King Vallalan of Tiruvannamalai
King Vallalan of Tiruvannamalai
(Parts of this article were first published in The Mountain Path, 1990, pp. 64-71)
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King Vira Vallalan III was an illustrious king who ruled over the Hoysala empire from 1292 till 1342. At its peak it covered a large part of South India. Its traditional stronghold was the southern part of the Deccan plateau where the capital city Dwarasamudra was located. The city, nowadays reduced to a very small town called Halebid, lay to the north-west of Mysore. Though now ruined and abandoned, the old city contains the finest examples of Hoysala art and architecture, a unique style distinguished by a high density of details and embellishments. When times were good and neighbouring kingdoms were weak, the Hoysala empire covered most of modern-day Karnataka, northern Andhra Pradesh, and a good portion of northern Tamil Nadu.
King Vallalan's devotion and piety are celebrated in chapter seven of theArunachala Purananam, a Tamil poetical work that was written in the sixteenth century by Ellapa Nayinar. The work is based on the Arunachala Mahatmyam, written several centuries before in Sansksrit, but the chapter dealing with King Vallalan and his exploits in Tiruvannamalaai can only be found in the Tamil version. To find out why he is so revered in Tiruvannamalali, and indeed, why he was in Tirvannamalai at all, it is necessary to go back a few years and give an account of his family history.
King Vallalan's grandfather, Someswara, ruled the empire from 1233-67. At the beginning of his reign he recaptured territory lost by the previous king, extended his kingdom northwards as far as Pandharpur in Maharashtra, and endowed the famous Vittal Temple there. In the later years of his reign both his northern and southern territories were attacked by neighbouring kingdoms. The resurgent Pandya kings of Madurai, in particular Sundara Pandya, took over much of his Tamil territory, including Tiruvannamalai, which was then part of a territory known as Magada. This covered most of the old, undivided North Arcot District, along with a small portion of South Arcot. Towards the end of his life Someswara divided his kingdom between his two sons: Narasimha received the northern territories and the capital city Dwarasamdura, while Ramanatha was given the diminished southern ones whose chief city was Kannanur, located about fifteen miles north of Tiruchirappalli. The Pandya King Kulasekara, based in Madurai, captured most of Ramanatha's Tamil territories in 1279, forcing him north. Ramanatha then tried to take some of his brother's territories by force, but only succeeded in capturing a few districts in the Bangalore area.
Family tree of the last Hoysala kings. The dynasty began in 1022 and ended with Vallalan IV.
Narasimha died in 1291, leaving King Vallalan in charge of a much truncated empire. Vallalan was crowned king on 31st January, 1292, when he was thirty years old, and he continued to rule until he was well over eighty.
Ramanatha, ruler of what remained of the southern Hoysala territories, did not dispute King Vallalan's succession, although both he and his son were hostile to him. However, because they had little power and only a small territory, when Viswanatha died in 1300, Vallalan easily succeeded in uniting the Hoysala empire under his rule.
Vallalan wanted to regain his family's southern territories, but was in no hurry to do so. However, in 1310 an opportunity arose. His grandfather, Someswara, had made strategic marriage alliances with the Chola and Pandya kingdoms in the South, so when the Pandyas requested his assistance in defeating an illegitimate claimant to their throne, he saw his chance and moved his army south. Unfortunately, in committing himself to this campaign he left himself open to an attack in the north.
In 1311 the Delhi Sultan, Ala-u-din Khalji sent his favourite slave general, Malik Khafur, on a buccaneering expedition to the kingdoms of the South. Knowing that King Vallalan was campaigning on the extreme southern borders of his empire, he invaded from the north and began to loot the northernmost Hoysala territories. When King Vallalan heard the news, he raced back to Dwarasamudra, but he was too late to save the city. Malik Khafur was so firmly entrenched there, King Vallalan was forced to surrender on his arrival. Malik Khafur was not seeking to expand the borders of the Delhi Sultanate; he was merely engaging in a military treasure-hunt on the Sultan's behalf. King Vallalan was obliged to hand over all his treasure, including his horses and elephants, to the general. One tradition asserts that he agreed to hand over everything he owned except for his sacred thread, and that he walked away from the surrender ceremony naked except for this string dangling from his shoulder. Sultan Ala-u-din permitted him to carry on ruling the Hoysala empire on condition that he pay an annual tribute to the Sultanate. To all this King Vallalan agreed.
