History of Kulasekhara perumals
Preface:
It is important now to
understand the history of kerala in the right sense, because there were
deliberate attempts to denigrate and hijack our culture and misrepresent it for
controlling power. Keralites are so attached to traditional values and nostalgic
past, most of us especially those born before 1980s lived with their
grandparents during childhood days, certainly those sweet memories will still
persist in their minds and they have experienced a glimpse about the old
lifestyle and family values which exist in kerala .
We were culturally so
strong and emotionally attached to value based system that existed here for the
last 1000 years, we had strong administrative systems, we do trading with
foreign countries, followed matriarchal system, in which women enjoyed equal
rights, with plenty of cultivable areas, bestowed with natural gifts like
proper seasonal changes, water bodies,thick green forests, coastal areas,
skillful labour, indigenous martial arts, ayurveda etc.
There were lot of cooked up
stories about kerala history which was created by certain sections of peoples
who had migrated from distant parts of india and in order to dominate over the
local peoples of kerala, they have misrepresent our own history by twisting
their own dharma to explain the roots of our own culture using languages which
were not known to local peoples. They have intentionally created a barrier in
the name of caste, creed etc to hide the reality and alienated the reality from
local people by hijacking our traditional values and attaching it to their
traditions, misquoting histories, propaganda based worship practices were
invented and coined new stories to create ambiguity about factual things ,
provide isolation in society to retain their secrecy by propagating untouchability,
foisting superstition among local peoples in the name of religious hierarchy
, misinterpreting local traditional practises and text books to spread
aberration among local people about their own culture, subjugated the rulers
and economical institutions in the name of religious rules written in sanskrit
and that sacred language was only accessible to priest class only so nobody can
learn understand and find out the misinterpretations framed by priest class to
impose their superiority in totality they have decimated local traditions and
impose their vigilantism in the name of religion,, still there were defiance
against their nefarious plot from the local traditions which is still going on
but remember our objective here is to clean all the misinterpretations and
bring reconciliation between vedic dharma and local traditional values and make
the followers understand the reality.
History of Kulasekhara
dynasty
From AD 800-1102
kulasekharas has ruled kerala under single dynasty ,there were 13 kulashekharas
who ruled kerala during the above mentioned period. With Mahodayapuram as their
capital,which is now called kodungallur located in south western border of
thrissur district in kerala.
Earlier names of kodungallur was “Muziris”,other
names were Muchiripattinam or muntiya thurai pattanam means “big port city”,In
Valmiki Ramayana this port city has been referenced by sugreeva as
murichipattanam. It is believed there was a Great Fortress known as Makottai
(Kottai) in the name of Fort for its ruler Kothai and Kottaiyan when combined
to form makotayapuram and later on mahodayapuram .
The name kodungallur came from the concept that cheran chenguttuvan brought the great stone from the Himalayas to make a rock idol for consecrating the goddess kanaki, “kodumkallu” the name be derived from the word for stone in general .
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| Later Chera Kingdom 900 AD |
The name kodungallur came from the concept that cheran chenguttuvan brought the great stone from the Himalayas to make a rock idol for consecrating the goddess kanaki, “kodumkallu” the name be derived from the word for stone in general .
1.Kulasekhara Azhwar AD
800-820
Ardent vaishnavi follower
who wrote perumal thirumozhi bhaktikavya dedicated to lord vishnu, he also
composed mukunda mala sanskrit poem which depicts the glory of lord krishna.
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| Kulasekhara Alwar |
2.Rajashekhara varma AD
844-885
He has been referred in the
great poets of madhvacharya in sanakaravijayam and shankaracharya in sivananda
lahari. He reprimand the famous vazhappally sasanam or inscription. The
inscription was written in the twelfth year (AD 830) of his rule. It says about
the decision taken by the local rulers of the "nantuzhainadu" in the
presence of Rajasekhara Perumal that those responsible for the failure to offer
the nithyabali at the Thiruvattar temple should give "100 deenaram"
fine to the Perumal. The inscription is cited as a proof for the command of the
Perumal over local rulers.While other inscriptions begin as
"Swasthisree", the Vazhappally inscription begins with "Namasivaya"
and describes the king as "Parameswara Bhattarakan" which strengthens
the assumption that Rajasekharan was a Lord Shiva devotee. He was called
cheraman perumal nayanar. He along with his close counterpart sundarapandian
nayanaar has pilgrimage southern indian shaiva temples and those informations
are documented by Sekkizhar in periyapuranam.
Sekkizhar compiled and wrote the
Periya Puranam (Great Story or Narrative) in 4253 verses, recounting the life
stories of the sixty-three Shaiva Nayanars, the devotees of Shiva. Sekkizhar himself
was later canonised and his work, the Periyapuranam became the twelfth and
final book of the sacred Saiva canon.
