Early Tamils traced their ancestry to Rama (My article in Organiser Magazine)

Not many have known about the wealth of information available in Tamil sources – both literary and epigraphic – giving valuable inputs related to Rama. Foremost among them is the claim by the Cholas that Rama was their ancestor! The second-most important information pertains to the time period of Ramayana. The third set of inputs establishes beyond doubt the location of Lanka of Ravana in present-day Sri Lanka.

Rama, the ancestor of Cholas

Chera, Chola and Pandya are the three ancient Tamil dynasties of which the Cholas belonged to the solar dynasty starting from Surya, Manu and Ikshvaku. One often comes across the reference to ‘Manu-Neeti’ as the hallmark of the Chola kings in their inscriptions. A Chola king is remembered as ‘Manu Neeti Chola’ for having given the highest punishment to his son, the crown prince, for having killed a calf under his chariot. Though it was done unknowingly, the Chola king did not hesitate to punish his son by getting a chariot run over him and kill him. None knows the name of this king as anything other than ‘Manu Neeti Chola’, for being a just ruler. Only the Buddhist chronicle Mahavamsha gives his name and describes his sense of justice in the context of the death of this king in a war in Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka. Though an invader to their domain, in recognition of his unparalleled sense of justice, his mortal remains were cremated with honours and a monument raised, which was worshiped by the kings of that country, reports Mahavamsha in the 25^th chapter. 

The sense of righteousness running in the lineage of Manu, it is no wonder that Rama became an epitome of Dharma, to be emulated by any king wishing to follow the right path. If any  king is related to Rama in the remote past, would he lose any opportunity to boast off his filial connection with Rama? We do find evidence for such claim by the Chola king Veera Rajendra, the grandson of Rajaraja Chola -I, engraved in the Pillars of  Bhagavati Amman temple at Kanyakumari. While giving the detailed list of his forefathers starting from Brahma and then Manu, the king has written that in the family of Rama was born a king named Chola who ventured southward and founded the Chola dynasty in Poompuhar – the place deduced from the description.

Verse 26 of the poetically written inscription in Sanskrit, stands out among every other description about Rama, by having addressed the tough events in Rama’s life and how he stood beyond personal considerations. For the curious reader, here is the verse as reported in Travancore Archaeological Series (1921):

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