The book “Rāmānuja Itihāsa” (ராமானுஜ இதிகாசம்) is set on a detective tone to resolve two historical mysteries in Ramanuja’s life that have far reaching implications for our understanding of the history of the medieval Cholas and the unrecorded earliest incursion of Islamic iconoclasts into southern India in the 11th century CE after the death of Mahmud of Ghazni.
In the course of finding out the answers for two questions -
on who persecuted him and who looted the deity of Melukote - the book explores
Ramanuja's journey from Srirangam to back to Srirangam in the course of which the
later day history is also revealed, of the destruction spree of Tipu Sultan on
the temples and monuments associated with Ramanuja when he came to know that
the martyrdom of the Ghazi who looted the deity of Melukote was made wasteful
by Ramanuja by having successfully restored the looted property. Ramanuja was
perhaps the one and only person in the entire history of struggle against the
Muslim invaders in having reclaimed the stolen property without any violence or
bloodshed.
The book further brings to the fore the identity of the
Chola King who had thrown out the Main Murti of Lord Govindaraja of Chidambaram
into the sea. Ramanuja managed to protect the processional murti of Govindaraja
by installing the deity at Tirupati.
Supported by multiple evidences and photographs from a field trip on the trail of Ramanuja, this book is an intellectual feast to both history enthusiasts and the disciples of Ramanuja. The Tamil version of this book with additional features, such as the return of Lord Govindaraja, the massacre of Mandayam Iyengars and the caste conflicts traced to right-hand and left-hand sections was published by Swasam Publishers yesterday. The first copy was given by writer Anantha Sairam Rangarajan to octogenarian writer Sadagopan.
To get a copy write to Swasam Book store at https://www.swasambookart.com/books/9788119550555
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