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| Rajasekhara varma |
3.Sthanuravi varama AD 844-885
4.Ramavarma AD 885-917
Vasudeva bhattathiri great
yamaka poet who wrote yuddhistara vijayam was official audience to his court
.His daughter has been married to parantaka cholan depicts the connection
between chola and chera kingdoms during those days.
5 Godaravi varma Ad 917-944
During his reign the
relationship exist between chera and chola dynasties got shattered due to
attacks on south kerala by cholas, Aye kingdom united with chera dynasty, and
the education centers at kanthalloor and vizhinjam become military training
centers. Maravarman the pandyan king who was defeated by chola king got shelter
from chera kings also provoked the cholans and their relations get deteriorated
forever.
6. Indukotha varma AD 944-962
He helped the pandyas to
defend the chola invasion in najinaad and tirunelveli, His inscriptions were
found on chembra,thrikkakara, thiruvandoor .
7. Bhaskara ravi varman 1
and 2 AD 961-1019/ AD 1019-1021
The great century war that
persist between chera and chola dynasty started on the time period of bhaskara
ravi varman 1, Raja Raja Cholan took power of chola dynasty, has taken
revengeful attitude towards the cheras and stated experimental attacks to test
the chera power,In 999 AD during his 15th year of rule he conquered
kanyakumari ,kottar. The name of kanyakumari was changed to rajarajeswaram and
kottar name has been changed to mumudicholanallur and areas were called
rajarajapandi nadu. He might have conquered vizhinjam and kanthalloor shala.
Thiruvalangadu plates issued by Raja Raja Chola (AD 1012-1044) are
helpful for studying Kerala history. The inscription describes the invasion of
Vizhinjam by the king. The plates describe Raja Raja Chola as "Kanthalloor
Chalai Kalamarutha Rajaraja thevar" meaning the king put an end to the
food distribution, Veda learning and weapon training at the Kanthalloor Sala.According to the inscription, devadasis were sold to temples. The myth that
Parasurama created the state by throwing his axe too finds place in the plates.
The son of rajaraja cholan
rajendra cholan has also followed the same attitude towards the chera empire,
chera dynasty has defended his attacks in south kerala and send troops to
support ceylon against the attack of raja raja cholan. Cholan attention got
diverted to ceylon he attacked ceylon and gained power then he diverted hi
attention to kerala he attacked vizhinjam and kantaloor shala in 1019AD,
another group of cholas crossed palghat pass and entered north kerala. Finally
they attacked mahodayapuram with the support from navy who were giving supports
from the coastal base .Bhaskara ravi varma along with lot of warriors died in
this combat. But unfortunately they cant seize the power of north kerala their
reign survived on southern kerala and no inscriptions were found till date to
support their rule in north kerala. Bhaskara ravi varma -2 take the power in
1019 ADand ended in 1021 AD.
8.VeeraKeralan AD 1022-1028
Veerakeralan tried to
defend chola attacks while rajendra cholan was indulged in war with north india
and parts of asia. He gathered troops and started revolt against chola
invasion, when rajendra cholan returned he assigned his son rajadhirajan to
lead the troops In final assault Veerakerala varman was caught and sentenced to
death, this incident has been inscribed in Manimangala inscription dated
1046AD. Rajadhirajan killed the ruler of venad and captured kanthalurshala, he
killed the relative of veera kerala varman in ezhimala who was a mooshaka king.
After this period the chera power declined and become inert for short period.
9. Rajasimhan AD 1028-1043
He has accepted the
dominion of cholans which can be understood from mannarkoyil inscriptions.
Thazhakattu inscription during his period was issued to give trade powers to
christian family in irinjalakuda thrissur.
10.Bhaskara Ravi -3 AD 1043-1082,
Ravirama varma AD1082-1090
No records were available,
since cholas were fighting against chalukyas this opportunity gave cheras to
organize their army to resist any future attacks. With the help of cheras
pandyas has regained nachinaad and tirunelveli. Cholas again diverted their
attention towards pandyas and defeated them several times.
11.Ramavarma kulasekharan AD 1090-1102
Last kulashekhara who ruled
kerala, Kulothunga chola-2 after attacking venad diverted his actions to north
kerala .chera army formed new suicide squads to defend chola attacks ,kind has
organized all the local forces to unite under him for a final retreat against
cholas. Finally in the great war fought against cholas cheras lost the war and
mahodayapuram was put in to fire by cholas, the headquarters of cheran empire
was mutilated and the king flee to Quilon panamkavu palace, from there he
fought against the chola presence in quilon and wiped out cholan presence from
there Again he united all the local troops and organized big attack on cholas
finally cholas retreat back to kottar due to fierceful attacks from the cheran
suicide squads.
