Karikāl Chola who built Kallaṇai (Grand Anicut) was a contemporary of Adi Shankara

 The quest for establishing the date of Adi Shankara brings up an interesting information that a Chola king by name ‘Rājasena’ helped Adi Shankara in setting up three temples and in re-modelling Kanchipuram into two parts – as Shiva Kanchi and Vishnu Kanchi.  Even today these names exist with an additional identity as Big Kanchi for Shiva Kanchi and Small Kanchi for Vishnu Kanchi. Shiva temples are concentrated in Shiva Kanchi while Vishnu Kanchi is dominated by Vishnu temples, but the king’s name ending with ‘Sena’ is not heard of in the Chola genealogy.

The life history of Adi Shankara given in a text named, ‘Shankara Vijaya Vilāsa’ talks about the service of this Chola king in developing these towns and temples at the behest of Adi Shankara from verses 6 to 61 in chapter 25. Rājasena as the name of a Chola king doesn’t appear in any Tamil sources but this name appears with a variation in the Bhashya (commentary) to Chandogya Upanishad by Adi Shankara where he refers to ‘Rājavarman’ - a king who brings rewards equal to kingship. Rājasena being his contemporary, it makes us wonder whether Adi Shankara mentioned Rājasena as Rājavarman.

Checking the authenticity of this text, this book is indeed the lesser known among the many hagiographies of Adi Shankara. Only four manuscripts of this book were found in different parts of Bharat. The earliest to appear in print was published by Vāvillu Rāmasāmi Sāstri in 1876 at Madras. All the four manuscripts were compared and found to have less variations. The text is in the form of a narration of Adi Shankara’s life history by one Cidvilāsa Yati (who learned it from his Guru) to his disciple, Vijnānakanda. It is not possible to find out the date of this composition, but scholars are of the opinion that it follows Brihat Shankara Vijaya by Citsukha, the first disciple of Adi Shankara. There are however others who deny the very existence of Citsukha!

This text cannot be ignored because it talks about six kings from different parts of Bharat as contemporaneous to Adi Shankara of whom the Chola King at Kanchi appears traceable with Kanchi having more than 2000 years of history, recorded in literature (Tamil Sangam texts) and inscriptions. The other kings were Bhadrasena of Rudrākhya nagar near Prayāg, Vіrasena near the bank of Thungabhadra and Shringeri Mutt, Bhojasingh of Cidambar, Ratnasingh of Badarī and Rāmarāja of Anantasayana.

The information pertaining to Rājasena, the Chola king is related to developing Kanchi on the advice of Adi Shankara. Though I could get the exact date of Adi Shankara’s birth based on the Panchanga features given by many hagiographies, I wanted to find out the identity of this Chola king independently so that it would become a cross reference in support of the date of Adi Shankara which I will be sharing in another article.

About Rājasena in the text

The text says that Adi Shankara came to Kanchi from Shringeri after giving consent for setting up a Mutt in Shringeri. On coming to Kanchi, he worshiped Ekāmbranātha, Kāmākshi and Varadarāja. This shows that temples for these deities existed during his time.

Sometime during his stay, the Chola king, Rājasena came to meet him. Adi Shankara told him to develop Kanchi by making it two-told with Shiva and Vishnu, instead of the threefold division of Shiva, Shakti and Vishnu. Taking his advice, the king modelled the city as Shiva Kanchi and Vishnu Kanchi and built temples for Ekāmbranātha, Kāmākshi and Varadarāja. The building of these temples by Rājasena implies that these deities worshiped by Adi Shankara when he came to Kanchi were not housed in proper temples. Only Rājasena constructed these temples.

It is also written that when Adi Shankara came, Kāmākshi Devi was in Ugra form. She was residing in a bila (hole / cave) and often tormented the people. Adi Shankara pacified her by establishing a Sri Yanta. Adi Shankara asked the Chola king to make a golden image of Goddess Kāmākshi and install it in front of the hole. He also got the king to build a mutt for him. The King was asked by Sureshwara, the disciple of Adi Shankara to make a Sarvajna-pitha, (the throne of omniscience) made of gold and decorated with precious stones and adorned with steps. The king obliged and made the throne on which Adi Shankara ascended.