Malik Khafur continued his piratical raids all over the South, getting almost as far as Madurai. On his return to Delhi he handed over to the Sultan 612 elephants, 96,000 gold coins, several boxes of jewels and pearls, and 20,000 horses. It was an astonishing military accomplishment. For over a year his retreat had been cut off by hostile Hindu kingdoms, but he responded by moving even further forwards. Somehow, he kept his army and his treasure intact, won every battle he engaged in except for one near Madurai, and returned to Delhi in triumph.
When Malik Khafur was safely back in Delhi, King Vallalan went back to Tamil Nadu to carry on his campaign for Sundara, the Pandya king who had asked for his support. As a reward for the assistance he offered, he was granted some territories in a region called Tondaimandalam, an area covering parts of northern Tamil Nadu. The grant included 'Annamalai-rashtra' - 'the country around Annamalai'. Shortly afterwards, possibly around 1315 or 1316, he decided to make Tiruvannamalai his southern capital,(1) calling it Aruna-samudra - The Ocean of Aruna. An epigraph in the Arunachaleswara Temple, dated 1317, has the king proclaiming the town as his southern capital. In this same inscription the king made many endowments to the temple and contributed money for building projects there.
Having a large territory to defend and expand, King Vallalan spent little time in his new capital. In the years that followed he was active on his northern borders, campaigning against a powerful chief of the Kampili kingdom. Elsewhere he had moderate success in forging an anti-Muslim alliance between the Hindu states who were trying to oppose the Muslim invasions from the North. He found allies in what is now Andhra Pradesh and with their support drove a Muslim ruler out of the Telengana region and forced him to retreat to Delhi. In the South he defeated the Muslims who were encroaching on the northern part of the Pandya kingdom. In this territory he appointed a vassal king from the Sambuvaraya lineage, native chiefs of that area, to rule for him.(2) By diplomacy, by military prowess and by forging opportunist and strategic alliances, King Vallalan kept the Hoysala empire more or less intact at a time when all the other Hindu kingdoms were falling to the Muslims. When the Pandya kingdom fell to the Delhi Sultanate in the latter half of his reign. Hoysala was left in the somewhat besieged condition of being the last, major independent Hindu state in the South.
King Vallalan had allied himself with the Delhi Sultanate on various minor matters. As a reward he was permitted to remain independent, although he nominally owed allegiance to Delhi. But even that allegiance did not save his northern capital, Dwarasamudra. Around 1327 the new Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad Bin Tughlak sent out an army and destroyed it. For the remaining fifteen years of his reign he was based at his southern capital of Tiruvannamalai and launched all his campaigns from there.
Having set the scene with what I hope was not an inordinately-long history lecture, it is now time to see what the Arunachala Puranam has to say about Tiruvannamalai, King Vallalan and his exploits there. I have annotated the story with a few comments of my own.
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Now we will tell you the story of King Vallalan to whom God Himself manifested as a child and then bestowed His grace by giving him a boon.
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In a famous place called Arunai [Tiruvannamalai] there are mansions with jewel-bedecked pinnacles and gardens dense with fruit-giving trees that reach up to the starry firmament. In this place dwell beautifuldevadasis [temple dancers] equal only to Arunadhati [Vasishta's wife] in chastity.
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Vallalan, the king of this renowned city, has a virtuous character, speaks only the truth, and with great devotion takes care of all beings as if they were no different from himself. He belongs to that Agni lineage, whose fame cannot be described. The king came [to this world] to worship daily the feet of Parameswara [the Supreme Lord], to do service to Him and to praise Him.
In claiming an aristocratic pedigree, one can do no better than claim that one comes from the Solar, Lunar or Agni lineages since these are the branches of the human race that brought forth many of the illustrious characters of Indian mythology. Ellapa Nayinar's claim that King Vallalan belonged to the Agni lineage was not supported by King Vallalan himself. In an epigraph that I quote below, he firmly places himself in the Lunar dynasty.
