Written by London Swaminathan

Post No. 14,650

Date uploaded in London –  16 June 2025

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

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நெடுஞ்செழியன்= அபிஷேக பாண்டியன்

I have been doing research in Tiruvilaiyadal Puranam (TVP) from 1994 and written copious notes in papers which I preserve until this day. After reading the book Madurai by Dr Devakunjari, and Madurai Temple Complex by A V Jeyachandrun, I have come to some conclusions. From 1963, I have collected all the Madurai Meenakshi temple Kumbabisheka Souvenirs also. They give us valuable information regarding Madurai temple and the 64 Divine sports of Lord Shiva in and around Madurai .

For my research I used the Tiruvilaiyadal Puranam written by Paranjoti Munivar about 300 years ago.

What is a Divine Sport?

In Sanskrit it is called Leela and in Tamil it is called Thiru Vilaiyaadal. Ordinary Vilaiyaadal is just sport. It is used even in Tamil Weddings. When you add Thiru (Sri) it signifies a Divine Sport.

The Divine Sport mentioned here is about the 64 MIRACLES done by Lord Shiva to save His devotees. Strangely, even boars, pigs, heron and Black bird are among the devotees.  But we have such divine birds and divine animals throughout India. To mention a few, cows, bulls, elephants, snakes and monkeys are worshipped throughout India. The very name of Madurai ‘Aalavay’  (UROS in Greek) came from a snake that went around Madurai to show its boundaries. Kalidas, the greatest poet of India, mentioned Madurai Kings Pandyas and Agastya together and named Madurai as Uragapuram (Snake city; Greeks got it from Sanskrit and coined the word Uros.)

****

Now Madurai History in bullet points:

Tiru Vilaiyaadal Puraanam is abbreviated as T V P.

1

All the Sixty Four Leelaas happened before 1000 CE

Where is the proof? Sekkizaar, author of Periya Puranam, mentioned Murthy Nayanar , the Pandya king who was elected by an elephant. In those days a blind folded elephant was sent around the capital city to select someone as the king if there is no legal heir or a controversy about who should rule. This happened in the case of another king called Karikal Choza too.

Because Tamil saint Sundarar mentioned him (Murthy) ,  Sekkizar included him in his history of 63 Tamil saints in Periya Puranam. This Murthy Nayanar figures in another older TVP written by Perumpatrap Puliyur Nambi. Both the TVPs are translations from original Sanskrit books. This PP Nambi lived 400 years before Paranjoti.

So, we can conclude all the stories including Murthy Nayanar, the business man who was crowned as the king of Pandya country by an elephant, happened before ninth  century CE.

Now let us look at another book called Kallaadam. This book of ninth century CE mentioned 32 TVP leelaas (divine sports) ; and above all, 21 leelas are mentioned by the great Tamil saints Tirugnana Sambandar and Tiru Navukkarasar (also known as Appar) contemporaries of Mahendra Pallavan ( 600 CE)

2

If we know the kings associated with these 21 Leelas, then we can be sure of the period. Only Paranjoti Munivar gives the names of the Pandya kings in chronological order. but both Paranjoti and PP Nambi placed Sambandar- Pandya king story after Manikkavasagar story.

This is the first proof to establish the age of Manikkavasagar (hereafterwards M). This is not the only proof. Appar mentioned also the famous Fox turning into Horses vice versa associated with M.  There is one more proof . Lord Shiva carried sand on his head to strengthen the banks of flooded River Vaigai in Madurai. It is called Man (sand) Sumantha (carrying) leela. This is also mentioned by both Sambandar and Appar. Now we can boldly say that M lived before these two great saints of Mahendra Pallavan time.

So now we know that both Nambi and Param put the story of M aster Sambandar (600 CE) and both Sambandar and Appar also put M before them. This is a very clear proof to show that M lived before them.

3

Now that we know the chronology of two Pandyas, i.e the Pandya king of M period and the Pandya king of Sambandar- Appar period, we can find out others’ age.

Pandyas or their capital or their pearl treasure are mentioned in Ramayana, Mahabharata, Arthasastra, Kharavela inscription, Mahavamsa, Sangam Tamil literature, Vietnam/Champa Inscription, and later copper plates.

There are foreign notes from Megasthenes,  Pliny, Ptolemy and Strabo.

