South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c14.s1.50

Language: English

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While the Brāhmaṇas, of a single mind, of two-births, of the three fires, of the four Vedas, of the five sacrifices and of the six auxiliary sciences, flourished, while the invaluable learning in Tamil and Sanskrit, the righteous path of the six systems of religion, and the path of rectitude set up by Manu flourished without swerving in the least; the Gūrjaras, the Āryas, the Kosalas, the Koṅkaṇas, the Vajras, the Kāśis—the Śonagas, the Avantis and other kings of the great earth presented their tributes after making profound obeisance. The Pāṇḍya then marched forth with his long sharp sword, his strong big horse and his amuletted long arms, as his only companions. Leaving the Chēra and his army dead on the field of battle, he destroyed the Malai Nāḍu (mountain country) or Malabar, where the earth never dries up.³ He then compelled the payment of tribute by the Chola who came of a great dynasty of rulers and possessed great fighting strength. He then attacked, as an act of his own strength, the Hoysalas in the Chola country. Breaking through their beautiful citadel, and destroying their cavalry of rising strength and valiant generals, like Siṅgaṇa with their army, he filled the battlefield with hills of dead bodies with gurgling floods of blood, and made kites, crows, vultures and other birds of prey celebrate the battle by their noisy rejoicing. He captured the enemy's rutting elephants, neighing horses, heaps of gold and jewels, and innumerable women then and there;

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but disisted from pursuing the fleeing Hoysala in the conviction that it was unfair to do so. Putting to death the Chēra, who, while pretending to conduct himself towards him with an affection exceeding that of a mother, was actually inimical at heart and proved the traitor, he captured Kaṇṇanur-Koppam, merely approaching which would be impossible to conceive for others, and brought the Chola country of Ponni (Kāvēri) as much under his protection as the land of Kanni (Kanyākumārī). He then put under a tribute of elephants the Hoysala (Karuṇaḍa Rāja) who fled for protection to his city protected by hill-like elephants¹ and accepted graciously the tribute of jewels and elephants from the king of Īḷam (Ceylon). Declining the tribute similarly sent by the Pallava chieftain, he captured him and, putting him in chains, laid siege to the flourishing city of Śēndamangalam. Fighting many a battle round the place which struck terror into the heart of the Pallava, he took possession of his fertile country, his reserves of gold, big elephants, horses and other items of royal wealth, and then restored the Pallava to his kingdom.

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He then entered the great temple at Chidambaram where, having worshipped at the feet of the dancing Śiva of immeasurable antiquity, he wore the garland of victory (வாகை) along with garlands of margossa brought from the groves round the temple of Kāḷi in Uraiyūr, while learned poets in sweet words sang the praises of the victorious king who adorned the royal family descended from the moon, and wished for his long life and prosperity. That great ‘Self-Luminous One’ who habitually lies in sleep upon the thousand-headed Ananta, like a big hill in the midst of the sea of high white waves, the home of the monster crocodile (makara), to the delight alike of the mind and eyes of those that saw Him, lies, in his great mercy, in the island of the great Kāvēri, Śrīrangam, as the sole God of this sea-girt earth. There, that this Śrīrangam may prosper in great wealth, he ascended the scales many times against jewels and pearls showing himself like a golden hill. In that gold-roofed temple, on a luxuriously jewelled throne, shining like the growing dawn upon the Eastern hill, he wore the gold crown ‘Nagarōdaya’, shedding glorious light like the full-grown moon.¹ Alongside of him was seated Ulagamuḷuḍaiyāḷ, who was attended on either side by the queens of other kings, wafting with the chauris (fly-whisks) the gentle breeze of the spring and the southern breeze of Malaya hill at once, while others of beautiful moon-like face and great affection sang her praise;

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‘Like the goddess Lakshmi in never separating, wearing a crown exactly like her husband and exercising similar authority to the points of the compass, who is there on earth like this great warrior unless it be Balabhadra.’²