First a word about epigraphs: Indian history has been largely reconstructed from engravings on stone, called epigraphs after a Greek word which means 'written on', which are found all over the country. In ancient times stone walls were used as a kind of public registry office. The activities of kings and their subjects, the transfer of land and possessions, decrees, grants, endowments and much else were all recorded in stone for posterity. The Tiruvannamalai temple has a rich collection of epigraphs chiselled on its masonry, some of which date back to the ninth century. There are nine from King Vallalan's reign (nos. 301-309) (3) of which no. 301, which was only discovered in the 1980s, is by far the most important. Dated 1317, it begins by describing King Vallalan's ancestry and virtues.
From the lotus of [Vishnu's] navel arose Brahma, the creator of all men. From his mind was born Atri. Then Soma [the moon] was born in his eye. In [his family] was born the king Someswara. To him was born Narasimha who was like a lion to his elephant-like opponents. From him whose gifts eclipse those of the heavenly tree [the kalpa-vriksha or wish-fulfilling tree] whose wealth eclipses that of Kubera [the god of wealth] … and whose prowess eclipses that of the terrible blaze emanating from the forehead eye of the God having the bull as His vehicle [i.e. Siva] was born the king Vallaladeva.(4) The illustrious King Vallaladeva, possessing all auspicious things, was staying at his capital, which was distinguished by the name Aruna-samudra, belonging to the Hoysala kingdom, which was established with love by his father,(5) which possessed the wealth of a kingdom, and which was the abode of real riches.(6)
The Arunachala Puranam continues:
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He had no desire for the possessions of others. Excepting his own wives, he considers all other women as his sisters and treats them accordingly. In accordance with the law, he is given one sixth of his subjects' earnings as taxes. He serves with great delight as a patron of the temple of the Lord who held the poison in His throat.
I will comment later on King Vallalan's status as a patron of 'The temple of the Lord'. For the moment I will restrict myself to his accomplishments as a tax gatherer.
Epigraph 303, carved in 1341, towards the end of his reign, gives details of some of the taxes that were imposed on his subjects. The list may be far from complete; it is simply a list of those taxes deemed worthy of mention in one edict:
1) a tax on goldsmiths.
2) a tax on tailors.
3) a tax on oil presses.
4) a tax on looms.
5) a tax on fishing.
6) a tax on doors.
7) a tax on owning a mirror.
8) a tax on the plot of land on which one lived.
9) a fee payable to village rulers.
10) a special tax for some people who had to supply a free ox to the government.
11) a tax to be paid in gold - by whom and what for is not mentioned.
12) a general government levy under which 'common people' had to supply goods to the government.
In addition to these, which had probably been in force for some time, a new tax bearing the name of King Vallalan himself was introduced. It was not mentioned who was to pay the tax. The ordinance was promulgated on January 4th, 1341, a time when King Vallalan was living in Tiruvannamalai and using it as a base for military adventures against the Muslim rulers of Madurai. The tax may therefore have been a special war levy.
Rulers are rarely satisfied with their income, and their subjects are usually unwilling to give as much as a government thinks it needs. Tiruvannamalai in 1341 was no different in this respect. On top of all the above levies there was a 'nattuviniyokam', a tax to be paid by everyone to make up the perceived shortfall in the other taxes. Since no percentages or amounts are given, it is not possible to determine whether the one-sixth law suggested by Ellapa Nayinar was actually adhered to.
Though the taxes may have been onerous, I suspect that the citizens of Tiruvannamalai would have welcomed the king and his entourage with open arms. Royal patronage for the temple (which meant many, many jobs) along with the chance to earn money from the thousands of soldiers, courtiers and camp followers of the king, would have initiated an economic boom in what previously would have been a sleepy, provincial outpost.
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In this place tigers and cows dwell together, drinking from the same tank. The brahmin preceptors recite the Vedas, and all the people listen. To obtain grace from the ancient Lord, people decorate the city, making it a marvel to behold. Maidens sprinkle water in the street and make magnificent kolams [geometrical patters made from rice flour].
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There are three rainfalls a month and the abundantly rich harvests never fail. Those who ask for food are immediately invited and offered food with the six different flavours. By serving the tapasvins [those performing tapas] and giving whatever is asked of them, the people receive blessings. In the temple of Siva, the Just One, they light ghee lamps and do puja regularly.
