Ramanisblog

Tag: Pallava

  • Pallava Dynasty Descended From Aswathama?

    The origin of the Tamil dynasties is quiet old and Tamil /Tamils are referred to in the Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Vishnu Purana, Sanskrit literature, for example in Kalidasa’s Raghuvamsa.

    The Pandyas trace their ancestry to Lord Shiva whom they considered to be their Family Elder.

    Cholas trace themselves to Suryavamsa, Solar Dynasty to which Rama belonged and some records indicate they trace themselves to Sage Kasyapa.

    Chera dynasty seems to lie with Ila,the term Elam seems to be from this word(daughter of Vaiwastha Manu, the ancestor of Lord Rama, the First Human, who migrated to Ayodhya due to a Tsunami in South India.

    Manus son Ikshvaku founded the Suryavamsa , the Solar dynasty from Ayodhya.

    The Cheras seem to belong the female lineage of Manu.

    Now, there is another dynasty which was powerful.

    IT was the Pallava Dynasty which ruled from Kanchipuram,Tamil Nadu.

    The Mahabalipuram shore temples are the handiwork of Mahendra and his son Narasimhavarma Pallava.

    Simha vishnu was the father of Mahendra Varma Pallava.

    The inscription in Amaravathi Andhra refers that Simhavishnu was from the lineage of Aswathama.

    ‘But interestingly, the Pallava kings of Kanchi, had this legend about their genealogy, described in an inscription found near Amaravathi, Andhra, from the reign of Simhavarma Pallava,

    According to which, a child was born to Aswattama and an celestial dame (apsara?) in the woods and was abandoned in a bed of creepers. And that child eventually started the dynasty.

    The words for “creepers” is Pallavam, Pouthram in Sanskrit and in Tamizh, “thulir, thondai”. Hence the Pallavas aka Botharasas aka Thondaimaans.‘

    Reference. https://www.quora.com/Did-Ashwathama-from-the-Mahabharatha-marry

    There is another reference to the Pallava Dynasty in the old Tamil Epic Manimekalai , which is one of the Five Epics of Tamil, which states that the Thondamans were the descendants of Aswathama.

    Cholas are also traced this way.

    ‘

    The earliest documentation on the Pallavas is the three copper-plate grants, now referred to as the Mayidavolu, Hirahadagalli and the British Museum plates (Durga Prasad, 1988) belonging to Skandavarman I and written in Prakrit. Skandavarman appears to have been the first great ruler of the early Pallavas, though there are references to other early Pallavas who were probably predecessors of Skandavarman.Skandavarman extended his dominions from the Krishna in the north to the Pennar in the south and to the Bellary district in the West. He performed the Aswamedhaand other Vedic sacrifices and bore the title of “Supreme King of Kings devoted to dharma”

    In the reign of Simhavarman IV, who ascended the throne in 436, the territories lost to the Vishnukundins in the north up to the mouth of the Krishna were recovered.The early Pallava history from this period onwards is furnished by a dozen or so copper-plate grants in Sanskrit. They are all dated in the regnal years of the kings.

    ..

    attributes the origin of the first Pallava King from a liaison between the daughter of a Naga king of Manipallava named Pilli Valai (Pilivalai) with a Chola king, Killivalavan, out of which union was born a prince, who was lost in ship wreck and found with a twig (pallava) of Cephalandra Indica (Tondai) around his ankle and hence named Tondai-man. Another version states that “Pallava” was born from the union of the Brahmin Ashvatthama with a Naga Princess also supposedly supported in the sixth verse of the Bahur plates which states “From Ashvatthama was born the king named Pallava”. The Pallavas themselves claimed to descend from Brahma and Ashwathama.

    Though Manimekalai posits Ilam Tiriyan as a Chola, not a Pallava, the Velurpalaiyam plates dated to 852, do not mention the Cholas. Instead, they credit the Naga liaison episode, and creation of the Pallava line, to a different Pallava king named Virakurcha, while preserving its legitimising significance:

    …from him (Aśvatthāman) in order (came) Pallava, the lord of the whole earth, whose fame was bewildering. Thence, came into existence the race of Pallavas… [including the son of Chūtapallava] Vīrakūrcha, of celebrated name, who simultaneously with (the hand of) the daughter of the chief of serpents grasped also the complete insignia of royalty and became famous.

    Historically, early relations between Nagas and Pallavas became well-established before the myth of Pallava’s birth to Ashvatthama took root

  • Pallavas(including Bodhi Dharman of Ezham Arivu) are not Tamils.

