Being the son of a great father has many advantages. But that’s not to say that it doesn’t have any drawbacks.
History and society invariably judge such an individual through comparisons with his renowned father. Rajendra Chola, the son of Raja Raja Chola I, was no exception. Gangapuram , a new work of historical fiction by A. Vennila, delves into the mind of the 11th century Chola king, who was overshadowed by his illustrious father despite his own achievements.
“An emptiness and sorrow, instead of jubilation, engulfed me immediately after I landed at Gangaikonda Cholapuram. I wondered how a place that remained the capital of the great Chola empire for over 200 years could lack the vitality of a city. It was a feeling that led me to conceive the idea for the novel,” says Ms. Vennila, who drew on the works of K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, Sathasiva Pandarathar, K.K. Pillai, the modern rendering of Chola copper plates by former IAS office M. Rajendran and documents on the Chola period traced to every district.
Rajendra Chola was a great warrior who led from the front in many battles and secured victories for his father. He even expanded the Chola kingdom to South-East Asian countries. He built his capital, Gangaikonda Cholapuram, in present-day Ariyalur district, and constructed a massive temple resembling the Brihadeeswarar temple in Thanjavur.
Though he was keen on the temple's vimana (the tower over the sanctum sanctorum) being higher than that of the Big Temple, the nature of the sand did not allow the architects to increase its height.
Independent identity
“His coronation as the crown prince took place when he was 50, and he became a king two years later, in 1014 CE. It was probably to create an independent identity for himself that Rajendra Chola shifted his capital and dug the lake Cholagangam,” she said.
Though historically, there is no proof to support the claim that Rajendra Chola shifted his capital from Thanjavur to Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Vennila portrays the event in the novel as an attempt by him to break free of his father’s shadow.
“I do not think people happily came forward to settle in the new capital. Only officials and traders lived there,” said Ms. Vennila, whose book, which took her seven years to complete, has a scene in which a desperate citizen tries to immolate himself instead of working in Gangaikonda Cholapuram.
The language is gripping and succeeds in conjuring up the ambience of the Chola period, their revenue administration, the role of temples, the gaining of importance of Sanskrit in temples, the lives of temple dancers, government officials and even commoners. The novel also delves in detail into how the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram, which enjoyed predominance in the Chola kingdom, was relegated to the second position after the creation of the Big temple in Thanjavur.
