WRITTEN BY LONDON SWAMINATHAN
DATE 19-12-19
TIME IN LONDON -8-20 AM
| Vennikuyatti x Tue, 19 Dec, 2019 Vennikuyatti VENNIKUYATHI was a potter woman of Venni, fifteen miles to the east of Thanjavur. She was an eye witness to the bloody battle that took place near her village. She admires the valour of Karikal Chola, the victor, but does not fail to express her sympathy for the vanquished Chera king who expiated his defeat by committing suicide : She sings, “O descendant of that warrior who, sailing on the wide ocean, compelled the winds to fill the sails of his ship! O Karikal Valava, Lord of the mighty elephants , by this victory you have displayed the greatness of your valour. Is not your enemy even nobler than you- he who, after obtaining great celebrity in the world, feels now the shame of a wound in his back and fasts unto death on the plains of Venni, watered by the freshes of Kaveri ?” TAMIL WOMEN WHO BUILT TEMPLES RANGAPATAAKAA Ranga pataka was a great Pallava Queen. Pallavas did a revolutionary change in constructing temples. For the first time they constructed cave temples by excavatinng rocks. The. They took it to another level by constructing tall temple towers with rocks. Then the cholas and Pandya followed this style. Kaiasa natha temple in Kanchipuram was one of the stone marvels of the seventh century. Rangapataakaa, Queen of Pallava king Rajasimha, took a notable share in this task according to a Sanskrit inscription in the temple. SEMBIAN MAHAADEVI The Chola Kings constructed the temples for Lord Shiva along the banks of river Kaveri. Gandaraditya, who ruled in the first half of the tenth century, was a saintly ruler, and his devotional hymns collected in the Tiruvisaippa are included in the Shaiva canonical literature. His Queen SEMBIAN Mahadevi was a Malwa princess. Widowed early in life, she scorned all sensual pleasures, developed a devotional frame of mind and spent her wealth in renovating or building temples in different places. Countless are the bronze images representing different aspects of Lord Shiva that she consecrated in the temples. She made a gift of lands to the temples, as also jewels of every description and of enormous value and hundreds of gold, silver, copper vessels other endowment s relate to feeding of Brahmins employed to chant the Vedas in the temples, and to the maintenance of musicians and other artists. Mahadevi had grown old when Rajaraja came to the throne. She then enjoyed a privileged position as the emperors venerable grand aunt. Rajaraja honoured her memory by building a public hall at Tirumukkudal named after her. KUNDAVAI Another great temple builder among Chola queens was Kuntavai, the elder sister of Rajaraja. Her father Sundara CholaParanaka was a very just and upright king. Her mother Vanavan Mahadevi was a Malayaman princess who did Sati at her husbands death. Kundavai married Vandyadeva, Chief of the country near rahmadesam. At Rajaraja puram now called Dadapuram she built temples for Vishnu, Shiva and jaina She made costly presents to all the temples. In Tirumalai, a Jain centre in South Arcot district, she also consecrated a shrine to one of the Tirthankaras. She founded a free hospital at Thanjavur and set apart extensive lands for its maintenance Kundavai spent the last years of her life with her nephew Rajendran chola in the palace at Palaiyarai wheere she died in 1019 CE. She was the inspiration behind Rajaraja and Rajendra chola who built magnificent temples in Thanjavur and Gangako nda chola puram –subham— |
Tamil and Vedas 