I am glad to announce the release of my 8th book, titled “ஆதித்த கரிகாலனைக் கொன்றது யார்?: பொன்னியின் செல்வனின் சரித்திர உண்மைகள்”
This book is not a novel but an investigative probe into what happened in the 10th century Chola Kingdom when Aditya Karikala was suddenly snatched away by a conspiracy. Novelist Kalki attempted to decipher that conspiracy by partly imaginative and partly true events in his novel Ponniyin Selvan. My book pieces out the true events from the imagined ones in Kalki’s novel while bringing out the historical evidence around the death of Aditya Karikala and also how the conspiracy could have evolved.
This probe led us
to understand that Madhurantaka did not desire the throne. A re-visit to the
original Sanskrit verses of the Tiruvalangadu copper plates showed a lacuna in
understanding the word “Pranayini” in the verse and how it doesn’t match
with the grammar of the verse, if the meaning is taken as desiring the kingdom.
Madhurantaka got the kingdom long before the death of Aditya Karikala due to
the specific arrangement in existence in the Chola kingdom right from the days
of Parantaka I by which two kings coexisted simultaneously with their own regnal
years.
Right from
Parantaka I, the analysis was done to arrive at the regnal years to show how
this coexistence had gone on. Focus was given to the methodology of dating the
inscriptions. The choice of inscriptions was based on solar day and eclipses to
arrive at the accurate dates. The result of this painstaking effort was
electrifying as we can see perfect matching of dates from cross references of
the inscriptions leading to the discovery of two kings not mentioned in the genealogy.
They could be identified by the alternating title Rajakesari and Parakesari.
The analysis also
brought out the unique finding that Aditya Karikala ruled for 15 years with his
latest inscription appearing in Paranthur – something mentioned by KAN Sastri. It
also led us to find out the original name of Aditya Karikala.
A major
contribution of this book is the discovery of exact dates of the regnal years of
Rajaraja supported by inscriptional evidence. The reasons why a wrong date was attributed
until now, is also discussed.
Another important part
of this book is the analysis of the Udayarkudi inscription and arriving at the
hints to show that Rajaraja had taken revenge on the conspirators of Aditya’s
death. The Brahmin angle is also dealt at length to bring out the facts.
The content pages will reveal what can be expected in this book.
I offer my
heartfelt thanks to the couple, Smt Kumudha Vasudevan and Sri Vasudevan for
translating my 8-part article from English to Tamil. The book further builds upon those articles.
I am grateful to Sri
Hayavadhan Murali for the wrapper design for this book.
This book will be
shortly available on Kindle too both in Tamil and English. It will be duly
announced once done.
The print version
of 175 pages, released now is priced at Rs. 175. The shipping cost of Rs. 36 is
to be added with this.
As usual the book
can be procured directly from me by writing to jayasreebooks@gmail.com
It is hoped this
book will help in re-writing the historical dates of the Cholas of the 10th
and the 11th century.
