Kudavayil Sir says , jalkotta as GKC destroyed by Malik...
As per the words of Sri.Krishnaswamy Ayyangar, malik's struggle was in betweem kannanur, jayngonda cholapuram and chidambaram, the location of GKC in between Jayamkondacholapuram and chidambaram is notable, to be suffered by the invasion of Malik...
I remember, in our group's previous posts, no. of members raised a confusion " when GKC was plundered, why pandyas did not notice it and by whom GKC met its destruction ".
I think ,Kudavayil Sir has given a great hint, which should be explored...
"There is one other place that is to be settled, and that is Jalkotta. It is not possible to offer as satisfactory an identification of this place as there is nothing further to lead us to an identification except the name.
If Jalkotta means anything at all, it must be water-fortress; and I take it, it apparently refers to an island protected by deep waters round it. The only place in the vicinity that I could think of is the famous Devakotta of the early British Campaigns at the mouth of the Coleroon. There are the remains of huge brick walls, of bricks of the same kind and size as those found in Gangaikondasolapuram. One of the walls in the island at the mouth showed three partsâ"two brick walls of 2 to 2½ feet thick with an intervening mud wall about 6 feet. Another bit could be seen about five to six miles up the river and the present bed of the Coleroon seems to occupy the place of the rest of it. The course of the river has changed a great deal in the last few centuries. I am led to this suggestion by the strength of the fort on the island of which we have a very good description from the Jesuit priest Pimenta at the commencement of the seventeenth century, in addition to what we get from a number of works in Sanskrit and Telugu bearing on Tanjore history. 1 It was a place of considerable strength and great importance in the wars of the Portuguese and the Tanjore kings. It probably had this importance three centuries earlier, and was a place of refuge to monarchs of the Chola and the Pancjya dynasties that held sway in this tract of country. That we have to look for these places in the Chola country and not in the Pandya is quite certain, as Amir Khusru takes us in a separate campaign to ' Southern Mathra' (Madura)."
Please note i have given an introduction to Kudavoil sir's talk on Gangai konda cholapuram to serve as a platform for temple art in TN leading upto GKC. the full program is available for viewing here
1- 9 min - Prof Swaminathan sir's introduction to the event 9min onwards my 25 min pogram followed by kudavoil sir's
> If Jalkotta means anything at all, it must be water-fortress; and I take it, it apparently refers to an island protected by deep waters round it. The only place in the vicinity that I could think of is the famous Devakotta of the early British Campaigns at the mouth of the Coleroon.''
devikotta actually. clive participated in that battle
malik recharges himself somewhere in hoysala territory( thiruvannamalai) and heads straight to chidambaram gKC in 1311 must have been a deserted city i guess
there were many temples that malik missed on the way to madurai. he was very fast and never took a detour. he had to reach the pandya capital before the news reached.