Short biography of Arikesari Maravarman

Arikesari Maravarman (Arikesari Parankusa) succeeded the above-mentioned Send But we don’t know if he was his son. The Velvikkudi grant mentions this king’s victory in the battlefields of Pali and Nelveli, Uraiyur and Sennilam.

The larger Sinnamanur grant speaks of his victories in Nelveli, Sankaramangai and over the Pallavas. In the next generation Udayachandra, the famous general of Pallvamalla in these same battlefields defeated the Pandyas.

Of these places it is difficult to identify any but Uraiyur. There is conflicting opinion among historians as to whether Nelveli is identical with the modern I Tirunelveli. Many were the victories of Arikesari Maravarman and there are all recorded in one or another of the epigraphs.

He ruined the Paravas who were a fisherman community in the extreme south of the Pandyan country. He destroyed the people of Kurunadu. He J repeatedly defeated the Keralas and on one occasion took the Kerala King prisoner.

This King was an elder contemporary of Tirugnanasambandar and a close contemporary I of Siruttondar and therefore also of Narasimhavarman I. He was a Jaina in his early days but was later converted to Saivism and after conversion he became such a staunch Saivite that Sundaramurthi who has given the catalogue of Saiva saints has included him in the list and he ascribes to him the victory in Nelveli.

It was during his conversation that the impalement of 8000 Jaina ascetics took place in Madurai. He married the daughter of a Cholas king who was then a more subordinate chieftain who the Periyopuranam calls Manimudicholan.

The Tiruttondattokai calls him Ninrasir Nedumaran and he is also I popularly called Kun Pandyan. His wife Mangaiyarkkarasi and his minister Kulachirai I are also included among the 63 Saiva saints.

The Chola, Pandya matrimonial alliance indicates perhaps an anxiety on the part of the Chola to be on friendly terms with the Pandya. The Pandyas were now developing systemetic hostility to the Pallavas.

But the Cholas who were a minor power and situated midways between the Pallavas and the Pandyas were not in a position, till the days of Aditya I, to alter the balance of power in the Tamil country.

Pandyan Arikesari is the hero of the Pandikkovai which is extensively quoted by the commentator on the Iryanar Kalaviyal. It is not possible to escape the equation of Arikesari Maravarman with the hero of the Pandikkovai though scholars like Nilakanta Sastri do not agree.

This Pandya performed the Hiranyagarbha sacrifice and the TulabKara; his reign witnessed considerable increase in Pandyan prestige and his extension of political power in the north and in the south-west. Kochchadayan Ranadiran

Kochchadayan Ranadiran, the son of the above-mentioned Pandya, succeeded him and ruled in the first part of the eighth century. Vanavan Sembian and Chola were some of his titles. This means that he held superior power over the Cheras and the Cholas.

The other titles Madhura Karunatakan and Kongarkoman indicate a kind of overlordship on the Mysore and Kongu regions. The Velvikkudi grant mentions his victory over some tribes of western Deccan called the Marathas in Mangalapuram.

Some scholars have held that the Maratha were the Chalukyas and that Kochchadayan’s victim was Vikramaditya I. It has been plausibly held by others that Mangalapuram means Mangalore and that the Pandya defeated some unidentified ruler there. The title Ranadira perhaps suggested that it was assumed after the victory over Vikramaditya I Western Chalukya, who was also called Ranarasika.

This Pandyan defeated the chieftain of the Podiyil hill called Ay Vel at Marudur. His victories at Sengodu and Pudankodu are also mentioned but these places remain unidentified. The view that this king was a contemporary of Cheraman Perumal Nayanar and of Sunderamurthi cannot be accepted unless the Pandyan family is fitted into another genealogy.