true even today when most of our grand parents take pride in that they served the Britisher.
Kalki actually showed us that we had a lot to be proud of (Mr.Venketesh is so true) by bringing the Tamizh history and culture into focus. I have heard that it was he who bought Bharatanatyam to the common man. Maybe some in our group could shed light on this.
Parthiban Kanvu is full of nationalist and freedom sentiment. Mixing the history with nationlistic feeling and that too in a interesting way could be one of his ways of freedom movement.
My point was that one can arouse feelings of nationalism in others by recounting tales of "nationalism"/bravery from another era. Just because the nationalism implied in Kalki's historical novels were not the same as the Freedom Era pan-India nationalism does not imply that it was somehow less in spirit. I think we both agree that Kalki did try and get the tamils to feel pride in their history/culture/language and by doing this, in trying to enthuse and arouse their spirits for the larger fight against the British Empire.
you have a very valid point there. parthiban kanavu especially the initial sequences of parthiban dreaming of a great chola land ( which just was not possible in his life time and pallavan giving an explantion of why he needed to annex smaller nations- to have a common front against a larger enemy) thats kalki's explanations to inquisitve people like us who question his nationalism half a century later.
> And cleverly he has not taken RRC or post RRC period. Imperial Chozhas > commences from RRC only. >
Hi this is an opportune moment to discuss the down trend of the cholas.
if there is a peak( let it las a century) it means there is a slow or hastened downslide after that.
if we take the peak to be rjc or even kulothunga how did the cholas slide after that.
was it the lethargy that had set in over a few hundred years of enemy less ruling???
or was it because a ruler was brought in from the daughters family to continue the dynasty??( a similar event happened in the recent thondaiman dynasty of pudukottai. where a boy was adopted from a daughters family and the decline set in.
I am sure some members like venkatram dhiwaker- a novelist who has worked on the later cholas, as well as (silent) shankaran who is an expert of that period will participate.
List of Chola kings Early Cholas Ilamcetcenni Karikala Chola Nedunkilli Nalankilli Killivalavan Kopperuncholan Kocengannan Perunarkilli Interregnum - c 200-848 Medieval Cholas Vijayalaya Chola 848-871(?) Aditya I 871-907 Parantaka Chola I 907-950 Gandaraditya 950-957 Arinjaya Chola 956-957 Sundara Chola 957-970 Uttama Chola 970-985 Rajaraja Chola I 985-1014 Rajendra Chola I 1012-1044 Rajadhiraja Chola 1018-1054 Rajendra Chola II 1051-1063 Virarajendra Chola 1063-1070 Athirajendra Chola 1067-1070 Chalukya Cholas Kulothunga Chola I 1070-1120 Vikrama Chola 1118-1135 Kulothunga Chola II 1133-1150 Rajaraja Chola II 1146-1163 Rajadhiraja Chola II 1163-1178 Kulothunga Chola III 1178-1218 Rajaraja Chola III 1216-1256 Rajendra Chola III 1246-1279
Dear Venkatesh and SPS, Very good start on later Cholas. 1. Individual worship, not national pride, may be main reason for falling of Cholas. The integration between small states and centre created by the great Raja Raja was completely destroyed during the period of later cholas.
2. No major wars between Cholas and their erstwhile enemies after Kulottungan period. Even Chalukya Vikramathitya VI, the dangerous enemy of Cholas too kept quite after AD 1000. Sinhala has gone to Sinhalas during Kulottungan time itself. Not much was in Srilanka afterwards between Tamils and Lankans. So, war culture was limited during later cholas time. And in-fighting started between main chieftians - example Kopperunginkan who built THILLAI Gopurams.
3. Because there was no major wars and peace prevailed we have got more classical works in Tamil during their time (one great asset to Tamils).
4. Rajaraja & Rajendra behaved like humble persons and not like dictators. But it was not there during later chola time. The later Cholas behaved like more than Dictators (Ref. Kalingattu Parani - Kulottunga put his leg on the head of friendly country chieftian - and one of the last chola put his leg on head of Pandya King at Madurai Palace. Any such dictatorship can not last long.
But If Raja Raja's Policy of central governance with democratic set up over rural continued, there was no doubt that chola supremacy would have been very longer period.