With only these details about this Chola king, we must find out who he was.

Rājasena was pre-Pallava.

In the opinion of many, Adi Shankara lived in the 7^th or 8^th century CE. The three main temples of Kanchi (Ekāmbranātha, Kāmākshi and Varadarāja) were already well developed by those centuries. Kanchi was under the control of the Pallava-s until the 9^th century when Aditya-I, the son of Vijayālaya defeated the Pallava-s. Placing Rājasena and Adi Shankara at or after the 9^th century in post-Vijayālaya period is not appropriate, because Kanchi was well developed by then.  

The only other time the Chola-s were in control of Kanchi was some time before the 3^rd century CE. As per the Pallava chronicles given in Velurpālayam plates, Kumāravishnu captured Kanchi from the Chola-s. (Verse 8)

Earlier, his father, Skandasishya snatched the Ghatika of Kanchi from Satyasena! (verse 7). The name Satyasena in the inscription shows that having ‘Sena’ as suffix was not uncommon among the Chola kings. A search for the Chola suffixes shows that their names in Tamil mostly ended with Kiḷḷi and Senni as well. But ‘sena’ being a Sanskrit word, it could have been in use in the Sanskrit names of the Chola kings. Most Chola kings had a titular name in Sanskrit while they also had a Tamil name by which they were commonly known. For example, Rājarāja was the titular name in Sanskrit for Arulmozhivarman in Tamil.

Among the Chola suffixes, Senni sounds closer to Sena. As per Sendhan Divākara Nighantu (Tamil Thesaurus, Verse 14) the following are the titles of the Chola kings. The list begins with Senni.

“Senni, Vaḷavan, Kiḷḷi, Sembiyan, Ponni-thuṛaivan, Pulikkodi-puravalan, Nēriyan, Ārththārkōn, Nēriṛai, Abhayan, Nēri veṛpan, Kōzhi vēndhan, Sūriyan, Punal Nādan, Kōchōzhan peyarē”

“சென்னி, வளவன், கிள்ளி, செம்பியன்,

பொன்னித் துறைவன், புலிக்கொடிப் புரவலன்,

நேரியன், ஆர்த்தார்க்கோன், நேரிறை, அபயன்,

நேரிவெற்பன், கோழி வேந்தன்,

சூரியன், புனனாடன், கோச்சோழன் பெயரே”

Senni seems to be a variation of Senāni, the Sanskrit word for Chief or Commander of the army or leader of the army. Senāni might have become Sena in the Sanskrit title and Senni in the Tamil title. Karikāla was known as ‘Senni Karikāla’ in Kulottunga Cholan Ula penned by Ottakūththar.

There is a likelihood that his Sanskrit title could have had Sena as suffix. In fact, no one knows the original name of Karikāl Chola. The name Karikāla was not his original name as revealed by Tiruvalangadu plates which state that he was Kāla for Kali. Therefore, he was Karikāla or Kalikāla. Senni Karikāla was his titular name.  Karikāla’s father was also a Senni – Uruva pahrēr Iḷamsēt Senni (உருவப்பஃறேர் இளம்சேட் சென்னி). He was the younger brother of one Sēt Senni (சேட் சென்னி) who was also addressed as Nalam Kiḷḷi (நலங்கிள்ளி) who ruled from Pūmpukār as per Purananuru verse 225. So, Senni looks like a variation of Sena. With this title seen in early Chola names, there is scope to say that Rājasena was a pre common era king of the Chola kingdom who had a hold over Kanchi too.