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Thus, the great city existed in all its splendour according to God's design. But even though the king had all possible wealth, he had a troubled mind because he had no son to speak his name.
'To speak his name' means to perform the funeral ceremonies after his death. It was traditionally believed that the son had to perform the last rites in order to send his father's soul to the next world.
The central theme of this chapter from the Arunachala Puranam is King Vallalan's quest for a son. This is most curious since it is well known that he already had a son at the time he moved to Tiruvannamalai. When Malik Khafur sacked Dwarasamudra in 1311, he took King Vallalan's son to Delhi as a hostage, hoping thereby to ensure the king's good behaviour. The son, Virupaksha Vallalan, was treated well during his captivity. He was released after some time and on 6th May, 1313, arrived back in Dwarasamudra. The event was commemorated in an inscription there that notes that his father diverted some of his tax income to 'God Ramanatha at Kudali' (Srirangapattanam in Mysore) to show his gratitude for his son's release. Virupaksha Vallalan eventually succeeded his father and outlived him by at least several years.
Why then was King Vallalan complaining while he was in Tiruvannamalai that he needed a son? The answer, I think, is that he wanted a worthy son to succeed him. King Vallalan had a very low opinion of his son's capabilities, a conclusion that can be inferred from the fact that he was given no responsibility whatsoever for the running of the kingdom. In an age when it took weeks or even months to move an army from one end of the country to another, it was imperative to have able lieutenants with leadership abilities who could lead troops in local encounters and solve all provincial administrative problems. King Vallalan had such subordinates to whom he devolved much of his authority, but his son was not among them. As early as 1309 he was depending heavily on one of his nephews and by 1328 he had a trusted cabinet of seven: two were his nephews and five were commoners. Each of them was given the power to rule autonomously in the absence of the king.
There is a Nandi mantapam in the Arunachaleswara Temple that was built at King Vallalan's behest. On one side of the pedestal, below the Nandi (see picture above), can be seen eight men in two groups. One group represents the king and his two nephews; the other group of five are the non-royal members of his cabinet.
Virupaksha Vallalan was not even appointed Crown Prince until 1340, a clear indication of King Vallalan's lack of faith in him. In that year King Vallalan was seventy-eight, so he had probably given up hope of finding or fathering a better successor. King Vallalan's estimate of his son's character turned out to be correct. Within a few years of his coronation Virupaksha Vallalan IV's Hoysala empire disintegrated and was absorbed, without a fight, into the Viyayanagar empire that was developing and expanding to the north of it.
King Vallalan was an exceptionally dynamic and talented ruler. At the beginning of his reign he survived a near-civil war with his relatives, outmanoeuvred them and reunited his empire; he survived the debacles of having his capital sacked (1311) and later destroyed (1327) and then compensated for its loss by expanding his territory in other regions; he successfully maintained Hoysala independence at a time when all the neighbouring Hindu kingdoms were falling; he knew when to make alliances, and when to break them; when to submit, pay tribute and surrender, and when to attack; and on top of all this he was a successful general who knew how to fight and win battles.
For fifty years (1292-1342) he kept this up, mostly single-handedly, but at the back of his mind there must always have been the nagging question, 'Who is going to take charge when I die?' His Hoysala dynasty had endured for more than 300 years but he must have known that unless someone far more competent than Virupaksha Vallalan came along to succeed him, the empire would not endure.
One event above all symbolises for me his inability to find a worthy heir. At the age of eighty, when he should have been leading the life of a respected elder statesman in his palace, he was still riding out to battle at the head of his army because he hadn't found anyone better to do the job for him.
I shall return to the theme of the worthy successor later, but first two more verses from the Arunachala Puranam:
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He asked the ministers, 'Is there anything wrong with the pujas I perform to Siva? Have there been any errors in my [administration of] justice in this country? Among the flowers plucked for puja, are there any defective ones? O ministers, tell me what is to be done?'
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The ministers said, 'O king, if one gives charity with steadfast faith and devotion to each and every poor person who approaches us, then by the grace of the Lord with three eyes who protects and rules us, a son will be born.'
Epigraphs in the Arunachaleswara Temple indicate that the king supported alms houses in the town. In inscription 301 there is a mention of 800 pon (gold coins) being set aside for the provision of 200 persons in the alms house. Inscription 302, which is incomplete, damaged, and therefore hard to decipher, seems to speak in one place of an endowment of land to provide an income for an alms house. No. 309, which is very brief, also mentions the establishment of a new alms house.
