Chapter 30 - The Picture Hall

The younger Pazhuvertaraiyar took Vandhiyathevan with him to the court hall. His explanation of what he had said to the emperor did not satisfy him very much. Perhaps it was a mistake to give him permission to go and see the emperor alone. Since he is descended from Athitha Karikalar, it is proper to suspect him. But there is no room for suspicion as my brother has sent me with a seal ring. Aha! Should someone else teach an adult to be careful in such matters? However, when he suddenly entered the darshan hall, he saw that the young man hesitated and woke up as if frightened. "Danger! Danger!" he exclaimed. If he had said "abhayam", was it possible that it would have fallen on his ears as "danger"? It was better not to send him back at once. When my brother comes, we can get to know him better and then do what is right. We must try to get such a brave young man into our private guard. He will be useful at times. Why? You can buy him a part of the old kingdom of his ancestors. Once we help such children, they will be forever obedient and grateful. If he is a determined enemy, he must make arrangements; Let my brother come for anything.

When he reached the hall of the court, Vandhiyathevan began to look this way and that side curiously. He took the letter to the commander and took a closer look. Escaped another leaf – to see if that important leaf was lying down. If he couldn't find it, no one could be as stupid as himself! He will not be able to see the queen of the Chola tribe who is praised all over the world. Athitha Karikalar will not be able to do half of the work entrusted to him.

The younger Pazhuvertaraiyar said to one of the servants, "Take this child to our palace! Make sure you have the necessary facilities in the guest house! Stay there until I come!"

As soon as Vandhiyathevan and the servant went out, another man approached the commander reverently and held out a scroll. "It was lying on the way to the darshan hall from here. It could have fallen from the lap of the boy who just left!"

The commander took it eagerly and opened it. His eyebrows raised to half of his forehead. There was a terrible change in his face.

"Wow! A letter written by Athitha Karikalar to the junior stateswoman. 'Didn't you ask for a true warrior for intimate things—a brave man who could accomplish what he wanted? I have sent him for that. You can trust him completely and entrust him with any important matter,' the prince wrote in his own hand. There is something mysterious about this. Maybe the old man knows about this letter? You must be more careful with him!" said the fortress commander to himself. He called the man who had picked up the leaf and whispered a few things in his ear; He left at once.

In the younger Pazhuvertaraiyar's palace, ceremonial treats were held for Vandhiyathevan. They gave him a bath and put on new clothes. Vandhiyathevan, who was fond of wearing good clothes, was also delighted. He even forgot about the missing letter. After dressing in new clothes, they were served delicious refreshments. The hungry Vandhiyathevan looked at them with one hand. Then they took him to the picture hall of the younger Pazhuvertaraiyar's palace. "Until the commander comes, we can look at the rare pictures in this hall!" they said. Having said this, three of the guards sat down outside the hall and began to play dice while chatting.

Tanjore, the new capital of the Cola dynasty, was known for its sculptural painting in those days. Just as music and dance developed in Tiruvaiyaru, so sculpture and painting flourished in Tanjore.

Especially, the picture hall in the younger Pazhuvertaraiyar's palace was very famous. Now Vandhiyathevan entered the hall. He was delighted to see the wonderful paintings on the walls in many beautiful colors. He forgot himself in that joy; He even forgot the important thing for which he had come.

The scenes depicting the ancient kings of the Chola dynasty and their lives captivated him. In particular, the history of the Cholas of the last hundred years occupied a large part of the Chitra Mandapam. Those were the pictures that interested Vandhiyathevan the most.

At this juncture, we would like to briefly remind the reader of the lineage of the Chola kings who ruled from Pazhaiyarai and Tanjore for the last hundred years. It will be very useful to know this for the foregoing events in this story.

We have already mentioned about Vijayalaya Chola who wore ninety-six war wounds as ornaments on his body.

The Cola kings used to assume the titles Parakesari and Rajakesari alternately. Parakesari Vijayalaya was succeeded by his son Rajakesari Aditya Chola. He was a worthy son of his father. He first joined the Pallava party and defeated the Pandyan and consolidated the Chola kingdom. Later, the Pallava waged a war with Aparajithavarman. Athitha Chola jumped on Aparajithavarman who was fighting on an elephant from the howdah and killed him and subjugated Tondaimandalam. Later, the Kongu region also came under his rule. Aditya was a great Shiva devotee. Athitha Chola built many Shiva temples from the Sahya hill where the river Cauvery originates to the place where the holy river merges with the sea.

