Am curious. Are there any extent branches of the Chola/Pandya impression that the Chozha dyansty seems to have petered out around the 1300s. Can someone throw more light on this?
Didn't he have any progeny? Or aren't there at least people in Tamizh Nadu claiming descent from the Chozhas? Seems kinda sad that the dynasty got completely wiped out.
There is not much information about the sucessor. Some say, he had been kidnapped and killed. Thus giving room to Vijayanagara Samrajya, to interfere in Tamil Nadu.
The chola clan was not completely wiped out. As when Vishwanaathan nayakkar, ruled Madurai, there was a chieftain by the name Shivanesan, if i remember correctly from Theni or Kambam, who claimed to be a descendant of Great Cholas, but as defeated by Vishvanatha nayakar.
Intrestingly, in forumhub, there had been similar dicussion, and once I have come accross a person who claimed to be a descendant of Cholas. But I have lost that information. All we have now is, if this guy is a descendant, and he browse foumhub, we can make another attempt. Let us try..
I think I remember the discussion in forumhub... but wasn't it someone who claimed to be a Pandya descendent? If I recall.. his family had converted to Christianity some time back.. but he claimed that he was descendent from the Pandyas..
****************** There is not much information about the sucessor. Some say, he had been kidnapped and killed. Thus giving room to Vijayanagara Samrajya, to interfere in Tamil Nadu. ****************** There is a thodarkadhai (Vengai Vijayam) based on Rajendra III being published in Dinamalar Vaaramalar. The author is Gauthama Neelaambaran.
The members of www.varalaru.com can interview such claimers, evaluate the proof they can provide and bring it to public notice. These guys are real celebreties!
If such a team is formed, I like to be enrolled in it.
SundaraPandyan was later killed by his own younger brother Veera Pandiyan. The reason was Veera Pandyan came to know that Sundara Pandyan killed his father(I dont know his name!!) to ascend the throne.
Later, Veera Pandyan also gave up to Malik Kafoor's army and allowed him to enter into TamilNadu by making a treaty. So, KulasekaraRavi varman, a Chera King marched with an army and defeated both Veera Pandyan and KusruKhan (Malik Kafoor's rep.) and thus Muslim armies didn't enter down into TN. Pandyan dynasty came to an end there. Then, only Vijaynagar empire stepped in, by defeating the Chera successors.
The Cheiftain who claimed to be the descendants of Chola, was 'Veerashekaran' and ruled Kambam, he was defeated by Naagama Naayakar, the father of Vishwanaatha nayakar.
There was another Chola descendant, who ruled Kambam after Veerashekaran and I have not got his name. He was defeated and killed to Ariya naaga mudhali, a associate of Vishwanaatha Naayakar. This war holds importance as Vishwanaatha Naayakar, after this war waged war against Pancha - Paandiyas individually and put a stop to Pandya Dynasty. the place where this war took place is the famous 'Paanchaalankurichchi'.
Its quite possible to identify the real Pandiyan descendents.After the downfall of the Later Pandiyan empire the Pandiyans fled to Tirunelveli and continued to rule there.They are known as Thenkasi Pandiyans.I also have a list of Pandiyan kings who ruled even during the time of Vijayanagara rule.If anyone is interested please make me know.
I have the list of Pandiyans who ruled starting from 1357AD.Before going through the list lets see the nature of the Pandiyans.The Pandiyans differ from Cholas in one aspect.The Pandiyans were known to quarrel for the throne.We hear of the 2 Pandiyans quarrel during the later chola rule.Then between Sundara Pandiya and Veera Pandiya before the Muslim invasion.If the pandiyans have ruled peacefully then they might have ruled for long.But they ruined themselves.Soon this was followed by Vijayanagara invasion which made them very weak.The Pandiyans learnt a good lesson.But it was too late.Pandiyans lost control of Madurai and fled to Tirunelveli and started ruling from there.How sad is to learn the Pandiyans loosing Madurai!!.The Pandiyans though not very powerful always had a dream of getting hold of Madurai.One Pandiyan named Sadayavarman Kulasekara Pandiyan tried to conquer Madurai in 1479AD but was defeated by Narasa Nayaka.
1.Sadayavarman Parakrama Pandiya-1357AD :Its said that he ruled for 23 years
2.Parakrama Pandiya : Started ruling from 1384 and ruled till 1415 AD
3.Sadayavarman Kulasekaran-1395 AD
4.We hear another one Pandiyan ruler who ruled during the same period.He is Sadayavarman Vikrama Pandiyan.He ruled from 1401 AD to 1422 AD
5.Sadayavarman Parakrama Pandiyan (1422 AD to 1463 AD): He ruled during the reign of Devaraya 2nd. He died in 1463AD
6.Sadayavarman Kulasekaran (1430 AD to 1474 AD)
shared the rule with his father.
