Malik Kafur is a paradox in more than one way. His real name was Chand Ram. Converted into an eunuch, sold as a slave, landed in the harem of Allauddin Khilji, gained proximity to the emperor and eventually became his trusted commander.
His invasion on Tamil Nadu is portrayed in Thiruvarangan Ula w.r.t. Sri Rangam.
He went up to Madurai and returned with bounties. What he did in Madurai and esp at the Madurai Meenakshi temple is a mythical mystery!
Does anyone know why Malik Kafur invaded Thamizhagam?
Lore says that the last stop on his expedition was supposed to be Dwarasamudra/Halebid which is in Karnataka. Why did he alter his plan and venture south? Who was the most significant ruler in our area then?
All these questions point to a few people in the Pandya lineage. The fight for the throne seems to have invited Malik Kafur into our soil.
Here is a peek into a book that talks about this...
He was born a bastard!
Not all that he would achieve later in his battlefields with a sword in hand could ever assuage the resultant wrath that rose due to the facts relating to his parentage. Neither could the truth that he was of royal stock ever lighten the stigma he was condemned to shoulder for the rest of history.
Veera was a prince no doubt, with the royal blue blood of the Pandyan lineage flowing in his veins. But the problem discernible to all was that any blue at all in his blood came only from his father's side.
Not that all bastards thought about their origins and parentage as a daily routine, but today it had been rubbed into the small boy and rather roughly at that too.
For today the nation was celebrating his father's legitimate wedding!
Malik is admirable - he went through hell and bounced back to become a victor. Somehow the dude seemed very out of place with the people he was surrounded by. The Ulugh Khan types seemed maniacal and Malik seems to have gone with the flow of situations.
Dear SPS & others, I read that Malik Kafur had some success because of Sundara Pandyan wanted to extract revenge from Veera Pandyan. How much of this is true?
Is that addressed to me? I am not Venkat :-) I did not understand the first statement.
Question kekarthakku minale, I did google and read Wikipedia. But Wikipedia can be edited by people with agenda. So ingairkkara periyavanga kitta kaettu terijukkulamaindu, kaeten.
Venkat's first novel : madurai ( he wrote it in english) is on this period. Racy work which runs through the entire life of kafur and the pandya brothers ( one is son of pattamahishi but his father prefers n plans to crown his concubine's son who is more capable)..crown prince kills dad, plants on crown, the brother rallies public support n throws him out. He goes crying to delhi and brings kafur to help him ...but kafur helps himself..
Venkatesh was to get it translated into tamil and bring out this year, so was asking Vj
march 2010 both "kanchi" and "Madurai" ( tamil)should hopefully be released.
this year I decided I would not race with the chennai book fair in mind
well malik kafur , though on the wrong side was a phenomenal warrior. the needs of allaudin khilji his master was not land but gold. the gold was to maintain a huge army to repel the mongol invasion. when most of europe and asia were ravaged by the mongol hordes india escaped. maliks main work was to go on long raids into the south and loot gold. though it is very nice to weave a story of sundara pandyan bringing malik into madurai, its plain truth that malik could have come even otherwise and nobody could have stopped him
hinduism in south took a real blow with the malik invasion. we saw srirangam and chidambaram razed to the ground with theior idols being taken out in great haste. till vijay nagar's kempenna made his madura vijayam and removed the sultanate at madurai most temples in tamilnadu did not function.
but if you look at malik kafur - an eunuch rising from the harem guard post to being the Naib sultan its phenomenal. i guess malik conquered more territory than any indian warrior. the best thing is most of his movements are recorded day to day by wassaf and khusrau.
That was the MOST UNFORTUNATE move on the Part of a Tamil King.. in his anxiety to subdue his brother, he solicited the support of a common enemy of the land ..
Powerful Veerapandia was subdued... and obviously less powerful Sundarapandia was also subdued by Malik kafur ...
Sundarapandia - who defeated Kulothunga III - Chola - brought an end to 400 years of persuing Pandia Freedom struggle... He also gave grants to Chidambaram / Srirangam etc., So graceful... who spared Aayirangal Mandapam from where Karikalvalavan gave grant to Pattinappalai Author - Uruthirankannanar !!
His meykeerthi is wonderful mix of several factors.. (in our archieves)...
This Sundara Pandia, b/o Veerapandia, in about 60 - 70 years after that great Pandia Rule - brought an end to Tamil Monarchy Rule itself in the Southern India..by his wrong move.
Thenkasi Pandians' takeover from there .. branching out... is also discussed.. in Group..