Golden walled Kanchi

Even as early as 78 CE when the Śālivāhana Śaka started, the Chola-s were in control of Kanchi, for, we read about Iḷam Kiḷḷi (இளம்கிள்ளி) ruling Kanchi when Manimekalai went over there. Perum Kiḷḷi (பெரும் கிள்ளி) was ruling from Uraiyūr during Kannagi’s period, as per Silappadhikaram.

We also read in Manimekalai that Kanchi was a walled city with the walls plated with gold and the city itself known as golden. In the 28^th chapter of Manimekalai, Māsātthuvān, the father of Kovalan was found to be telling his granddaughter, Manimekalai that Kanchi had golden walls. (பொன் எயில் காஞ்சி நாடு – line 156). Once again it is said in the same chapter, ‘golden city’ (பொன் நகர்- line 168) and ‘the ancient walled city with golden flag’ (பொற்கொடி மூதூர் புரிசை-   line 170). The city was a ‘popular ancient city’ (மல்லல் மூதூர் – line 237).

The city already well made with golden walls in the 1^st century CE (as known from the text Manimekalai) is proof of its development in the pre-common era. There is epigraphic evidence on who made it golden! It was Karikāl Chola!

The 42^nd verse of the Tiruvalangadu copper plates states,

“In this (king’s) family was born he, the leader of all the lords of the earth, the foremost of the great on account of his virtues, the king who renovated (the town of) Kanchi with gold, who had established his glorious fame by constructing embankments of the Kaveri and whom (people) called Kalikāla because (he) was (the god of) death to the elephants (kari) (of his enemies) as also to the Kali (-age).”

The exact verse in Sanskrit stating that Karikāla modernized Kanchi with gold is as follows:

“Kānchīm yashva navīcakāra kanakais: sōbhudamushyān vaye”

There is no way to claim that someone before Karikāla could have made the changes in Kanchi because only one king appears in the genealogy before Karikāla in Kali Yuga, and he was Perunar Kiḷḷi (பெருநற்கிள்ளி). Tiruvalangadu inscriptions offer unique information on Yuga-s in minor scale which can be called Dharma Yuga. It says that after the end of Dwapara Yuga, Perunar Kiḷḷi ruled the Chola domains, followed by Karikāla. This doesn’t mean that there were not many kings before Karikāla. There is evidence of several Kiḷḷi-s during and before Karikāla in the Sangam text of Purananuru, but only Karikāla and Perunar Kiḷḷi seemed to have stood out as exceptions, when compared with others.

The reference to the end of Dwapara Yuga before Perunar Kiḷḷi shows that they referred to the ushering in of the Kali Dharma Yuga with the beginning of Nanda dynasty as told in Srimad Bhagavatam (12-2-32). The year was 575 BCE, calculated on the basis of the Kali year of 2526 given in a similar verse in Brihat Samhita (13-3). Following the beginning of Kali Dharma Yuga in 575 BCE Perunar Kiḷḷi, Karikāla and Koccheṇganān were mentioned in the Tiruvalangadu inscription before Vijayālaya.

The Laden plates recognize Karikāla as one of the earliest kings coming after the much olden Vyāghrakētu (verse11) thereby making him a notable early king. This inscription doesn’t mention Perunar Kiḷḷi.

The Anbil plates of Sundara Chola also place Karikāla after the first Chola who lent his name to the dynasty, thereby according Karikāla an important place in the lineage of the early period. The Anbil Plates specifically state that it was a family of “kings beginning with Senni, Kiḷḷi and (kings) likewise beginning with Karikāla.”

The Anbil Plates further mention the names of the descendants of Karikāla as Koccheṇganān, Nallaṭikkon, Vaḷabha and Srikāntha coming before Vijayālaya. None of them was linked with Kanchi, except Karikāla. Karikāla seems to be the only Chola King to have made the golden wall around the city that is found mentioned in Manimekalai of the latter part of the 1^st century CE.

