Kochadaiyaan Ranadheera –  a hero of the Pandya country!

I was so enchanted by the vivid Kochadayan posters to the extent I was fascinated and feel nostalgic about 'Ambulimama' Sankar's enthralling sketches. I was steered to know about Kochadaiyaan, a legendary King of the South.

Now, let us reel back through the bygone centuries to meet this real hero!

In 710 AD there rose a powerful war hero like a thunderbolt, from Madurai, the seat of Pandya dynasty!!

Madurai is one of the surviving oldest heritage cities of jambudwipa i.e. Indian sub continent. Old part of Madurai city situated in the southern bank of Vaigai river is with a layout feature of lotus flower with its petal like parts blossoming out from the Shiva temple at the centre. Like any other ancient city of this country, Madurai also developed around a Shiva temple. Few other striking examples are Ernakulam, Thiruchur, Tirunelveli and Nagercoil.  The lord shiva at Madurai temple is celebrated as Sundareswara, Somasekara and chokkappan. Madurai and Kanchipuram are the twin ancient heritage cities of Tamil Country. Madurai is still regarded as the cultural capital of Tamilnadu. Tamil sangam, a highly evolved literary conclave, unparallel in the World of its nature was patronized by the Pandya royalty.

 The foremost pandyas ruled from Korkai, an ancient seaport at the mouth of Tamiraparani river in Tirunelveli Cheemai. They were the oldest and foremost royal clan of the Tamil country – this is without taking into account the much ancient Pahruli river civilization of lemurian Continent, submerged into the Indian Ocean perhaps like the Danushkodi town which went into the sea in 1964. A saivite mutt at Perunkulam village near Korkai in Tirunelveli region is called 'sengol adeenam' indicating the information that the pontiff of this hermitage used to perform the coronation of Pandya Kings.

The later capital of Pandya dynasty shifted to Madurai. Madurai ascended to glory with the rise of Early Pandya rulers – one of the most successful and illustrious and perhaps the longest dynasties of Tamil country from 560 AD to 920 AD - starting from the legendary Pandyan Kadunkone, who liberated the southern lands from the dark spell of kalappiras.

In that lineage of powerful kings, there came an indomitable hero, Kochadaiyaan, son of the valorous Emperor, Arikesari Maravarman Nindraseer Nedumaran. The legendary emperor, Nindraseer Nedumaran and his queen Mangayarkarasiyar, the devoted Chola princess and his learned Chief Minister from Melamanalkudi, a small town in the Eastern shoreline of Pandya country, Kulachirayaar are revered among the foremost 63 saints of Tamil Saivite religious order. Arikesanallur town on the banks of river Tamiraparani with its vast and scenically surrounding emerald paddy fields, in Tirunelveli Cheemai stands in the name of this glorious king.

King Nindraseer Nedumaran, queen Mangayarkarasiyar and Chief Minister, Kulachirayar receiving the Saivite Guru, Sambantha Murthy - picture taken from www.shaivam .org

Kochadaiyaan is one of the few warriors in history who never faced even a single setback in his campaigns. He was invincible during his reign.

Kochadaiyaan was protected and assisted by the famed ‘Pandya Aabathu udhavi troops’, the feared commando units of Pandya bodyguards. ‘Aabathu udhavi’ means emergency rescue. These units were formed by loyal and handpicked warriors who had avowed to perish before their King if need be; in their resolve to protect him in battles or elsewhere. They shadowed the King in several rings like the modern SPG commando units. They were highly trained, motivated and sophisticated to their time. Kalki’s negative portrayal of Abathudhavi force as revengeful and villainous is just a Chola perspective.  