Parakesari Parantaka succeeded Rajakesari Athitha Cholan. He ruled for forty-six years. After Karikal Peruvalathan who inscribed the tiger emblem in the Himalayas, Parantaka was the greatest king of the Chola dynasty. He has many titles like Viranarayana, Panditavatsala, Kunjaramallan, Surasikhamani, etc. He also has the title "Madurai and Eelam". It was during the reign of Parantaka I that the Cola empire extended from Kanyakumari to the river Krishna. The tiger flag flew in Eezha Nadu also for a while. He is also Parantaka who is famous for the golden roof of Thillai Chittambalam. During the last days of his reign, the Chola empire faced some great dangers. At that time the Rashtrakutas, who were in great power in the north, tried to suppress the growing power of the Colas. They invaded the Chola empire and achieved some success.

Emperor Paranthaka had three sons. The valiant warrior among them was the eldest son, Rajaditya. Rajaditya stayed in Tirumunaipadi country for a long time with a large army in anticipation of a northern invasion. He took Veeranarayana lake to understand his father's name. A fierce battle took place between the Chola army and the Rashtrakuta forces at Thakkolam near Arakkonam. Having established his heroic reputation by defeating the enemy forces in this battle, Rajaditya died on the field of battle and attained the heaven of heroes. Like the Pallava Aparajithavarman, he too fought on an elephant and died while on the elephant, hence the inscriptions praise him as "God who slept on an elephant".

If Rajaditya had not died, he himself would have ascended the Chola throne after emperor Paranthaka. His descendants must have succeeded him in succession.

But when the prince Rajaditya died without succession or descendants, his younger brother Kandarathitha Thevar ascended the throne with the title of Rajakesari as per his father's wish.

He was a devotee of Lord Shiva like his father and grandfather. He is also a Tamilian. In fact, he was not very interested in ruling the kingdom. He was much involved in temple worship and Tamil pleasures. He followed the great Nayanmars and sang hymns in praise of Lord Shiva. In the last verse of these poems called 'Thiruvisaippa', he is saying about himself as follows:

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"In Thillai's sacred halls, where gods reside, The king of fowls with pride did stride, He who knew not the word of slander's sting, The peerless poet of the Tamil evening.

His name, with honor, fills the earth, A testament to his immortal worth".

The Cola kings after Vijayalaya, though inhabited Pazhaiyarai and Tanjore, did not abandon the ancient Cola capital of Uraiyur. Another name for Uraiyur is Kozhi. Therefore the Chola kings called themselves as "Kozhi Vendhar".

Though Kandarathitha Thevar ruled nominally from the throne, in reality it was his younger brother Arinjaya who looked after the affairs of the kingdom. Arinjaya stayed with his army at Tirunavalur and other places to help Rajaditya. He waged a valiant war with the Rashtrakutas. He soon turned the defeat of the Chola army at Thakkolam into victory. He stopped the Rashtrakuta invasion beyond Thenpennai.

Therefore Rajakesari Kandarathitha Cholar crowned his younger brother Arinjaya as Yuvaraja and declared that he was the successor to the Cola throne.

There was another important reason for Kandarathittars decision. His eldest wife died before he succeeded to the throne. Kandarathithar did not marry for a long time after that. But his younger brother Arinjaya had a son who was great in beauty, knowledge and power. He took the name Parantaka of his grandfather and Sundara Cola, the name given by his people. So Kandarathithar wanted his brother Arinjaya to succeed him and his son Sundara Cholan after Arinjaya. He unanimously obtained the consent of the Samantaganas, Dandanayakas and the representatives of the people to this arrangement and made it public to the world.

After all these arrangements were made, a miraculous event happened in Kandarathithar's life. He happened to meet Thirumagal, a vassal king by name Mazhavaraiyan. The beauty, modesty, virtue and devotion to Lord Shiva of that Mangaiyar Thilakam attracted his heart. He married her in his old age. As a result of this marriage a child was born in due course. They named him Mathuranthakan, praised him and nurtured him. But both the king and queen did not want to alter the earlier arrangement with regard to the kingdom. Since both the couples were devoted to Shiva and the path of despair, they wanted to bring up their beloved son in that path. Since they believed that the Sivaloka empire was far superior to this worldly empire, they wanted to raise Mathuranthakan to belong to that world empire. Therefore Kandarathithar publicly established his wish that his brother Arinjaya and his descendants would be the successors of the Chola empire. Thus the Cola throne passed over to the two protagonists, Rajaditya and Kandarathithar.

Parakesari Arinjaya did not remain a living for long after Kandarathithar. Within a year, his brother followed his brother to the throne of Kailash.

Later, Prince Sundara Cholar was crowned by the folk, petty kings and other government officials. Rajakesari Sundara Cholar also occupied the great position which he was fortunate to have. In the early part of his reign, he fought many heroic battles and reconquered the Pandya kingdom and Tondaimandalam. He drove the Rashtrakuta forces away from the banks of Thenpennai. Sundara Chola emperor's sons Athitha Karikalar and Arulmozhivarmar were unparalleled warriors who could surpass their father. They both helped their father perfectly. They went to war at a very young age and fought in the front; Wherever they went, Vijayalakshmi stood by the side of the Cholas.