The Cholzas were ruling over the whole of Tamilnadu and parts of Andra for the better part of 3 centuries. The nemesis to the Cholza Empire came in the person of Maaravarman Sundara Pandiya I(1216 - 1240) He devastated Cholza nadu and Cholza nadu became very weak. 40 years later, another Sundara Pandiya appeared on the scene. He was Jatavarman Sundara Pandiya. He conquered the Cholza territories and created the New Pandiya Empire. He ransacked Cholza naadu. But he donated much of whatever booty that he captured. The biggest beneficiaries to his benevolence were the Chidhambaram and the SriRanggam temples. He perfomed what was known as the 'Thulabaara Dhaanam'. He caparisoned his Royal elephant with full ornaments. He climbed upon the howdah(ambaari) with his royal queen. The elephant mahout was also on the elephant. The king and queen were fully bedecked in their splendour. The custom was that the king would wear the most costly ornaments. Marco Polo, a few years later. has mentioned that the king was wearing ornaments worth a city's ransom>. Thus fully he weighed himself, his wife, the mahout, the elephant with all the paraphernalia. He gave an equivalent weight of gold and other ornaments to the Temple of SriRanganathar.
Please read carefully.
This is a historical fact. Therefore it had really taken place.
Now the questions are,
How did the Emperor Jatavaraman Sundara Pandya measure out an exact weight?
How tall was the beam of the scale-"tharaasu".
What material would have takenthe stress and strain and born the weights - the weight of the elephant etc., and theweight of the gold?
What formula would you use to measurethe distance of the fulcrum from the end?
How heavy and how thick should be thepivot which would bear the weight of the arms and the weights, if it should be iron?
Wow! Thanks Dr.Jaybee. I wanted to ask if the "mandapam" was floating, but got diverted. Is the raft different from the mandapam or was it a floating mandapam as I thought? You mentioned about it still being on the banks of Kaveri. If so, where is it? And as mathy asked, do you have any pictures which you can share with us? Thanks. Thilak
That was a wonderful piece of info. Itt seems so simple after you said the answer;-)
I have a query.
In a balakumaran novel (couldn't recollect the name), I read that Pandiya kinga after the captured the chozha kingdon didn't like the monopoly of Srirangam. They distributed the property among various other temples(particularly shaivaite temples). Is that correct?