Karikāl Chola is associated with building the wall around Kanchi in Sekkilār’s Periya Puranam. Verse 85 of Tirukkuṛipputh thoṇdar Purāṇam states this. The verse is reproduced below:

என்று முள்ளவிந் நகர்கலி யுகத்தி

     லிலங்கு வேற் கரி காற்பெரு வளத்தோன்

வன்றி றற்புலி யிமயமால் வரைமேல்

     வைக்க வேகுவோன் றனக்கிதன் வளமை

சென்று வேடன்முன் கண்டுரை செய்யத்

     திருந்து காதநான் குட்பட வகுத்துக்

குன்று போலுமா மதில்புடை போக்கிக்

     குடியி ருத்தின கொள்கையின் விளங்கும்.

It says that Karikāl Chola who engraved his tiger emblem on the Himalayas was a king of the Kali yuga who created mountain like walls around the city of Kanchi for a circumference of 4 Khādam (yojana) and brought people to settle there. It also says that he was asked to do this by a ‘hunter’ (வேடன்) who went before him! The reference to a hunter leading the way and showing the spot was common in olden days when a king was on an expedition or moving through forested areas. A group of people used to visit the route taken by the king to clear the path. In this case, a hunter who was familiar with the region helped the royal team to identify habitable regions of Kanchi.

The initial demarcation of the city of Kanchi was done by Karikāl Chola by building a wall around Kanchi, as per the verse of Periya Puranam. Further re-modeling with gold was done on the advice of Adi Shankara. The specific title of Senni to Karikāla raises a doubt on whether he was Rājasena of Adi Shankara period.  

Karikāla’s connection with Kanchi.

Karikāla is remembered in Silappadhikaram for quite a few things of historical importance. He visited the ‘Kāmakkottam’ - the original and olden name for Kanchi owing to Kāmākshi, the presiding deity. There is a reference to Kanchi as Kāmakoṣṇī in Srimad Bhagavatam, visited by Balarāma, the brother of Krishna (kāma-koṣṇīṁ purīṁ kāñcīṁ - 10-79-14). Kāmakoṣṇī changed into Kāmakoṭi. The seat of Goddess is referred to as ‘Kāmakoshṭha’ in Shilpa texts such as Mānasāra and in Saiva- āgama-s. The Goddess is referred to as ‘Kāmakoṭikā’ in Lalitā Sahasranama, as ‘Kāmeswari Kāmakoṭinilayā’ in Lalitā Trishatī and ‘Kāmakoṭi Mahāpadma pītasthā’ in Lalitā Ashtotthara. What is Kāmakoṭi in Sanskrit is known as Kāmakkottam in Tamil.

Of the seven Moksha-Puri-s, Kanchi is one, the others being Ayodhya, Haridwar, Vāraṇāsī, Ujjain, Mathura and Dwaraka. This classification must have come up only after Krishna’s time going by the two places (Mathura and Dwaraka) identified with Krishna’s birth and life. Kanchi was already recognized as an important religious center by appearing in the pilgrimage plan of Balarama. It is noteworthy that Kanchi was known as Kāmakoṣṇī even at that time, which can be attributed to the presence of Kāmākshi Devi only. Koṣṇī or Koṣṭha is Tamilised into Kottam – a word for temple often appearing in Silappadhikaram and Manimekalai. 

Karikāla went to Kāmakkottam of the bangled Kāmākshi to get a weapon called ‘Chendu’ from Sāsta in that temple for the purpose of engraving (his symbol) on the golden Himalayas. This is written by Adiyārkku Nallār, the olden commentator of Silappadhikaram, by quoting an ancient Tamil verse whose authorship is not known.

கச்சி வளைக் கச்சி காமக்கோட்டம் காவல்

மெச்சி இனிது இருக்கும் மெய்ச் சாத்தன் – கைச் செண்டு

கம்பக் களிற்றுக் கரிகால் பெருவளத்தான்

செம்பொற் கிரி திரித்த செண்டு.