The unit of currency mentioned in epigraphs pertaining to King Vallalan is always the pon. The Madras University Tamil Lexicon, which was compiled around the end of the First World War, estimated that its value was Rs. 1.25. If this seems absurdly low for a gold coin, it should be remembered that this amount was about a week's wages for unskilled workers in those days. Personally, I cannot imagine a gold coin having such a low value, but lacking any other evidence for its worth, I will defer to the august and scholarly compilers of what is still the most comprehensive and authoritative Tamil dictionary.
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The King replied, 'In order that my good name should flourish [in the form of subsequent generations], hoist a beautiful banner on high and spread the following news by striking a murasu drum: ''Whosoever enters this splendid city where the handsome Lord Arunai lives, whatsoever they ask, I shall give them''.'
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Then the ministers said, 'O our king, whose good name flourishes throughout the world, listen! Are we capable of giving away whatever the devotees who worship the feet of the Lord, praised by the sastras, and elders and hymn-singing bards take it into their heads to ask?'
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The king said, 'Will anyone ask for something that is not [available] in the world? Even if anyone did, no one could give such a thing. So, quickly do what I have ordered.' The ministers then hoisted the flag on high and struck the murasu.
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On hearing that the king of Arunai, where the Lord dwells, had hoisted a flag, people from all over the world drew near in great numbers to receive gifts that alleviated their poverty. There were old people, people carrying a kavadi [a pole with a weight on each end], tapasvins, brahmins chanting the Vedas, wandering minstrels, singers and beggars.
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To those who came and wanted to perform a marriage ceremony, the king gave 1,000 pon. In addition he made those who said that they were unable to redeem their pledges of houses, lands and jewels happy by giving them 2,000 pon. Afterwards, he gave 300 pon to old brahmins who wanted to perform the upanayanam [sacred thread] ceremony.
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There is no inscription that authenticates this proclamation but there are several that show that he was a major patron of all the services that the temple provided. Inscription 301, dated 1317, gives elaborate details of the activities he was supporting:
It is February 15th, 1317(7)…This gift was given…in favour of the God Annamalai Natha Deva and Unnamulai Nacci to provide for their personal decorations and for use in their shrines thrice every day, for the lamp festival on five full-moon days and for the great twelve-day festival in the month of Jyeshtha. This gift was to last till the sun, the moon and the stars endure.(8)
On the 22nd day of the month of Masi [1317] he [King Vallalan] donated 10,000 pon to Annamalai Nayanar of Arunagiri and Unnamulai Nacciyar to provide for their food offering, for their personal adornment, for the lamp festival on five full-moon days and for various other services.
Of this 10,000 pon to provide for the food offering and the adornment three times daily to Annamalai Nayanar and Unnamulai Nacciyar, to provide daily for the food offering and adornment during the services instituted in the name of Vira Vallaladeva and to provide for lamp wicks in the night…366 days a year.(9)
Here are some of the other activities which inscription 301 says the king supported:
1) 400 pon for two annual processions of the deities through town.
2) 474 pon for food for various temple servants.
3) 647 pon for temple utensils.
Inscription 302 gives details of other activities that the king supported in the temple. They include: reciters of the Vedas; suppliers of water; servers of areca nut; those who made paste for the body; incense burners; umbrella makers; works on amantapam; washermen and barbers; bringers of water; feeding rice to brahmins; providing milk; endowments for festivals, etc.
King Vallalan was determined that his endowments would last for ever. At the end of epigraph 301 he appended the following ominous curse:
…the worship and the construction work should continue to be performed without diminution as long as the moon and the sun endure. One who destroyed this gift or disturbed it would incur the sin of one who had killed a brahmin on the banks of the Ganga and would be considered to be the husband of his own mother. (10)
All in all, the epigraph records donations of 33,000 pon made by the king to the temple. This is the largest amount donated by any single person up till that time. The money was all collected from villages in the surrounding region, a list of which is given in the epigraph. Since the amount was collected locally, it demonstrates indirectly that King Vallalan was based in a region that had a prosperous economy, and that he was running the country in a reasonably competent manner.
