South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c14.s1.40

Language: English

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While the goddess of wealth whose habitation is the lotus, and the goddess of earth rest upon his arms; while the goddess of learning whose habitation is the tongue, and the goddess of victory flourish in all their glory; while the destructive tiger and the evil-inflicting bow become alike in their decadence; while the fishes twain with lines of beauty play upon the brilliant gold mountain (Mēru); while good (dharma) increases in this sea-girt earth; while righteous rule prevails beating down the evil-producing dark-age (Kali); while the great earth is cool under the shadow of a single umbrella; while the three kinds² of Tamil flourish in their order; while the four Vedas continue to be chanted in the accustomed manner; while the five sacrifices are conducted according to the authorized rites; while the six systems of religion prosper in all their beauty; while the seven kinds of music flourished each in its mode; while the wheel of authority rolls unobstructed to the eight cardinal points; while the Konkaṇas, Kalingas, Kosalas, Māḷavas, the Chēras (Villavar), Māgadhas, Chāḷukyas (Vikkalar ?), Cholas (Śembiyar), Pallavas and all others, bringing each their tribute make their obeisance, pressing each party their petition, one before the other, where they are to live; while the garland, which Indra of the dazzling crown had put on his neck, shone over his breast; he had himself crowned in order that the path of Manu created by the cool-lotus-seated Brahma may prosper on earth.

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Getting the land of the Kāvēri (Ponni) rid of the authority under the tiger-seal, and making the orders under the fish-emblem of the land of Kumāri (Kanni) prevail, he spread round his army of angry steeds and elephants, and gave over to red-fire the cities of Tanjore (Tanjai) and Uraiyūr (Urandai). While umbrellas and canopies spread their red and blue, he spoiled the beauty of the blue-water in tanks and streams, destroyed the country, ramparts, towers, and dining halls, terraces, and pavilions; while the eyes of the ladies of those that would not render to him respectful submission filled with water, he had their territory ploughed with asses, and sown with cowries. He fought against the angry Chola till he lost his anger, and turned him into the desert for shelter. He then assumed the (Chola's) crown and made gifts to his minstrels. He then spread his fame by celebrating the anointment of heroes in ‘the coronation hall of thousand pillars’, of the hostile Chola, the golden walls of which reached up to the skies and defied being praised in song. Pulling out by the head the name ‘other-king’ (pararāja) that existed, he got rid of the community of property in the earth by mounting his war-elephant, of cruel look, which was in the habit of shutting its eyes, carrying with him his own broad shoulders and sharp weapons (described above).

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Passing the boundaries of the holy Puliyūr (Chidambaram), the residence of the Veda-chanting Brahmans against whom war is unthinkable, he delighted his eyes by the sight of the radiant form of the god with Umā in the ‘golden-hall’, refulgent with the divine dance. Laying his head in worship at the God’s glorious feet, unknown alike to the beautiful lotus-seated Brahma and of the cool-basil-garlanded Vishnu, he seated himself in the pavilion (mandapa) effulgent like the golden Mēru in the city of the gods, near the beautiful lotus-pond where the sleeping swans are awakened by the humming of the bees. There then entered the Chola king, on the assurance being given that he would be restored the crown, the garland and the fertile kingdom he had lost—the Chola king who abandoned not long before both his honour and his capital alike on the field of battle. Pushing forward his own son and stating that he was the gift of the Pāndya, the Chola threw himself at the foot of the throne of the victor, a suppliant for favour. He (the Victorious Pāṇḍya) then made a gift by pouring of water which, putting an end to all the heat in the hand of the Chola brought on by his wandering in the jungles, crowned him and offered to make over his kingdom as soon as the war in which he was engaged should be over.

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In execution of this, his promise, the ruler of all the rulers of the earth, issued a royal rescript with the royal sign-manual of the fishes, conferring, at the same time, the title Śoḷapati that he had lost before and the old city upon him again and dismissed him with pleasure. Among the kings who oppressed with the obstruction caused by their own kinsfolk, supplicated him as the god who alone could remove the afflictions to which the monarchs of this earth were liable, was the king of North Kongu who humbly petitioned for a hearing of all the harm that his own relatives had done him. Giving him a patient hearing, he sent him back to his quarters in the evening, presenting him with a garland which he had on, the sweet smell of which was the attraction to swarms of bees. Sometime after this, one day there came to him at the head of a vast army, whose great drums sounded like the ocean itself, the king of South (ten) Kongu. He prostrated in front of the throne saying ‘all those near and dear to me are quite well (by your royal favour)’. The great king thought it fitting to present him some of the brilliant jewels that he himself had put on, and appointed him suitable apartments as a mark of great friendship. Like the three-eyed Śiva on the back of an elephant receiving the worship of Viṣṇu (Tirumāl) and the four-faced Brahma (Nānmukan), he made a state entry (pavani) with the two kings of Kongu paying him homage.

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Not agreeing to their proposal for cession of territory, he imposed his own terms under penalty of death in case they should not be accepted, and dismissed them (to their kingdoms). Without considering that the right course was for him to continue to worship the feet of him that bestowed the crown on him the Chola, on a later occasion, declined to render the duty and the tribute due to his suzerain, under the delusion that his own fertile country was his security. The smaller and the larger divisions of the army sent by the Chola were rolled back upon themselves, the horses, elephants and chariots, and their complement of men were cut down till, overcome with fear, the Chola monarch rolled on the sea-girt earth shaking with fear. In that field of battle filled with warriors whose broad chests carried the arrows shot into them, the warriors of the Pāṇḍya ruler cut off the tusks and trunks of war-elephants to make tributes of them to their sovereign; the tuncated bodies of warriors who fell in battle danced under the canopy formed by crows (hovering over the field) which was high enough to reach the sky and seemed designed to shelter the field from rain; and all over the field was heard the ‘song’ of vultures; pleased with the sight and sound thus presented he caused the praise of the goddess of the golden trident (Durga in her aspect as the goddess of the battlefield) with sweet-scented hair and red lips to be sung to invoke acceptance of the offering.

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Having drawn his sword and killed vast multitudes so that enemy kings cried in distress, his anger did not subside; he irrigated in consequence the land of enemy kings with red-blood and sowed them with cowries, thus exhibiting his valour in full. Enemy kings thus making him hear the war songs (paraṇi) of poets, the earth cooling with the water of his bath, he took in the attack the whole body of the enemy’s women folk. He then proceeded to Muḍigoṇḍaśōlapuram, whose tall gates of entry (gōpuras) carried flags on its tops, preceded by the chief queen of the vanquished Chola and other distinguished ladies of the palace carrying ‘the eight auspicious objects’¹ beginning with the water jar. He then anointed himself hero, having planted pillars of victory in all directions. Putting on then the ‘anklet of heroes,’ the wearing of which made the chains on the ankles of the victorious weapon-wielding northern monarchs stir, he took his seat upon the jewel-bedecked throne of heroes, while the fly-whisks gently wafted on either side of him. Seated along with him was the queen Ulagamuḷuduḍaiyāḷ (the queen of the world) deferentially praised by the most esteemed ladies of the northern monarchs whose elephant hordes trumpeted like the ocean itself.