From Mahavamsa book, we know the earliest Pandya. A Pandya was ruling Madurai, when the banished Kalinga king Vijaya landed in Sri Lanka. He married a Pandya princess, and the ministers and officials also married women of Pandya Kingdom. Because it happened in sixth century BCE, it must be the first Then/South Madurai which was devoured by the sea in a Tsunami attack.

Later the Pandyas moved their capital to Korkai, may be Kapatapuram, in Sanskrit. This is mentioned in Ramayana and Arthasastra. When someone copied Valmiki Ramayana, he mentioned it as Kapatapura, we may guess. This city also disappeared in another Tsunami wave attack. This is in two Tamil books Kalittokai and Silappadikaram.

Archaeological evidence

King Asoka of third century BCE mentioned Cera, Choza, Pandya kings and Satyaputras of Tamil country in his inscription.

Later Kharavela inscription of Hathikumpha (Odisah) (second century BCE) mentioned that he defeated the Pandya king and got rubies and pearls as tributes.

This is a very important inscription. Khara vela was a just king who followed Jain religion. This shows that Jains started coming to Madurai from second century BCE. Another evidence comes from Akananuru, a Sangam period Tamil book, which says the Mauryans came  to the south via mountains after levelling the ground. We know that the great Chandra Gupta Maurya became a Jain and left his body in Karnataka in third century BCE. This also shows the Kalabhra Jains came to Tamil Nadu via the mountains of Western Ghats.

These two Jain invasions are important because Sambandar , Murthy Nayanar and Manikkavasagar clashed with Pandya kings who followed Jain religion. Appar clashed with Mahendra Pallavan who followed Jain religion.

Now we get a picture of Tamil Nadu immediately after Sangam age. Scholars dated the Sangam Age as the first three centuries of modern era CE.  Sangam literature has more Hindu Gods and Hindu Yagas and Yajnas and so I would even date it from Second Century BCE. We have archaeological proofs. In and around Madurai, more Brahmi inscriptions are found than any other part of Tamil Nadu. They are found in caves where Jains were staying. There is even the mention of Nedunchezian, the Pandya King. But we know more than one Nedunchezian.

I believe that Abhisheka Pandya was the King Nedunchezian, who was crowned as a boy. TVP and Sangam literature mentioned him as the Boy King, Tutankhamun of India.

Wont it clash with Meenakshi , the Pandya ruler of Madurai, mentioned as Pandaiya queen by Megasthenes, the Greek historian and diplomat (350- 290 BCE) ?

Yes ,it is a problem unless we place this Nedunchezian nearer that date, because Goddess queen Meenakshi’s great grandson was this Abhisheka Pandya.

So the dates according to me are

Goddess Queen Meenakshi — 300 BCE

Her son Ukra Kumaran – 250 BCE

Veera Pandyan, killed by a tiger in the forest –225 BCE

His son the Boy King Abhisheka Pandya alias King Nedunchezian –225 BCE to 200 BCE

His son Vikrama Pandyan – 200 BCE

His son Rajasekaharan – 150 BCE

This is the order given by Paranjothi in TVP

4

Here he adds one more interesting and important information. Rajasekhara Pandya ruled at the time of Karikal Choza.

Other sources also confirms that Karikal Choza ruled around 150 BCE

So, I have enough proof for my dating.

Silappadikaram, dated by scholars 150 CE, mentioned two TVP anecdotes. One is Velliambalam (Silver Hall of Lord Nataraja) in Madurai in contrast to Pon Ambalam, Golden Hall of Chidambaram. The other anecdote is A Vanni Tree, a well (in animate objects!!) came as witnesses to save a Shiva devotee. If we believe in the dates of Tamil epic Silappadikaram , we must say that al the anecdotes in Paranjoti’s TVP happened before Second Century CE. But I am not going to support that statement. Because Paranjoti who put that Witness episode as the 64^th Leela of TVP and said that there were 75 kings in between.

We will look at it in the next part.

To be continued…………………………

—Subham—

Tags- Abhisheka Pandya, Nedunchelian, Karikalan, Rakjasehara Pandya, Tiru Vilaiydal Puranam, Lord Shiva’s 64 Divine Sports , No Mystery, Pure History, Halasya Mahatmyam