What, though, is one to make of this astonishing generosity when money was always needed for military campaigns? Two plausible explanations present themselves:
- He was fulfilling his duties as a Hindu monarch by liberally supporting and endowing a famous temple in his capital city.
- He wanted something very badly from God and was prepared to pay a small fortune to get it. It should be remembered that few pujas are done out of an unconditional love of God. Mostly, the performers or donors want grace,punya, blessings or material benefits.
Apart from his endowments there is not much evidence among the scanty biographical facts that are available that he was a pious or spiritually minded man. He was, of course, a militant upholder of Hindu nationalism and fought fiercely against all Muslim attempts to gain hegemony over the South. These activities, though, needed no pujas; he was quite able to achieve them through his own efforts. One tends to go to God for the things one cannot achieve by oneself, not the things one can. The one thing that King Vallalan wanted but couldn't produce himself was a worthy successor.
The Arunachala Puranam is undoubtedly a hagiographical account, written two centuries after the event, in which facts are happily mixed with exaggerations and fictitious events, but there may be a kernel of truth in its basic thesis: that the king wanted a competent successor and was willing to empty his treasury in the hope that God would provide him with one.
More evidence of his patronage of the temple can be found in the next verse and in the epigraphs that support it:
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[Someone asked:] 'The jewelled mantapam and the compound wall in the temple are deteriorating. O Lord, give us funds to repair them.' The king gave 2,000 pon with great devotion and said, 'Renovate them properly'. In addition, 50,000 pon were given to endow mathsthroughout the land.
One surprising omission from the epigraphs is any detailed reference to the major building works that King Vallalan is believed to have undertaken in the temple. The gopuram on the east side of the fourth prakara is named after him, and it is generally accepted that he was responsible for its construction. This is a curious omission for a man who liked to boast about his achievements, right down to such minor expenditures as six pon to some officials who performed services in one of the mantapams.
Only relatively minor sums are allotted to building works in the nine epigraphs that date from his reign. Inscription 301, for example, has a grant of 400 pon for 'a variety of construction work', while later the same inscription notes a gift of 800pon for 'the worship in the temple and for construction works including the wall'. This may be the wall, mentioned in verse 466, that needed to be repaired. It is certainly too small a sum to build the major wall that abuts the Vallalan Gopuram.
The only clear reference to work on a gopuram comes at the end of epigraph 302, dated 1341. There it is stated: 'for the temple works including the building of the gopuram and the enclosure wall built by Tiruppal.' This is a damaged inscription in which the text before and after this statement is missing. There is no mention of the sum involved - if it was a large amount it would indicate that a major work was in progress - nor is it mentioned which gopuram or which wall. As support for the contention that King Vallalan built the gopuram that now bears his name and the wall on either side of it, the epigraphic evidence cannot be regarded as conclusive.(11)
Both the Arunachala Puranam account and the temple epigraphs from King Vallalan's reign regularly and repeatedly boast of his greatness and his accomplishments. The fact that neither of them specifically mentions his role in constructing what would then have been one of the biggest and most visible parts of the temple complex is strong circumstantial evidence that his contemporaries did not associate him with its construction.
Be that as it may, popular belief and custom now firmly identify the gopuramwith King Vallalan. There is even a local tradition about the trials the king underwent after its construction.
King Vallalan, after building his gopuram, felt great pride in his achievement. Lord Arunachaleswara, noting that the feeling 'I have built this great gopuram', was strongly rooted inside him, decided to teach him a lesson. There is a ten-day festival in which Arunachaleswara is paraded each day through these streets of Tiruvannamalai. In the first festival after the gopuram had been built, Arunachaleswara initially refused to leave the temple via the passage in the centre of the new gopuram. For the first nine days of the festival, He always left the temple via a different route. On the tenth and last day the king realised his mistake and became more humble. He broke down and cried before the Lord, begging him to use the gopuram for just one day. Lord Arunachaleswara saw that the king's pride had abated and granted his request. This particular festival is still celebrated in Tiruvannamalai. To commemorate King Vallalan's attack of pride and his subsequent humility, Arunachaleswarar is only taken through the king's gopuramon the tenth and final day.(12)
Apart from the Vallala Gopuram and the wall adjoining it, there are other items in the temple that are clearly a result of his patronage. There are several statues of him, one of which is still garlanded every day. One shows him with a full beard, another shows him with one of this queens, and a third as an old man. He was also responsible for the Nandi, and its covering mantapam, which lies to the east of the Kili Gopuram. On the right-hand pillar there is a carving of King Vallalan and on the left-hand pillar there is a carving of the ganda-berunda, the imperial emblem of the Hoysalas.
