Pranam
1 Mushika-vamsha is a Sanskrit dynastic chronicle composed in 11th
century by poet Atula.Maha kavi translated by KPA Menon who had rendered
many volumes including Narayaneeyam as texts. It narrates the legendary
history of the Mushika dynasty, which ruled the northern part of the
present-day Kerala state of India. Several kings mentioned in the kavya,
such as Validhara Vikrama Rama (c. 929 AD), Jayamani and Kantan Karivarman
(Srikantha Kartha) (both c. 1020 AD) and Chera king Kota Ravi Vijayaraga
(c. 883–913 AD) can be found in the medieval inscriptions discovered from
north Kerala.
2 Mushika-vamsha is believed to have been written during the reign of
the Mushika ruler Shrikantha, who is assumed to be a contemporary of the
11th century Chola ruler Rajendra I . If this belief is true,
Mushika-vamsha is the earliest known historical Sanskrit mahakavya,
pre-dating Kalhana's Rajatarangini by a few decades. Indologist A. K.
Warder classifies Atula's style as Vaidarbhi, and believes that he was
influenced by the 6th century poet Bharavi, among others. Hence Keralam has
always a tie-up with the tamilnadu at all times in the history and cannot
look at it differently.
3 Origin of the dynasty
...you should not take your own unhappy life,
Nor yet ought you to obstruct this offspring
left like this in you by your husband. {Mushika-vamsha introductory
verse, describing how the royal preceptor dissuaded the queen from
committing suicide}
4 Atula provides a mythological origin of the Mushika dynasty, tracing
its descent to a Heheya queen, whose family was killed during Parashurama's
slaughter of the Kshatriya rulers. The pregnant queen initially wanted to
commit suicide, but her family preceptor dissuaded her from doing so,
encouraging her not to destroy her unborn baby.9] With the help of the
preceptor, the queen fled southwards, and came to the coastal region that
later became the Mushika kingdom There, she was attacked by a huge rat
(mushika), who was actually the divine spirit of the Eli mountain
(Ezhimala), and had been cursed by the sage Kaushika to become a rat. The
queen burned the rat to ashes with the flame emitted from her eyes: the rat
was thus redeemed and became transformed into its original form. At the
request of the divine spirit, the queen started living in a cave of the
mountain, protected from Parashurama There, she gave birth to a boy, who
received education from the preceptor. By the time the prince grew up,
Parashurama had wiped the Kshatriyas from the earth 21 times. Feeling sorry
for their widows, he decided to perform a ritual sacrifice to absolve
himself from the sin of killing the Kshatriyas at the Eli mountain. For one
of the sacrificial ceremonies, he needed a Kshatriya prince. The divine
spirit of the mountain brought to him the Heheya prince, who belonged to
the lunar dynasty. After the end of Parashurama's ceremony, the prince was
crowned as a king, and thus, became the founder of the Mushika dynasty.
Since Parashurama performed his consecration with the holy water from a
ghata (earthen pot), the king came to be known as Rama-ghata-mushika.
5 The first six cantos deal with the exploits of Rama. He established
a council of ministers, and his favourite minister was Mahanavika ("great
sailor"), a member of the trading class (Shreshti) of Mahishmati. Rama also
established the fortified city of Kolam, and the Mushika rulers came to be
known as Kolabhupas. Once, he visited the hermitage of Parashurama, who
gave him an invincible bow called Ajita and several divine missiles.
Meanwhile, he received the news that his ancestral Heheya kingdom had been
conquered by the Magadhas. Rama wanted to march against Magadha, but his
ministers advised him to subjugate the southern kingdoms first. After
consolidating his rule in southern India, Rama crossed the Vindhya
mountain, and asked the Magadha ruler Suvarman to hand over the former
Heheya territory to him. When Suvarman refused, the two kings fought a
battle in which Suvarman used divine missiles, but Rama could counter him
without use of Parashurama's divine missiles. Ultimately, Rama defeated and
killed him in a duel. The vassals of Magadha accepted his suzerainty. He
married Suvarman's daughter, and restored the Magadha territory to
Suvarman's son.
