I was invited by the Alumni Association of Vaishnavism Department of the University of Madras to talk about my book Ramanuja Itihasa through a zoom conference.
The presentation done on 27th May, 2023 was in Tamil though the slides were in English. The non-Tamil people will be able to follow the talk by watching the slides. The main focus was on the construction of the bund at Tonnur Kere by Ramanuja which is the first ever arch dam in India. The talk also focused on how the bund was destroyed by Tipu Sultan who also destroyed the Narasimha temple at Thondanur to house the coffin of the ghazi who died during the raid of Thondanur - Melukote in the 11th century. I also spoke about the earliest Islamic incursion to South India by that Ghazi and his accomplice who were the associates of Salar Syed Masud.
I also gave a brief account of the Muslim girl (Bibi Nachiyar) who wanted to possess the Vigraha of the deity of Melukote and the legends associated with her.
After touching upon the history of the Chola kings of the Ramanuja period including the one who persecuted Ramanuja and earned the name Krimikantha Chola, I gave details of the episode of how Lord Govindaraja of Thiru Chithrakutam (Chidambaram) was thrown into the sea by Kulotthunga II. At the end of the talk, there was a question- answer session in which I have given additional details about the Chola period.
The video recording of the talk can be viewed here
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