7.Sadayavarman Kulasekara Pandiyan (1480 AD to 1507 AD) This Pandiyan was defeated by Narasa Nayaka when he tried to conquer Madurai in 1479.
Till 1479 AD the Pandiyans were ruling as independent rulers.After 1479 (Guess after the defeat in 1479) the Pandiyans were reduced to feudatory rulers under Vijayangara rulers.
8.In 1502 the portion ruled by the Pandiyans came to be known as Chandrasekara Pandiya Mandalam We hear of ChandraSekara Pandiya who was the ruler during Krishna Devaraya period.
Through Pudukottai plates we hear of 2 Pandiyans Abirama Parakrama Pandiyan and AGAVARAMAN
9.Two Pandiyans a.Agavaraman's (mentioned above) son Sadayavarman Srivallaba Pandiyan ruled the areas of Shenkottai,Sankaran Kovil,Sri Villiputhur with THENKASI as the capital
b.Vettum perumal Raja who ruled the some areas of Tirunelveli,Kovilpatti and Sri Vaikundam regions with KAYATHAR as his capital
Both of them are relatives but lacked understanding.
In a battle Vettum Perumal Raja was defeated by Sadayavarman Srivallaba Pandiya(Thenaksi Pandiya)
During Srivallaba rule Achutha Raya became the Vijayanagara king and he apponted Vishwanatha Nayak as his mandala mudali.
10.Again we hear of 2 Pandiyans.they were the sons of Abirama Parakrama Pandiya.They were a.Sadayavarman Parakrama Kulasekara Pandiyan(1543AD)
b.Nelveli Maran (1552AD to 1564AD)
11.Sadayavarman Adhiveerarama Pandiyar (1564AD to 1604 AD)
His son -Sokkar His brother - Vallabar
His periyappa's son -Varathungarama Pandiyar
12.Varathunga Rama Pandiyar:(1588AD)Started ruling some regions with Karivalam vantha Nallur
13.Varaguna Rama Kulasekara Pandiyan(1613 AD):He did a yaga in 1615AD and came to be known as Kulasekara Somasriyar.
the nature of the Pandiyans.The > Pandiyans differ from Cholas in one aspect.The Pandiyans were known > to quarrel for the throne.
Hi aditya karikalan was murdered for the chola throne. we have murders later also. its not the nature of the pandyas . its the nature of kings. its like so close and yet so far away. the sword of damocles hangs over every monarch
We hear of the 2 Pandiyans quarrel during > the later chola rule.Then between Sundara Pandiya and Veera Pandiya > before the Muslim invasion.If the pandiyans have ruled peacefully > then they might have ruled for long.But they ruined themselves.
why do we underestimate the person who fought against them. malik kafur had never lost a battle on the way to madurai. he had the yadavas hoysalas, the kakatiyas on the run. there was no way to tell if the pandyas were more powerful than any of these three kings. with the help of sundara or not malik would have had his way. he may have been on the wrong side but he is the indian warrior with the largest land freshly conquered.
Pandiyans > lost control of Madurai and fled to Tirunelveli and started ruling > from there.
this was after the second turkish invasion.
> 7.Sadayavarman Kulasekara Pandiyan (1480 AD to 1507 AD) > This Pandiyan was defeated by Narasa Nayaka when he tried to conquer > Madurai in 1479.
Lets start from the period of Vishwanatha Nayak (1529 to 1564AD).he is the founder of Poliga system and he divided the southern region into 72 Palayams.He brought the PANDIYANS OF THENKASI & KAYATHAR under the Poligar system.
The 2 Pandiyans whom we identify are 1.Sadayavarman srivallaba Pandiyan(THENKASI) 2.Vettum Perumal Raja (KAYATHAR)
Thus its clear that these 2 Pandiyans attained the status of Poligars.So they must be one among the 72 Poligars.The possibility is that these 2 Pandiyans might have ruled much larger territory than the rest of the poligars. But the difficulty is to know the names of the chiefs of all the 72 Palayams formed.Anyway we have the list of Pandiyans who ruled till 1753 AD.Now the big question is what happened to them after 1753 AD? We can try in one way.Its by going through the initial records of the 72 poligars and also through the prabandhams sung in praise of the Poligars.My idea is those poligars who were not the Pandiyas will be mentioned by their own caste name or caste title but not with a Pandiyan family name or the title Pandiyan. I heard that most of the Poligars started using the title Pandiyan at a much later stage.I came to know that there is a temple somewhere in Tirunelveli where there is a statue of Adhiveerarama Pandiyar.Also i heard of a family in Tirunelveli who do shiratham for Adhiveera rama Pandiyar(1552-1564AD). I don't know what shiratham is.Does this mean Thivasam?
Raja of Pandalam:Possibilites are there for this ruler to be a Pandiyan descendent.But it will be much more difficult to prove as he lost his tamil indentity and absorbed into the kerala caste system.Also regarding the period of the Pandiyans settling in Pandalam there are different views.Lets discuss this in my next post.