Not many have known about the wealth of information available in Tamil sources – both literary and epigraphic – giving valuable inputs related to Rama. Foremost among them is the claim by the Cholas that Rama was their ancestor! The second-most important information pertains to the time period of Ramayana. The third set of inputs establishes beyond doubt the location of Lanka of Ravana in present-day Sri Lanka.
Rama,
the ancestor of Cholas
Chera,
Chola and Pandya are the three ancient Tamil dynasties of which the Cholas
belonged to the solar dynasty starting from Surya, Manu and Ikshvaku. One often
comes across the reference to ‘Manu-Neeti’ as the hallmark of the Chola kings
in their inscriptions. A Chola king is remembered as ‘Manu Neeti Chola’ for
having given the highest punishment to his son, the crown prince, for having
killed a calf under his chariot. Though it was done unknowingly, the Chola king
did not hesitate to punish his son by getting a chariot run over him and kill
him. None knows the name of this king as anything other than ‘Manu Neeti Chola’,
for being a just ruler. Only the Buddhist chronicle Mahavamsha gives his name
and describes his sense of justice in the context of the death of this king in
a war in Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka. Though an invader to their domain, in
recognition of his unparalleled sense of justice, his mortal remains were cremated
with honours and a monument raised, which was worshiped by the kings of that
country, reports Mahavamsha in the 25th chapter.
The
sense of righteousness running in the lineage of Manu, it is no wonder that
Rama became an epitome of Dharma, to be emulated by any king wishing to follow
the right path. If any king is related
to Rama in the remote past, would he lose any opportunity to boast off his
filial connection with Rama? We do find evidence for such claim by the Chola
king Veera Rajendra, the grandson of Rajaraja Chola -I, engraved in the Pillars
of Bhagavati Amman temple at Kanyakumari.
While giving the detailed list of his forefathers starting from Brahma and then
Manu, the king has written that in the family of Rama was born a king named
Chola who ventured southward and founded the Chola dynasty in Poompuhar – the
place deduced from the description.
Verse
26 of the poetically written inscription in Sanskrit, stands out among every
other description about Rama, by having addressed the tough events in Rama’s
life and how he stood beyond personal considerations. For the curious reader,
here is the verse as reported in Travancore Archaeological Series (1921):
Continue to read here: Early Tamils traced their ancestry to Rama