Another Era got started
after ramavarma had set his headquarters to quilon , there starts the end of
kulashekhara and beginning of venad .Now venad become a supreme nation under
the leadership of thenvanchiyan and the quilon was called thenvanchi.
Shankaracharya
He lived during the time
period of kulasekhara azhwar the first kulashekhara king and rajashekharavarma
,he was elder to kulashekhara nayanar. He indulged in argument with mimamsa and
buddhist scholars and accepted certain buddhist practises and integrated it in
to hinduism. Sanyashramam was taken from buddhist ideas and based on that he
started four madums in four parts of india. In Badrinath Jyothir Madum,puri
govardhana madum,dwaraka sharada madum,mangalore sringeri madum. He formulated
organizational activities based on buddhist ideas and heavily questioned the
mimamsa ideology, his rivals used to call him prachannabuddhan. He intend to
culminate all the traditional ideas to formulate ideology acceptable and
practicable to all sections of people. Specially he want to accept buddhist
ideas and tried to unify hinduism and buddhism .
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| Sankaracharya with his Disciples |
Bhakti movement
Sankaran has tried to unify
the hinduist movement in india, he tried to convince his ideas in sanskrit
language which was not reachable to common people due to the prevalent caste
systems formulated by brahmins.People who were followers of buddhism and
jainism will be attracted to hinduism if buddhist and jainist ideas will be
incorporated to hinduism, so scholars devised another methods which breaks all
the prevalent hierarchies posted by brahmins, they started bhakti prasthanam
which is basically music based worship and the songs lyrics were written in
local languages and composed with beautiful music and the devotees will have to
surrender completely before their deity . Poets who write and compose the music
were called bhakta kavikal,they used to sing bhajans and wandered in the
streets so there ideas reached the common people with ease. And peoples become
more attracted towards ideas of hinduism .
History of temples in
kerala during kulashekhara period.
Traditions of building
temples using wood and stone started during the 8 century AD, both ruling class
and common peoples have contributed for this, due to trade of pepper and other
spices peoples financial status allowed them to compete for raising the temples
all around kerala. Temples were administered by Sabha and most of them were
brahmins they were called Sabha aryans, They appoint poduwal was the caretaker
for daily temple activities, In some temple it was daily activities were taken
care by variams which consist of two member . Koyiladhakari is been appointed
by kings and they were the supreme heads of temple administration, usually
yuvaraja's were appointed as koyiladhikaris.
Moozhikulam kacham or thiruvalla
cheppedukal are the inscriptions found at the Sreevallabha temple, Thiruvalla
that date back to twelfth century. They mention about the social institutions,
customs and practices that existed then.It gives strict punishment for uralars
(trustees) and karalal(tenants) for not executing their duties related to
temple. Kshetras have educational institutions which give training in
puranas,grammer,law,brahma vidya,spirituality based on gurukula tradition based
education, students were provided with food, cloth, accommodation,coaching for
free..”Mahabharata Pattathanam” was an organization which render mahabharata in
tamil ,
chakkyars in temple teaches the public using special rendering style
which attract masses and educate them the essence in hinduism purana teachings.
There were libraries attached to temples. Competitive exams were held in
temples and the title after winning the exams were called kadanirikkal which
means the person who scored first marks can sit in the front row of literary debates,and
the second sections can sit in the second row for attending debates these exams
were called kadavallur anyonyam.
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| Traditional Temple Structure of Kulasek |
During chera -chola war
kulasekhara accumulated all the resources for supporting war, nambudiri
brahmins supported kings financially they left their priesthood and started
training in warfare, all educational institutions were converted in to martial
arts training centers. All matters related to temples were discarded, temple
arts and culture, educationaL institutions, income to temples everything got
stopped and total chaos spreaded in the cultural sphere of kerala.
Forceful military training
was mandatory for citizens, so most of the skilled labour has been inducted to
military. Kalari groups were started all over kerala that give martial arts
training, along with that suicide squads were started to combat war.
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| Kalaripayattu |
Brahmins who were the
caretakers of temples they misutilized that facilities and accumulated wealth,
during war time common people handed over their wealth and property to temples
and brahmins because brahmaswam and devaswom wealth will not be forcefully used
for funding war expenses and tax exemption will be there . Brahmins accumulated
such wealth and misutilized it and become janmis. These brahmins who become
rich has introduced marumakkathayam for maintaining sambandam .Trade got ceased
in kerala due to war and society begin to split based on caste and creed for
overcoming the financial and social disabilities happened due to war. Brahmins
utilized this division and started their supremacy over these unorganized
classes and sects. Central administration got affected and local rulers
flourished and divided kerala in to several parts.
