Gangadevi also known as Gangambika was a poet in the Vijayanagara Empire during the 14th century and chronicled the story of the victory of her husband, Kumara Kampana, son of Bukka Raya I over the Muslims in Madhura in the form of a poem. The title of the eight chapter poem was Madhura Vijayam, also known as Veerakamparaya Charitram.
Dear Virarajendra,
You can arrange to Edit Wiki too and add the informations furnished.
Thiruvarangan Ulaa - a Historical Novel written by SriVenugopalan is based on the exile of Sri Ranganatha during the Muslim invasion. It is in 4 parts. The 3rd and 4th parts are entirely based on Madhura Vijayam as indicated by the author in the foreword.
It is an absorbing reading. A very fast paced novel.
I would definitely vote for the TU part as you said. Well if just those compulsions could have been avoided, the Madhura Vijayam also would have made a great impact. Honestly the portion in which Vallabhan and Thatthan really retrieve the Arangan Vigraham, first by swinging on the slippery rock and then finally finding in the forest, brought me to the edge of the seat. The narration was excellent. And more importantly Sri Venugopalan did a good job in narrating the Preparation of the Vijayanagar army right from the start to capturing the Sambuvarayars and then marching to Srirangam and Madurai.
In fact the compulsions were more depressing than the TU part.
In Srirangam, there is an entrance named "ariyabatal vaasal". The two female figures in this entrance are called Ganga and Yamuna. This entrance was named after the fierce battles it witnessed during the islamic invation.
Not very far from this entrance you see the VERY FIRST Inscription of Kampana - one Achudha Raya (if my memory is not failing), who was an official of Kampana - recording a grant nearly one hundred and odd years after the last pandiyan inscription.
This inscription represents the victory and establishment of vijayanagara forces. There is not even a sign board to help you to identify this inscription.
All structures that you see in front of this entrance - Including the grand garuda mandapa - were built by Nayaks and vijayanagara kings.
-last invasion of srirangam was in 1323 by Ulugh Khan. possibly parakrama pandyan was in power then.
the Madurai Sultanate (or the Ma'bar Sultanate) was a short lived kingdom based in the city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, India during the 14th century CE. It lasted from 1333 until 1378.whether their power lasted upto srirangam is a doubt. we have many coins issued under the sultanate. Ghiyas-ud-Din Muhammad Damghan Shah, ascended the madurai throne in 1340 CE and later defeated the last remaining hindu power in tamilnadu the Hoysala king Veera Ballala in 1343 .
madura vijayam of kampanna happenned in 1378. so tamilnadu in general and madurai in particular were under a sort of anarchy for 55 years.
> -last invasion of srirangam was in 1323 by Ulugh Khan. > possibly parakrama pandyan was in power then.
Malik kafurs was a short but brutal invasion which happened several years earlier. But Ulugh khan stayed in srirangam with his forces and plundered. I think this time the damage was permanent.
>14th century CE. It lasted from 1333 until 1378.whether their power >lasted upto srirangam is a doubt.
After veera ballala there was no leadership in this region. Inscriptions in srirangam stop well before the islamic invasion and continue only after vijayanagara period
> madura vijayam of kampanna happened in 1378. > so tamilnadu in general and madurai in particular were under a sort > of anarchy for 55 years.
The damage to madurai temple was much more brutal. A recent archaeology study indicates the garbagraha itself is relatively new (post vijayanagar period - possibly thirumalai nayak period) whereas the gopurams are older (pandiya) !
which means the sanctum sanctorum itself was disturbed heavily. In this sense srirangam is better as it still has the old garba graha. MADURAI KONDA KOPPARAKESARI inscription is found in the core structure of srirangam (SRB later chola temples)
> Malik kafurs was a short but brutal invasion which happened several years earlier. But Ulugh khan stayed in srirangam with his forces and plundered. I think this time the damage was permanent.
malik kafur represented the khiljis. ulugh khan the thuklaks. there was a dynasty change in delhi in between i guess.
but maliks loot was fully spent on defence against the mongols against whom the delhi rulers always had a fear. allaudin was the first ruler to efetively stop the mongols. he built a palace on the buried heads of a few thousand mongol prisoners. at siri.
the mongols were later defeated in egypt. perhaps the two cases where their influx was stopped.
At its greatest extent mongol empire stretched from the Danube to the Sea of Japan and from Arctic to kampuchea, covering over 33,000,000 km2 (12,741,000 sq mi), 22% of the Earth's total land area, and held sway over a population of over 100 million people but not india. thats one attribute we have to give allaudin khilji.
I am starting off on reading "Alberuni's India" by Edward Sachau. Alberuni's Indica is the first person version of critical analysis of the Indian civilization at 1015AD, from a Muslim point of view. Point to note, Alberuni himself hated the arabs and turks. Can anyone let me know if there are books about Ibn Batuta's travel, would be a relevant reading for understanding the kind of destruction that south india faced.
Will be checking up the gutenburg project/a million books.com too for such translated books.
Your are correct. The Muslim Historians - Wassaf & Khusru has given first hand information on the "Later Pandiyas". Wassaf has given a more graphic account than Khusru of what happened during the final stages of the last Tamil empire of Tamil Nadu - namely the Pandiyan Empire.
I have given below the extracts from the Historical Writings of these two Historians, on the Muslim Invasions of the Ma'bar region (the Tamil Nadu).
One point that is to be seen in these two extracts is that Wassaf seems to be more well informed of the historical events than Khusru. Based on this reason we could take the statement made by Wassaf that Vira Pandiyan was the younger brother of Sundera Pandiyan. It appears Khusru was not correct in stating that Vira Pandiyan was the eldest while Sundera Pandiya was the youngest.
Wassaf has referred to Kulasekara Pandiyan the father of Sundera Pandiyan & Vira Pandiyan as "Kales Dewar" meaning Kulasekars Dewar. The Vira Pandiya has been erronously referred as Tira Pandiya.
Khusru has referred in his writings the Vira Pandiya erronously as Bir Pandiya.
In these writings "Rai" means "king".
Now I provide below - the relevent extracts taken from the Historical Writings of these two Historians - for the benefit of the PSVP Members and others.
KAN, in his "A History of South India" under the chapter "The Empire of Vijayanagar" states thus
".........The Pandya's failre to recover Madura is the historic justification for Kanpana's campaign against the Madura sultan which history places in the years from 1365 to 1370. The image of Ranganatha, which had been carried away from Srirangam for safety during the time of the Muslin inroads, was restored to its original place in 1371."
An Inscription in Thiruppullani temple also confirms that Kampana defeated the Sultan of Madurai in Salivahana Year 1293, which actually corresponds to 1371 AD.
The inscription on Srirangam Temple wall, is in sanskrit and starts with "Aa nIyA neela srunga.....". In this too the Salivahana Era 1293 is mentioned as the year of victory and restoration of Ranganatha to Srirangam.