6 Gradually, Rama conquered the entire Bharata (India) and "the islands",
and became a Chakravartin (universal emperor). He appointed his elder son
Vatu as the ruler of the Heheya kingdom, and returned to Kola with his
younger son Nandana. At Kola, he performed a horse sacrifice, and after a
long time, retired to penance, crowning Nandana as the new king of the
Mushika kingdom. Ugrasena, the sixth successor of Nandana, repulsed an
invasion from the Kerala Kingdom. His successor Chitrasena was killed by a
lion during a hunting expedition. The next ruler Shatasoma, described as a
descendant of the solar dynasty, performed a hundred horse sacrifices. On
the advice of sage Agastya, he visited Kailasha and brought a sacred idol
of the god Shiva. This idol was installed in a newly constructed shrine at
Celera (also known as Cellura, Taliparamba or Lakshmipura).
6 Shatasoma's descendant Sharmadatta obtained the boon of living as long
as he wished from Shiva, for himself and his 20 descendants. His descendant
Vatukavarman built the large Vatukeshvara Shiva temple at Alashuddhi. His
successor Ahirana built the Ahiraneshvara Shiva temple on the western bank
of the Pṛthana river (identified as Valapattanam). Ahirana's son Ranabhara
was attracted some girls while chasing elephants in the Sahya mountains. He
followed them into a big cave, spent some days with a thousand cave girls,
and then brought them to his kingdom using an elixir. After the birth of
his son Aryagupta, he entered the cave once again, accompanied by many
women. Aryagupta's son Achala built the city of Achalapattana on the Eli
mountain. His younger son Vikramasena ascended the throne after expelling
the elder son Ashvasena from the kingdom. Vikramasena's son Vinayavarman
ruled by dharma, and the next ruler Rajavarman built a Buddhist monastery
(vihara) called Rajavihara. Ashvasena's son Jayamanin I became the next
ruler with the help of an army from the Pandya kingdom. Jayamanin's
grandson Udayavarman patronized Brahmins. The next ruler Virochana I killed
a Pallava king, and married his daughter Harini. Two of his descendants -
Shashidatta and Janavrata - killed each other in order to seize the throne.
Nothing is known about the last 38 kings mentioned in the Canto 11, except
their names.Canto 12 begins with the reign of Kunchivarman, whose daughter
married the ruler of the neighbouring Kerala Kingdom. His son Ishanavarman
married Nandini, the daughter of a Chedi king who had been dethroned.
Ishanavarman led an army to Chedi, and restored the throne to his
father-in-law.[26] Upon his return to the Mushika kingdom, he faced an
invasion from the Kerala king Jayaraga. The warring kings decided to engage
in a personal combat, but the Kerala prince Goda and Ishanavarman's nephew
negotiated a peace treaty between the two kingdoms.Ishanavarman and Nandini
did not have any children, so he married a Chola princess, with whom he had
a son named Nrparama (or Nrpavarman).
7 Validhara defended his kingdom against the Ganga invaders, and was
succeeded by his maternal nephews, first Ripurama, and then Vikramarama.
Vikramarama build a huge wall of large rocks to prevent a Buddha (Jina)
shrine from being swallowed by the Arabian Sea. (This temple remains
unidentified, and was probably lost to the sea in the later years.)[ His
successors were Janamani, Samghavarman (or Shankhavarman), Jayamani
(Jayamanin II), and Valabha I.
Valabha I, described in Canto 13, was a powerful warrior king, who
subjugated the chieftain of Bhatasthali, and made his relative Nrparama the
in-charge of that territory. His younger brother and successor Kundavarman
built the Narayananapura city and a Vishnu temple in that city. The next
ruler Palaka was a son of a sister of Kundavarman. At the time of his
death, Palaka did not have an adult younger brother or a maternal nephew.
He was succeeded by Ripurama, a chieftain of Bhatasthali. After a glorious
reign, Ripurama was succeeded by Gambhira, a son of Palaka's sister.