And now back to the Arunachala Puranam.
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[The sage] Narada, hearing that King Vallalan, as he proclaimed, was graciously bestowing gifts daily to blind people, to devotees of Siva, to the lame, to wandering minstrels, to those afflicted by the disease of poverty and [many] others, approached that king.
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When he heard about the arrival of the muni, the great tapasvin, the king with great love descended quickly from his throne and, surrounded by all his ministers, approached the holy man, singing his praises, received him, and offered him a seat free from all impurities. Once the muni was seated, the king began to speak.
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'O great muni, you who were born from the tapas of Brahma and who sing with the vina in your beautiful hands, graciously enlighten me about the purpose of your visit to this lowly cur.' Then the ascetic replied:
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'O king belonging to the lineage of Agni, which is one of the three ancestral lines [Surya, Chandra and Agni] praised by the world-renowned tapasvins and the praise-worthy ascetics who have conquered the five senses, I have heard of your flawless munificence and have come to learn about [it]. Tell me what is on your mind.'
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'O muni, O great tapasvin whom the rishis learned in the Vedas andsastras praise, please listen! I have no son to speak my name [at the time of my death] or to rule my great kingdom [after me]. I have therefore hoisted a flag so that I can lovingly give whatever in this world is humbly solicited by devotees of the Lord who shares half His body with the one whose hair is decorated by dewy flowers. But I know not the will of God.'
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Then Narada replied, 'The worthy Dharma Sastras proclaim that those who perform great charitable acts on this earth will obtain children. Furthermore, qualified people have also said so. So, by the grace of the Guru who protects everyone and who delights in wearing the crescent moon and the surging Ganga in his matted locks, a son will be born. Now, O king, grant me leave.'
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Full of love, the muni went to see Lord Siva's abode in Kailash to tell him of the king's justice. As the Siva ganas [attendants or followers] were standing there, singing His praises, Narada prostrated himself to the dazzling form of Nandikeshwara, who was standing in the foreground. Then, beholding the beautiful scene of Siva with the crescent moon in His hair, surrounded by rishis, he praised the Lord and said:
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'O Lord of Lords, dwelling in luminous Kailash, praised be Your holy feet! Desiring a son to speak his name, a king called Vallalan in the flourishing, flawless city of Arunai, has hoisted a flag to proclaim that if anyone in the world asks for whatever he wants, he [the king] will gladly give it. Listen now to the glory of this king.'
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'He enables justice to flourish and is the guardian of the truth. He never swerves from righteousness. This great king was born into the world as the embodiment of the dharma that weeds out sin. He regards all beings on the earth as his own and treats them accordingly. He is Your devoted slave. Every day he prays in the following way: ''O First Cause, Your lotus feet are my refuge!'''
Narada's praises are but a dim echo of the adulatory epithets and grandiose titles that King Vallalan bestowed on himself. Two epigraphs in the temple list a few of his titles. Some of the political ones can be used to corroborate events in his life.
- 'Destroyer of the Makara Kingdom.' Makara is probably the same as Magada, the territory that contained Tiruvannamalai, but there is no indication of how, where or when he destroyed it. Though it was given to him by the Pandya king, he might have pre-empted the issue by forcibly occupying it first. This forcible occupation may have been the destruction of the kingdom that he referred to.
- 'Uplifter of the Pandya family.'
- 'Preceptor in establishing the Chola kingdom.'
- 'Preceptor in establishing the Pandya kingdom.'
Dated 1317, titles two, three and four indicate that he was a major player, possibly the major on the Tamil political stage at that time. Other kings, nominally independent, clearly depended on him for support and for ensuring a smooth transition of power. Many of the Chola territories in what is now Andhra Pradesh were taken over by the Hoysala empire, while the Pandya kingdom of this period only held onto a small amount of territory in southern Tamil Nadu.