    Augustus Coin found in the Pudukottai Hoard India
    Image via Wikipedia

    The much hyped Tamil film ‘Ezham Arivu‘ talks about a Pallava Prince,Bodhi Dharman, who goes to China,teaches them martial arts and indigenous medicine and he is revered as a God in the Shaolin Temple in China.

    In the euphoria surrounding the legend people do not seem to have bothered to check History.

    Pallavas are an off shoot of Andhra Dynasty.

    Simha Vishnu of the Dynasty founded the Pallava Kingdom in Tamil Nadu with Kanchipuram as his Capital.

    To claim others success as one’s own is reprehensible whether it is by an individual or by an ethnic community.

    There are innumerous  instances of facts where people of Tamil origin scaled great heights and set a standard for the world to follow.

    In fact the Ramayana and the Mahabharata speaks highly of the great King Udiyan Chralaathan, also called ‘Perunchotru Udiyan’ for he fed both the Pandava and Kaurava Armies during the Mahabharata war.

    These Epics also speak of the Chola and Pandya Kings and Arjuna is reported to have married a Pandya princess.

    They also speak of the wealth and culture of Tamils.

    ‘Dravida’ is a name ascribed to Tamil people who were inhabitants of the area south of the Vindhyaas, extending up to  and including Australia.

    Sage Viswamitra banished his sons away to this area, thinking that this area was inhabited by barbarians.

    His sons and their progeny found this place to be far superior in Culture than Vedic culture and hence they combined the best of the Vedas and practices of the Tamils and evolved a compendium to be followed by people who live South of Vindhyaas.

    This is ‘Aapasthamba Sutra’ which is followed by Brahmins even today.( Aapasthamba compiled it)

    We have Sangam Literature and Thirukkural, among many other things,

    To bask in false glory does not add lustre to Tamils or Tamil language

    References.

      Google Books.

    The Pallavas

    By Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuilhttp://books.google.co.in/books?id=6o9XCT3XiaMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Pallavas&hl=en&ei=2urITqGVE4qzrAfT_oykDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Pallavas&f=false

    The Pallava dynasty(Tamil: பல்லவர்) was a dynasty of South India which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradeshregion with their capital at Kanchipuram. They had established themselves as a notable rising power in the region between 275–350 AD.

    After a careful study of Pallava genealogy with all the available material, of no less than 45 inscriptions, Rev H Heras put forth the theory that there was an unbroken line of Pallava kings, twenty-four of them in number, who originally ruled at some city of the Telugu country, possibly at Dasanapura, which the Darsi copper plates state as their adhisthana.[1] Dasanapura has been identified as Darsi, in Nellore district.[2][3] The Pallavas were at first a Tamil power.[4] The earliest inscriptions of the Pallavas were found in the districts of Bellary, Guntur and Nellore.[5]

    The Pallavas captured Kanchipuram from the Cholas as recorded in the Velurpalaiyam plates, around the reign of the fifth king of the Pallava line Kumaravishnu I. Thereafter Kanchipuram figures in inscriptions as the capital of the Pallavas. The Cholas drove the Pallavas away from Kanchipuram in the mid-4th century AD, in the reign of Vishugopa, the tenth king of the Pallava line. The Pallavas re-captured Kanchipuram in the mid-6th century, possibly in the reign of Simhavishnu, the fourteenth king of the Pallava line, whom the Kasakudi plates state as “the lion of the earth”. Thereafter the Pallavas held on to Kanchipuram till the 9th century AD, with the last king having been Vijaya-Nripatungavarman.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallava_dynasty

    References to Tamils in Mahabharat.

    I have selected the version of “Mahabharatha” translated into English Prose by “Mr Kisari Mohan Ganguli” from the original Sanskrit Text of Sage Viysa, and published by Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers (Pvt) Ltd, New Delhi, India, from which the following have been extracted.

    ——————————————————

    [1] “…….Dhritarashtra (i.ee.Thiritarasra) said, ‘Hear O Sanjaya the celestial feats of Vasudeva feats that Govinda achieved and the like of which no otheer person hath ever been able to achieve……The mighty Krishna also slew the valiant king of Chedis…….all these he vanquished in battle. The Avantis……the Cholas, the Pandyas……as also Sakas, and the Yavanas with followers were all vanquished by him ……..’

    MAHABHARATHA – DRONA PARVA, PAGE 23.

    <u>Observation</u>:

    From the above it is noted that Lord Krishna defeated the Cholas and Pandyas in a battle prior to Baratha war .

