Ponniyin Selvan Varalaatru Peravai

Hi,

Rajendra chola, following is what i have understood.

the 'puthir' is rephrased into two questions.

1. why Rajendra chola did not stop Sultan of Gazni (
a.k.a Mohammed of Gazni - ( who will be referred
further as MG) from destroying hindu temples.

2. Why didn't sultan of Gazni go further south and
attack Southern kingdoms ( or did he go south? )

For the first question,

Mohammed of Gazni (MG) did not conquer a place and
ruled there. He was never interested in ruling the
regions. He just wanted to (i)loot all the valuables
from India and (ii)change hindus to muslims. He raided
17 times but never satyed in those places. It was just
like a visit if i read things correctly. In that case,

it gives very little time for any king to organize
force to stop him doing that, particularly Rajendra
Chola.
who, eventhough ruled until Ganges, was having his
capital at Gangai konda cholapuram, way
south of Gujarat and was also involved in his own
battles to occupy maldives.. Only after Mohammed of
Ghori, did muslim rulers start trying to rule the
parts they occupied and have succeded.
Also, we should bear in mind that eventhough Kundavai
( daughter of Rajaraja chola) was married to
a eastern Chalukya ruler ( Vimaladitya )and Rajaraja
helped him establish his empire within chola dynasty
there were skirmishes in the western part ( Deccan )
from the western chalukyas. This presence of western
chalukyas might have prevented rajendra from knowing
the happenings of Gujarat.

The answer to the second question needs some
explanation.

Among the 17 radis made by Mohammed of Gazni, 6th and
16 th are considered to have greater significance.

The crowing exploit of Mohammed's career was the
plunder of the great temple of Somnath (1026) in the
extreme south of Kathiawar ( gujarat). It is reckoned
as his sixteenth expedition. WHEN Mahmud Ghazni was
returning
from his sack of Somnath, he had decided to take the
Sindh route(*why sindh route*).
The return journey from Somanath was a severe trial to
MG.
His army suffered badly from want of water, and was
harassed by the predatory tribes of Jats.
It is to punish the Jats in the neighbourhood of
Multan that MG led his last (17th)expedition
to India (1027). He really struggled to win these
Jats. Having chastised the enemy MG returned to
Ghazni. He suffered a huge loss in terms of military
reources in this 17th expedition. Later his life was
much spent in domestic problems until he died in 1030.



* why sindh route*
The `religious' reason for the expedition was that MG
was a Sunni, attached to the Khalifa in Baghdad, and
the Muslims in Sindh were inclined towards
the Karmatian Shia rulers of Egypt, who had even
carried away the black stone of Kaaba.
The Karmatians in India were half-Hindu; they looked
upon Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed and
fourth Khalifa, as the tenth avatar of Vishnu!. MG
really hated this and wanted to teach them a lesson.

I hope this also throws some light ....

Btw, I am Manikandan, from Washington DC, another
ardent fan of PS, to introduce myself.