Feedback from Advocate Ravi Rajagopalan on my book "Who killed Aditya Karikala"

I am sharing the feedback of Advocate Ravi Rajagopalan about my historical research book "Who Killed Aditya Karikala".

While expressing my sincere gratitude for his appreciation of my work, I am thrilled to know that it has resonated with him from his professional point of view. Such kind of feedback fuels my passion for research into historical conundrums of the past. Many thanks to him.

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https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7261053259975438336/

Ravi Rajagopalan

  

2nd degree connection

Independent Practicing Advocate | Counsel, Ravi Rajagopalan Associates | Foreign Lawyer at Marsans Gitlin Baker UK

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India 

Trivia: The Cholas did not adhere to the rule of agnatic primogeniture in their succession protocol- they adopted co-regency and selected the most accomplished, as the co-ruler from amongst the male descendants by applying the law of tanistry

I am making this post not to discuss the movie "Ponniyin Selvan" but to point out how historians wrongly applied the imperial succession rules and got the entire line of Chola Kings and their regnal years wrong. The great chroniclers and historians of the Chola history, from the last century, namely Prof Nilakanta Sastri and Sadasiva Pandarathar completely overlooked two aspects:

1.     There was no single King. There were 2 royals at the same point who ruled with equal powers, in what is called as Co-Regency.
2.     If one of them died the surviving Regent appointed another one.
3.     The selection was from the available males in the ruling clan and the person chosen was not necessarily the first born or the senior most. It was a person who in the opinion of the ruling family was most valorous and competent to preserve, protect and defend the dominion/ kingdom.

In essence the historians of the last century while putting the genealogy, the line of succession of Chola kings and their regnal years, completely overlooked these two aspects – namely one of co-regency and the other being adoption of tanistry in contrast the rule of agnatic primogeniture. So, they got the regnal years all wrong because they simply presumed that the eldest always succeeded and there was only one sovereign at any point in time.

Thus, for example Aditya Karikala who was also called as Parthivendra Varman (remember that his brother Raja Raja was Arulmozhi Varman) was an actual reigning sovereign co-regent and ruled as a King between 961-976 CE and he anointed Uttama Chola as a co-regent after his father Sundara Chola died. Popular versions and even in the film "Ponniyin Selvan", Aditya Karikala is depicted only as a Crown Prince and he died even before his father Sundara Chola, in the year 969AD.

Now this eye-popping alternate/correct version of Chola history is subject of the research and book by Dr Jayasree Saranathan who has published her findings in her book in Tamil (“ஆதித்த கரிகாலனைக் கொன்றது யார்?”) and its English translation titled “Who killed Āditya Karikāla?: The historical facts” available in print/Kindle. She has relied on solid evidence to advance her propositions.

Why this post :
From a legal perspective the supposed imperial monarchical convention followed by the Cholas which accounts for the correct assessment of the regnal years of Chola kings, the aspects of primo geniture as well as the quaint succession law of tanistry made an interesting study for me.

History certainly needs to be rewritten and lineages and succession lines redrawn. I would certainly recommend reading this book in Tamil if you can and if you cant, the English version should be the second best.

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To get the print copy of the book in English, write to jayasreebooks@gmail.com

For Tamil version, click HERE

For Kindle version, click HERE for Tamil version.  

Click HERE for English version.

Difference between Dharma and Maha yuga and how catastrophes occur in the change of Maha Yuga-s (Part 4 of Yuga series)

This is the fourth part in a series of my talks about Yuga given to Dheivam Channel. 

I have explained that the Maha Yuga, which is a part of the Kalpa called day or night of the life of the creator God Brahma, is different from the Dharma based Yuga in which Rama was born. 

The time period of creation and destruction of the entire world and also of the Universe is measured in Maha Yuga scale. But in the case of human life, the twin existence of Dharma and Adharma measure time. In other words, the Yuga Dharma determines a Yuga. Whenever the Dharma of a Yuga decreases, God incarnates. When Treta Yuga Dharma decreased, Rama incarnated. 

The existence of Yuga Dharma and avatara-s of God to protect Yuga Dharma happen only in the land of Bharat. To put it in another way, Dharma based Yuga happens only in Bharat. In contrast, the yuga of Brahma's Kalpa, which consists of millions of years, is common to the entire world.

When a Maha yuga changes, disasters occur on cosmic or global scale. 5000 years ago, before the beginning of the Kali Maha Yuga such a disaster was caused by a break-away comet hitting the earth. It caused Amavasya to advance to Trayodasi tithi. Many old-timers would have seen this as a story in the movie 'Karna'. That story was not a figment of imagination but a real event mentioned in the Mahabharata. It caused a change in Time. The unusual Amavasya on Trayodasi resulted in the loss of a tithi, with a new alignment of star-tithi which continues till date.

This loss of tithi when extrapolated to Rama's time (before that catastrophic event in the Mahabharata time) gets reflected in the mismatch of Rama's birth star Punarvasu, with Rama's birth tithi (Shukla Navami) when the Sun is in Mesha.

For further details, watch the video. Share.

How the Treta Yuga of Rama is determined (Part 3 of the Yuga series)

In the 3rd part of the Yuga series given to Dheivam Channel, I explained how the Treta Yuga in which Rama lived is determined.

The basis is Yuga Dharma in which Dharma and Adharma co-exist in the ratio of 3:1. 

In such a Yuga, Rajasa will be high. Since the kings were over-zealous with Rajasa, Parashurama incarnated to subdue the Rajasic kshatriyas. 

Rama lived in the same period as an avatara. Avatara-s occur to protect the Yuga Dharma. Shambuka Vadha was done by Rama to restore the balance of Dharma and Adharma in Treta Yuga. Details such as this are given in this video. Please watch and share.

Yuga in Vedanga and in Jyothisha Siddhanta (Part 2 of Yuga series)

 In the first part I explained the meaning of Yuga.

In this section (2nd part), I explained how Yuga described in Vedanga Jyothisha is different from what is described in Jyothisha Siddhanta. In Vedanga Jyothisha, 5-year yuga is given, whereas Jyothisha Siddhanta-s describe Yuga in lakhs of years in the context of Brahma Deva's age. During Rama's time, the 5-year was in vogue. In our current times, we follow the Maha Yuga system which is actually used to measure Time from Creation to Destruction. 

I also explained how these two types of yugas are calculated. I have given the details about Krita, Treta, Dvapara and Kali as numbers, by citing the use of them in the dice game in the Mahabharata. 

Watch here and share.