        Kochadaiyaan won a decisive battle against the Aye King in Thiruppudaimarudhur near Arikesavanallur in Tirunelveli District. Thirupudaimarudhur was one of the military stations of the Pandya country. Aye Kings were one of the powerful ancient ruling clans of southern Tamil country from the years of yore or to say, the Sangam age. Their territory stretched from the Podhigai hills in the Western Ghats to the Nanjil naadu, i.e. the present Kanyakumari District and the southern parts of Kerala. River Pambai was the northern boundary of their territory. Aye kingdom consisted the southern Western ghats and its nearby valleys. Aye kingdom is shrouded in mystery and hidden beneath the pages of Tamil history. Aye territories were formed by hill ranges, forests, narrow stretches of valleys and seashores.  The famed naval bases in the Southern history, Vizhignam and (or?) Kaandhalurchaalai [the name ‘chaalai’ refers and indicates a training centre] were created by these kings. Kaandhalurchaalai’s identity is yet to be zeroed in on while vizhignam harbor is still in the same name near Trivandrum or maybe they are one and the same. The legendary later Chola emperor Raja Raja is known as ‘Kaandhalurchaalai kalam arutha deva’ after he sacked this naval base in a blitzkrieg campaign. Aykudi in Tirunelveli Cheemai was one of the capitals of Aye kingdom. This kingdom was reduced to a buffer state between the later Cheras and the mighty Pandyas and eventually merged with the emerging Venaadu or the later known Travancore kingdom down the course of time. The Aye royal clan also said to have merged with the Travancore royal lineage.

Pandya army was with immense strength and in battle ready form during the reign of Kochadaiyaan. It is one of the popular false postulations in Tamil history that only the later imperial Cholas brought in the concept of stationed army to Tamil lands. Considering the military achievements of the Early Pandya Kings, a stationed army is a minimum prerequisite apart from other preparedness. Pandya stationed army was in fact known as ‘Paandi padai’. Besides a stationed army, there were garrisons known as ‘padai veedu’ such as Manarpadaiveedu and Karavanthapuram [present day Ukkirankottai] in Tirunelveli District apart from training centers and several strategic forts in Pandya territory. Ancient Tamil military cantonments were called ‘kadagam’ or ‘nilai puram’.

After decimating the power of Ayes, Kochadaiyaan marched towards Mangalapuram i.e. the present day Mangalore as opined by a section of historians like Prof. K. A. Neelakanda Sastri and won a war against the Western Chalukyas there. Contrarily, the famous Tamil historian, Prof. T.A. Sadhashiva Pandarathar views that Mangalapuram battle happened at a place on the northern banks of river Kollidam in Tiruchy.  After this feat over the Western Chalukyas, Kochadaiyaan assumed the title, ‘Rana dheera’ meaning ‘ferocious warrior’.   

He also conquered Kongu and Chola territories. During his reign, the Pandya flag of double carp symbol wielded raw military might and political power.

Kochadaiyaan was a contemporary of Sundaramurthy Nayanar, one of the four saintly Gurus of Tamil Saivite religion. He is said to have received this venerable guru during the later’s visit to Madurai. Kochadai in Madurai is a place perhaps in the name of this king. ‘Ko’ means chief or king while ‘Chadai’ literally means uncombed hair style. However ‘chadai’ hair form is actually a direct reference to lord Shiva. And chadayan is one of the titles assumed by Pandya Kings.

Scores of Early Pandya copper plate records like Velvikkudi grants plates, Seevalamangalam grants plates and Chinnamanur plates, with parallel information from epigraphy and literary evidences and few other windows like the travelogue notes such as the one of the famed Chinese traveler Xuvan zang collectively show light on the life in Early Pandya country. However, delineation of Pandya history is left out and lagging far behind compared to the history of Chola lands due to perhaps a scholarly bias.

May further details of the Early Pandyas and also of the Aye regional history emerge out of further researches to get a full-scale picture of historical roots of the Southern Tamil country.

May the dreaded and patriotic ‘Pandya Aabathudhavi commando units’ reemerge from the southern Tamil lands in the service of Mother India.

a commando unit of the Indian Army