I am also a new entrant, having eyes wide open and ears still wider to absorb what really comes out of this. The PS group got amazed by the descriptions of RRC, RJC and their reach beyond seas, penned with finesse by Kalki. Either you should be an admirer of PS or an ardent Indian , or south indian to make the worl dknow how far better our history was and how rich our heritage was. The idea of various scholars, experts writing on this is not to kill time, or it does not mean they are having more time. I went with them for the recent tanjavur trip wherein I found, the most ardent mail writers are the most busy men/women in this yahoo group, both professionally and in their passion to bring the best. Any constructive criticism is welcome as it leads to better knowledge of knowing our past. Rather a loose mouthed comment on the whole exercise is rather unfortunate to see. Hope if you are not an appreciative folk for PS, atleast I hope you will be a true Indian who would not misquote his own men like you. Pls understand.
I think this mail of mine has been taken in the wrong sense.
Never did I ever think that those involved in this are there just to kill time or otherwise.
What i think is that it is not possible to just get details out of history of such a geat royal line as the cholas.
Regardless of the language position and time we have been able to get a lot of unserstanding abt the egyptians, of the harappan culture or the Nile civilisation.
what that has been achived during the chola regin can't be swept under the mat and what is being said abt that them is a little bit exagerated.
I dont deny the Bigtemple at tanjore that stands to speak of itself so do the pyramids. its not abt what that portion at all.
But what abt the rest, the greatness it dosent quiet fit into the picture. thinking of inscriptions i do think that any govt. records of today will glorify Dr. Jayalalitha.
that is precisely what we have been debating for the last few days
and going to tanjore big temple with such a knowledgeble group was what spurred on the debate,
quite a few in the group were stunned by the size and grandeur of the cholas. like if this was their temple how grand their houses must have been? how well furnished their harems must have been?
but then the info available was pitifully less.and mainly mundane stuff like donations to temples, and songs in praise of the king. like no info on why the statues in the upper levels of the temple still remain unfinished,when rrc died and how) and matching the inscriptions with grandeur was the real problem ( the real socio-political stuff must have been in their palaces which were destroyed and the land ploughed and seeds sown by the victorious pandyas) that is what gave many a great doubt on the veracity of the inscriptions. egyptology has always held me strong and they have left so much info that we can probe a kings death now. a detective story based on king tuts death 3000 years ago as was in discovery channel does fascinate one. even the aztecs and the incas left behind more socio political stuff than what is available here. the other day in the same group i compared the delhi sultanate with this. they have left behind day to day diaries. on the other hand inspite of monuments like these we are short of clues. not only this. even in the muslim invasion of tamilnadu in 1314 the source of info is the muslim historians( wassaf and khusrau).
no doubt our people had been great. theyu have left their foot prints far and wide. but not much at home. perhaps our people thought their lives wont interest us.or each dynasty wanted to erase the works of the previous one.
If what you say is true i am waiting for such a news. Comming from a place full of temples ( Kumbakonam -- Actually they say the area occupied by temples there was more than what was used by the civic population) i have spent many a day looking at the temples their beautiful sculptures and designs.
I have some doubts on what is being said abt some of the temples in my place
1. that GKC has a chandrakantha Stone that makes it cool during summer and vice versa. 2. that a tunnel connects the temple with the lake beside it. 3. what is the reason for the milk to turn blue in the thirunageswaram temple. 4. that the nageshwaran koil in kumbakonam has the largest single stone wheel structure. 5. that the sarangapani temple is only one of its kind in south india ( the temple in the form of a charriot)