Kachchi vaḷik kachchi Kāmakkottam kāval

Mechchi inithu irukkum meych chāththan – kaich cheṇdu

Kambak kaḷṛṛiuk Karikāl peruvaḷaththān

sempon giri thiriththa cheṇdu.

Thre is a shrine of Sāsta even today in the first Prākāra of the Kāmākshi temple of Kanchipuram, thereby establishing the fact that the same temple of Kāmākshi with Sāsta existed in Karikāla’s time.

    Sāsta with Purna and Pushkala in Kāmākshi temple of Kanchi

The ‘Cheṇḍu’ is held by Sāsta in His hand. It is also noteworthy that Adi Shankara offers salutations to Sāsta in his composition, Sivapādādikeṣānta stotra. This reinforces Adi Shankara’s association with Kāmākshi temple of Kanchi, says VA Devasenapati in his book, ‘Kamakottam and Nayanmars’.

A definite town planning is seen in the position of both Shiva and Vishnu temples in Kanchi. Kāmākshi temple occupies the center while the entrances and Gopuram-s of all the other temples including the Varadaraja temple are facing the Kāmākshi temple. It is as though the entire city is centered around Kāmākshi Devi. All the deities of the other temples go round the Kāmākshi temple during Brahmotsava. This is followed in the case of Vishnu deities of Kanchi too which cannot happen unless it was an ancient practice sanctioned right from the time of building those temples in alignment with the Kāmākshi temple.

Another notable feature is the absence of separate shrine of Devi (Shakti or Ambāl) in any of the Shiva temples of Kanchi while the Shiva temples outside Kanchi have separate shrines for Shakti. Kāmākshi is the overpowering deity of Kanchi who makes her presence in the Shiva temples of Kanchi without a separate shrine for her individually in those temples.

A special feature of Kāmākshi Devi is her bangle. The bangles of Kāmākshi as mentioned in ‘Kachchi vaḷik kachchi’ (கச்சி வளைக் கச்சி) are something special as they are found as impressions in the body of Shiva according to Kanchi Puranam and Mūkapancashatī. The description of Kāmākshi Devi with bangles during the visit of Karikāla to the Kāmākshi temple to acquire Cheṇḍu could have happened after the temple was established from being a ‘bila’ or a hole into a full-fledged temple with the vigraha of Kāmākshi consecrated. It must be recalled that as per Shankara Vijaya Vilāsa, the golden image of Goddess Kāmākshi was made by the Chola king Rājasena on the advice of Adi Shankara. The Golden vigraha was taken to Thanjavur during Muslim invasion.

The city of Kanchi was renovated with gold by Karikāl Chola according to Tiruvālangādu copper plates. The city had golden walls as per Manimekalai of the 1^st century CE. This gives scope to link Karikāl Chola with the making of Golden vigraha for Kāmākshi Devi.

The arrangement of the temples in a specific fashion could not have been conceived by a king. Certainly, a religious leader of tall order must have been behind the planning of Kanchi into Vishnu and Shiva Kanchi with Kāmākshi as the central deity. Adi Shankara is identified as one who got the remodeling of the town with the help of Rājasena, who appears to be Karikāla.

At the same time, we do find another name “Iḷam Thirayan” (இளம் திரையன்) as the king of Kanchi in the Sangam Age text called “Perum Pānāṛṛu Padai”. Both Karikāla and Iḷam Thirayan seem to be contemporaries because both had been praised by the same poet, Kadiyalūr Urutthiram Kannanār (கடியலூர் உருத்திரங்கண்ணனார்). Since Iḷam Thirayan was also known as “Tondamān” Iḷam Thirayan, Kanchi was known as Toṇdai nādu or Toṇdai Maṇḍalam. The poet praised Iḷam Thirayan positioned at Kanchi whereas his poem (Pattina-p-Pālai பட்டினப்பாலை) on Karikāl Chola was about Pūmpukār. This raises a question on linking Karikāl Chola with Kanchi as Rājasena. Couldn’t Iḷam Thirayan be Rājasena?

(to be continued)