Hi friends, Its so interesting to read all of ur messages. Does anyone know why rajendra chola changed his capital to Gangai konda cholapuram????Is there any spl reason for this?? I am so curious to know abt this......can anyone help???? Waiting for ur replies.
Hi There is a tentative reason i can give to this:
All said and done the father and son did not agree on everything. Rajendra chozhan was as good a warrior and as ambitious as his father. But the problem was, he was not to rule the country till his father steps out of the throne. He had as much capability as his father. He would have been as good and spirited. But he couldnt take over the actual duties and should control all his vigour till he could take over. This, as we know from history, happened pretty late. He had built his own "Thanjai periya kovil" style Gangai konda choza puram and was as attached to it as his father was towards periya kovil. So he might have thought that he will make his own capital and match his father in everything. So maybe this was one reason why he did that- to establish his own ways in the kingdom right from the capital.
This was one thing that struck me as possible. There might be political reasons also. Others might come out with some other reaons. Waiting to hear from others.
I guess I am answering this query after 2 (almost) years. I came across this query while reading the previous mails and wanted to share my knowledge here.
As Lavanya said, Rajendra Chola could not shine till the age of 40 as Raja Raja Chola was on the throne. During the rule of Raja Raja even, Rajendra Chola was the one who went on many expeditions to SouthEast Asia and had been an extra-ordinary warrior from his age of 20. But most of his achievements were credited to the ruler, King RajaRaja.
So, Rajendra felt that his victories are not going stand in the history for long and also thought that he may be vanished in Raja Raja's fame for being the builder of the Tanjore biggest temple. Hence he thought that to be a prominent figure in the history he need to build a new temple and a city like Tanjore. This had been a longing in his mind for years.
At the age of 40, he goes on an expedition to Himalayas. So, with the Ganga water he wanted to do abhishekam for a new temple as big as 'RajaRajeswaram'. He orders his youngest wife, Veerammal (A chola soldier's sister, but very beautiful) to build a temple and goes out for the war.
So, b4 he comes back Veerammal builds the temple with the model as Tanjore temple. Rajendra Chola brings Ganga water in thousands of barrels, on elephants and does abhishekam for the Shiva Lingam. And he builds the city around the temple. He also makes a big lake and fills with the Ganga water what he brought. The temple was named as "Gangai Konda Choleeswaram" with Lord Shiva as "Gangai konda Chooleesar". The city as u all know "Gangai konda Cholapuram" and lake name is "Chola Gangam".
These details are available in book "Gangapuri Kavalan" written by Vikraman. The story starts with Rajendra at the age of 40 and Raja Raja nearing 70. By that time Rajendra will have 5 wives already and he will marry Veerammal(age 18). During that period, Rajadhi Raja (Son of Rajendra) will be in his youth. So the story will be focussing on all three generations and prominently on the construction of "Gangai Konda Cholapuram". (In one of the scenes, Vandhiyathevan and Kundavai will come to Tanjore to meet RajaRaja.)
Coming to Muhil's actual qn, after the death of RajaRaja, when Rajendra came to the throne he changed his capital to 'Gangai Konda Cholapuram', to show his individuality. And Rajadhi Raja also maintained the same place as his capital. But after that I guess they had come to back to Tanjore. The author Vikraman also provides proof for these details in his book.
Had any of u visited "Gangai Konda Cholapuram" ?
After reading that book, out of curiousity I went to that place but unfortunately it is not in a way as I expected. The temple is very big and Shiva Lingam is also as big as Brahadeeswarar but the temple does not have a fulfillment as in "Thanjai Periya Kovil". The way it is constructed is in a hasty hurried manner. The lake "Chola Gangam" has disappeared with scarcity of water. The temple is totally isolated and not taken care. It seems only few years back our South Indian Aranilaya thurai had made it as a picnic spot and taking care of it. Everyone knows that there is a huge "Nandhi" in that temple also. But in the sides there will be a lion whose mouth will be wide opened. There we can see steps going under the earth...it is nothing but "Suranga Paathai". But now we cant go inside and the lion's mouth is locked with a gate. :-)
I suggest u friends to read that book and go to Gangai Konga Cholapuram if you get a chance. The temple has many Kalvettus also. It is near Vaitheeswaran Kovil and Seerkazhi.
I think I had given a huge history. And your comments are welcomed.
Welcome to the group and happy to see your enthusiastic mails. But most of the stuff facts you have quoted as historic facts are incorrect and are nothing but imagination of writer vikraman. All such imaginations should align well with the established historic facts - but irony is that this hardly happens in many tamil historic novels. Gangapuri kavalan is no exception.
* The age of rajaraja and rajendra are still unknown. Hence 40 / 70 stuff has no historic base.
* We do not know - for sure - whether it was rajendra who lead the conquests during rajaraja period.
* Veerammal story is a wild imagination and does no good to rajendra either.
* Rajendra may not have left the capital at all during the invations - to ganges as well as kadaram. It was too risky.
* The chola gangam was a pillar of victory made out of water to celebrate ganges victory. Rajendra's army did not reach himalayas.
* Gangai konda cholapuram temple boasts its own unique aspects against the big temple. This is the only vimana in india as well as the whole world which combines three forms of vimana shapes in one : Nagara, vesara and dravida. Some of the murthis here are also very peculiar - Ganesha anugrahamoorthi is one such rare icon.
Hence the reason for shifting capital was motivated by other practical reasons. One thing for sure : Tanjore could not accomodate the growing populace and traffic with rapid expansion of empire. This should be one of the main reasons amidst many others.
We cannot say The 'Periya kovil' doesn't resemble the Meenakshi temple or Srirangam temple. The main difference between periya kovil and other temples is that the Vimanam is taller than the Gopuram. (FYI, Vimanam is the structure built on the sanctum. Gopuram is the strutcure built on top of praharam). The gopurams of Rajarajan thiruvayil and Keralanthagan thiruvayil resembles any other gopuram in TN. There are only 4 temples having vimaanam taller than its gopuram. They are 1. Thanjavur, 2. GKC, 3. Darasuram and 4. Thirubhuvanam.
The GKC vimaanam has all 3 forms of vimana architectures, but periya kovil has only 2 (square and circle) forms. Periya kovil vimaanam starts with square shape and suddenly becomes circle in the middle. But GKC vimaanam starts with square, becomes octagonal shape at 1/3rd height and becomes circle at 2/3. We had a wonderful opportunity to visit GKC under the guidance of Dr.R.Kalaikkovan last november. At that time the renovation was going on and Saarams were built. We could climb upto the top of the vimanam (~180 ft). He explained all the parts of architecture and iconography. The video of the same is also available.