Narrative, Politics, and the Accession of Kulottuga I Cola
The rule of the emperor Kulottunga I (usually dated to 1070-1020 CE) has been taken as a watershed in the history of the Colas across a spectrum of schoarly disciplines, ranging from studies of literary culture, to art and architecture and the history of economy and society. In my paper, I will outline a reinterpretation of Kulottunga's transformation from distaff cousin from the strife-ridden family of the Vengi Chlukyas in coastal Andhra to ruler of the most influential kingdom in all of southern Asia. As I will show, the standard explanation for Kulottunga's sudden political success –that he was related to the imperial Cola line through two generations of cross-cousin marriages – provides only a necessary, not a sufficient cause, while it fails to adequately address his complex genealogical situation and deliberate self-fashioning. My argument proceeds along two closely related tracks: an empirical reconstruction of the early years in which he issued inscriptions under the name Rajendra (ca. 1070-1075), and a cultural-historical interpretation of the multiple narrative sources that framed his public actions, and that in turn gave rise to new textual renditions of the events of his accession in both Sanskrit and Tamil. As I will show, these two different approaches to Kulottunga's career are best understood in concert: the political maneuvering that marked his early epigraphic pronouncements are best understood as intelligible cultural actions, while the abundant narrative and literary sources can themselves be situated within definite social and political contexts of production, as realizations of particular worldly projects. This line of thinking comes together in a new reading of Cayankondar's Kalinkattupparani, the major literary monument of Kulottunga's court and a turning point in the history of medieval Tamil poetry.
Unfortunately I will not be able to attend the Coimbatore Chemmozhi Conference.
One more New Thread in two Parts. It's a new Subject - on Kannaki (Paththini)- with much detailed study. I wonder whether that too will be of interest to you.