And in-fighting started between main chieftians - example Kopperunginkan who built THILLAI Gopurams. > this charecter seems to be a fascinating one,
he was pious built the south gopuram of chidambaram.
was a feudatory of the chola king and at one point rebelled held the entire chola court hostage and took titles for it. the hoysals had to come and bail out the chola king.
tells us how pazhuvur and kodumbalur were the pillars of RRc.
the same thing happend with later pandyas. no feudatories. the ever hungry pandya war machine had gobbled up everybody and when malik kafur came there was nobody to even slow him down.
Kopperunjia was infact supposed to be from the line of Pallavas and hence had ambitions of reviving the pallava dynasty.. I am not sure, if the Hoysalas overram him, I am not sure if it was someshwara who did that.. Infact Hoysalas themselves overthrew the chalukyas(they themselves were overlords for chalukyas) Historically we are seeing the emergence of overlords.. Cholas were infact alternating between Pallavas and Pandyas and counting their time.
When the Hoysalas were over-run, their warlords, the Harihara and Bukka form the vijayanagara empire, which allows the nayaks to form and finally the muslim conquest, whoaa.. did english were overlords for any of the indian kings?
In Periya Puranam Sekkizhar when mentioning about Appar Piran and His conversion into saivism, narrated how 'Kadava King' rushed to seek the pardon of Appar Piran. Kadava, the word may be started used from 6th century onwards for Pallavas. Ayyadigal Kadavarkon, a nayanmar related to Pallava Simhavarman (Mahendra's grandfather) was a King turned 'Sivanadiyaar' who sang 'Kshetra Thiruvenbaa' which was included in ThirumuRai. I have read these small sects of songs. Just beutiful and telling us about the glorious temples of Chola country.In later chola inscriptions the pallava sub-ordinates being called as Kadavarayas
Azhakiya Siyan Kopperunjinkan, son of Azhakiya Pallava Sadumperumal, must be considered as very important among the major causes for the decline of the later Cholas. . He was a Kadava and the Kadavas of the 13th century were the descendants of the Pallavas. Kaduvetti was a variant of Kadava and stood for Pallava. We hear of Tondaimans and Kadavas from the beginning of Imperial Chola power indicating that the fall of Aparajita did not mean the extinction of the Pallava.
Of those who succeeded in this most, the ambitious Kopperunjinga was the most illustrious for his activities were not confined to rebellion and treason. In his own right he was a good ruler and a great patron of art. He started as a loyal feudatory of the Cholas. But in 1231 at Tellaru (near Wandiwash) he defeated the emperor Rajaraja III and imprisoned him at Sendamangalam. Vira Narasimha II Hoysala intervened on behalf of the Cholas, defeated Kopperunjinga and restored Rajaraja to the Chola throne. For a time Kopperunjinga became loyal to the Chola. But in 1243 he again assumed independent status. He avenged his defeat at the hands of the Hoysalas by defeating them at Perambur. Trichy district in 1252/53. The meteoric career of Kopperunjinga was however rudely reduced to vassalage by Jatavarman Sundara, the all �� conquering Pandya. Kopperunjinga��s activities were spread over the Tondaimandalam mainly. He built the eastern tower of Chidambaram temple. He assumed high sounding titles like 'Kavisarvabhauma' (Kavichakravarthi) which means �� emperor among poets��. This could have been an exaggeration but his general abilities in government and warfare are beyond question. This very in subordinate is an excellent illustration of the kind of chieftains declining kingdoms will throw up. Not only incriptions, even one classical work 'Gadhyakarnamrutha' lights some of the acheivements of this king's numerous endowments and reconstruction of temple works which earned him a name in the cultural history of Tamil Nadu. Ku. Balasubramaniam's Koyirkalai book says (referring various Historians) Kopperunjikan was invloved in the construction of three Rajagopuram of Thillai.
SENDAMANGALAM: Kopperunjinkan must have erred here that he captured the last emperor of Chola Raja Raja III, when the king was escaping to Hoysala country after failing with Pandya. 'Gadyakarnamrutha' say that the King was overtaken surprisely by Kopperunjinkan and thrown into the prison at Sendamangalam. But Hoysala came to the rescue of Chola with the vengence and ransacked Sendamangalam and released Chola and he was restored to Chola throne too. For this, the army of Hoysala stayed back permenantly in the Chola country to keep peace for some time and subdued the irrespressable Kopperunjinkan too.
But whatever Hostory talked about Kopperunjinkan and his treasonable activities for the fall of chola empire, Raja Raja III has also got a name in the history as an imcompetent Chola King.
There are mentions in History that Kaadavarkon was Kalabra ! Kshetra Venba - read very recently .. Hymns on Chidambaram - thiruvarur - like Each prominent Kshetram !