    [2] “……..When that host was being thus struck and slain by heroic warriors, the Parthas headed by Vrikodara advance against us. They consisted of Dhrishtayumna and Sikhandin, and the five sons of Draupadi, and the Prabhadrakes, and Satyaki, and Chekitana with the Dravida forces, and the Pandyas, the Cholas, and the Keralas, surrounded by a mighty array, all possessed of broad chests, long arms, tall statures an large eyes. Decked with ornaments, possessed of red teeth, endued with the prowess of infuriate elephants, attired in robes of diverse colours, smeared with powere scents, armed with swords and nooses, capable of restraining mightty elephants, companions in death, and never eserting one other, equipped with quivers, bearing bows adorne with long locks, an agreeable in speech were the combatants of the infantry files led by Sayaki, belonging to Andhra tribe, retinue with fierce forms and great energy. Other brave warriors such as the Chedis, the Panchalas, the Kaikayas, the Karushas, the Kosalas, the Kanchis, and the Maghadhas also rushed forward……..”

    MAHABHARATHA – KARNA PARVA, PAGE 25. KULUTAS PAGE 26

    <u>Observation: </u>

    From the above it is very clear Pandyas, Cholas, Keralas who were the Cheras, the Kanchis undoubtedly the Thondaimandala kings whose capital was at Kanchi. all fought on the side of the Pandavas. The above also describes of the warriors from the Tamil countries, their forces, valour, and armoury.

    [3] “…….I behold the Ganga, the Satudru, the Sita, the Yamuna, and the Kausiki, the Charmanwati, the Vetravati, the Chandrabaga, the Saraswati, the Sindhu, the Vipasa, and the Godavari, the Vaswokasara, the Nalini and the Narmada, the Tamara, and the Venna also of delightful current and sacred waters, the Suvenna, the Krishna-venna, the Irama,and the Mahanadi, the Vitasti, O great king and that large river Cavery, the one also O tiger ! among men the Visalya and the Kimpuna also……”

    MAHABHARATHA – BY K.M.GANGULI, VANAPARVA, PAGE 381

    <u>Observation: </u>

    From the above it is noted that in the days of Mahabaratha the river Cavery river would have been very wide with more flow of water as the pronoun “large river” is only used to river Cavery, when many of the other rivers of India was being referred simply as rivers in Mahabaratha.

    [4] “Markandeya said `O bull of the Bharata race even Rama suffered unparalled misery, for the evil minded Ravana king of Rakshasas, having recourse to deceit and overpowering the vulture Jatayu forcibly carried away his wife Sita from his asylum in the woods. Indeed Rama with the help of Sugriva brought her back, constructing a bridge across the sea, and consuming Lanka with his keen-edged arrows……..”

    http://www.mayyam.com/talk/showthread.php?1018-References-to-Tamil-Dynasties-Countries-in-Mahabharatha

    Tamil is pre-sanskritic.

    http://www.mayyam.com/talk/showthread.php?1018-References-to-Tamil-Dynasties-Countries-in-Mahabharatha

    The smile of Murugan on Tamil Literature of South India.

    By Kamil Zvelebil

    The Culture Of India.

    By Educational Britannica Educational

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  • Ezham Arivu-Review.Much Ado about Nothing.

    The much hyped film released amidst wild expectations seems to be a pot boiler-much ado about nothing.

    A legend of Bodhivarman of Pallava Dynasty goes to China and teaches martial arts and Indian medicine and he dies there.

    Film still of Ezham Arivu depicting Surya.
    Ezham Arivu.

    He is revered there as a God and he is accorded pride of place in the Shaolin Temple ,China.

    This wafer thin line is taken as a prop up to promote an inane story of Bio-war unleashed by China against India. 

    The Director seems to have known that there is nothing in the story to promote and hence used Bodhidharman as a marketing tool, and Tamils as well.

    Jingoistic Tamil Dialogues rousing Tamil Passions are used to excite Tamil Chauvinism to the exclusion of others.( by the way are the Pallavas Tamils? Historians think otherwise)

    Peppered with intrusive songs,lifeless and lack luster presence of Shruti Hassan(some one need to teach her how to keep her hands while delivering dialogues , she also needs her genes to be awakened as in the film to know about acting!),monotonous fight sequences,predictable scene sequences and average Music makes the film worth missing.

    Saving grace is Surya’s acting in the first 15 minutes as Bodhidharman and the body language of the Vietnamese villain-probably this is the first film where the villain grabs as much space as the hero!

    7aum Arivu (Tamil: 7ஆம் அறிவு; English: Seventh Sense) is a 2011 Tamil science fiction thriller film written and directed by A. R. Murugadoss, featuring Suriya, Shruti Haasan and Johnny Tri Nguyen in leading roles. The film, produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin began production in May 2010. The film, featuring cinematography by Ravi K. Chandran and music by Harris Jayaraj, released on 25 October 2011 coinciding with Diwali.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7aum_Arivu