Gambhira was a strong ruler, who crushed a revolt by the subordinate chief
of Marupura and burnt down that city. Jayamani (Jayamanin III), the
successor and younger brother of Gambhira, became a renowned ruler. During
the last years of his reign, he was assisted in administration by his
nephew, the crown prince Valabha II. Valabha II, said to be an incarnation,
partially that of Shiva and partially that of Vishnu, made grants to the
Vedic agrahara of Cellura. This agrahara is described as a hermitage with a
variety of trees.
8 Vallabha's army defeated Ramavikrama's forces in a fierce battle.
Vallabha punished the surviving dissidents and took control of the Mushika
kingdom. The poet describes his coronation and construction activities in
detail. Vallabha built the city of Marahi, an international commercial
port, at the mouth of the Killa river. He also built the Vallabhapatnam
fort, named after himself. He installed a statue of Shiva at the
Vatukeshvara temple. His army crossed the ocean, and conquered many
islands.Vallabha II was succeeded by his younger brother Shrikantha alias
Rajavarman. He commissioned restoration of the Vatukeshvara, Kharavana, and
Ahiraneshvara temples. He restored the wealth that the enemies had
plundered from the temples, and paid obeisance to Shiva. The extant text
breaks off after a description of the Shiva worship and rituals. The poet
Atula was primarily focused on eulogizing the dynasty's rulers, rather than
on describing their reign based on the historical facts. The first six
cantos, which are about the dynasty's founder Rama ( Parasurama in kerala
is addressed only as Rama) , describe an ideal ruler rather than a
historical figure. There is no evidence that a ruler from present-day
Kerala conquered Magadha or other regions of northern India. ( a dynasty
story).
9 Although the text's description of the dynasty's origin is purely
legendary, some historians, such as M. G. S. Narayanan, believe that it
indicates northern origins of the dynasty. Narayanan theorizes that the
Mushika family may have migrated from the Heheya kingdom of Cenral India to
Kerala at the beginning of the Mauryan rule. Nandana of Atula's text may be
same as Nannan, a king described in the Tamil Sangam literature, but this
cannot be said with certainty. According to the Sangam literature, Nannan
ruled Ezhilmalai (Eli mountain), and fought many battles against the
neighbouring rulers. However, Atula does not credit Nandana with any
military achievements. Indologist A. K. Warder notes that the story of
Shiva's boon (of living as long as they wished) to Sharmadatta and his 20
successors solves the chronological inconsistencies arising from dating the
dynasty's origin to Parashurama's time, by allowing as much as hundred
years for the kings' lifespans. All of these kings appear to be imaginary.
10 Canto 12 onwards, the text describes rulers who can be identified as
historical figures. However, not all of the events described in this and
subsequent cantos are historical. For example, Ishanavarman's purported
march to Chedi is of doubtful historicity, although his conflict with the
Kerala king seems to have some historical basis. Shrikantha is identified
with king Kandan (Kantan) Karivarman mentioned in the Eramam inscription,
which records the Samayasanketam ceremony conducted at the Chalappuram
temple during Kandan's reign. The inscription also mentions Rajendra-chola
Samayasenapati of Kadappappalli, who is identified as the 11th century
Chola king Rajendra. The Mushika-vamsha mentions that Shrikantha restored
the temples that had been plundered by the enemies, and then ends abruptly
after describing the worship rituals at the restored temples. It appears
that the Chola king Rajendra successfully invaded Kerala around 1020, and Atula
has omitted this fact to avoid spoiling his glorious description of
Vallabha's reign. Shrikantha seems to have restored the temples in the
aftermath of this first Chola invasion, as described in the Mushika-vamsha
and the Eramam inscription. The Kerala kingdom subsequently rebelled
against Rajendra's overlordship, leading to a second Chola invasion around
1028, in which both the Kerala king and Kandan were killed.
KR IRS 20821
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Thatha_Patty" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZorNvQv%3DTfNPgtubKUEafK9-gcG3mo%3DeTZa472Fpj6%2B2jw%40mail.gmail.com.