Epigraph 303 praises him as:
| 5 | 'Tormentor of the Katava king.' | ||
| 6 | 'Emperor of Komkana.' | ||
| 7 | 'Vanquisher of Chola, Malava, Gauda and Gujjara countries.' Since this epigraph dates from 1341, it can be assumed, if he is telling the truth, that the new names that appear here are all kings and territories conquered or annexed between 1317 and 1341. The same inscription gives him a string of more general titles: | ||
| 8 | 'Great King of Kings.' | ||
| 9 | 'The Supreme Lord of Kings.' | ||
| 10 | 'The Unequalled Lord.' | ||
| 11 | 'The Crest Jewel of the Omniscient.' | ||
| 12 | 'The Vanquisher of Opponents.' | ||
| 13 | 'Warrior Not Requiring Any Support.' | ||
| 14 | 'Lion to the Elephant-like Opponents.' | ||
| 15 | 'Cupid Possessing Unusually Beautiful Form.' | ||
| 16 | 'The Emperor Possessing Undoubted Power.'
Page 3
My favourite, though, also from 303, is 'sanivarasiddhi' which means, 'one who accomplishes great deeds on Saturdays'. No mention is made of what feats made his weekends so memorable, nor is it explained why his weekdays were so lacking in achievements.
476
Listening to the discourse of the muni who had come before Him, Lord Siva thought, 'I will ascertain for Myself what this Vallalan is like'. Then the Peerless One said to the devas, rishis and munis, 'All of you go to your respective ashrams'.
477
Immediately the Lord of Kailash summoned the king of Alakapuri [Alakesan, the god of wealth]. That king, who came with such a huge pile of gold that he was honoured by everyone, prostrated himself before the gracious feet of the Lord, whose body wears the rudrakshaand the cobra as His ornaments, and praised Him. Then the Red-hued One graciously spoke a few words:
478
'O king who rules Alakapuri, listen. I have decided to test the steadfastness of the king who dwells in Arunai. Therefore become My worthy disciple and accompany Me joyfully with lots of wealth.' Thus said the Lord of Kailash.
479
Then Paramasiva, who shines with the indescribable Lady as one of His halves, took the form of a sangama [Saiva monk] that could now be worshipped by everyone. As Brahma and Vishnu looked on, they felt a joy they had never experienced before. All the devas showered forth a rain of flowers while the Vedas praised [Him].
480
All the beautiful Siva ganas dwelling in Kailash, the abode of the Lord became andis [mendicants] by the grace of our most excellent Lord Siva. Coming in a large group, they reached the beautiful city where Vallalan dwells and were praised by those who knew the ways of the king.
481
The mendicants proclaimed: 'Are there no highly virtuous mothers who regard their husbands as gods? Are there no young men excelling in beauty? Is there no one to give food to the hungry? Are there no just monarchs? Are there no good-hearted ladies who will lovingly invite us and attentively serve as food?'
482
'Even if gold is given, we don't want [it]. If you give us beautiful ornaments, we don't want [them]. We desire neither shining rubies nor long pearl necklaces. If you grant us sovereignty over kingdoms, our minds are not in that. However, should you offer us food and protection, we shall eat with great delight.'
483
The Lord, who had given up the deer He was holding to take on the appearance of a sangama, headed for the street in that excellent city wherein dwelled the devadasis, whose lips were like red fruit. His lily-like mouth blossomed, and He cried out like a beggar suffering terrible hunger.
Young girls became devadasis by being consecrated to the service of a temple deity. Although they were taught singing and dancing and were obliged to perform before devotees, they were often little more than prostitutes whose earnings went toward the support of the temple or its priests. The British, during their occupation of India, tried to put an end to the practice, but were not totally successful. The tradition still lingers on in some areas such as northern Karnataka.
Marco Polo, the famous traveller and chronicler of China, visited the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu in 1292-3, the early years of King Vallalan's reign, and noted that there were 'certain abbeys [temples] in which are gods and goddesses to whom many young girls are consecrated'.
Marco Polo's accounts give an interesting insight into the cultural and economic activities of the time. He confirmed that the region was prosperous, having a large trade in jewels, mostly pearls and horses. Indeed, he corroborated other contemporary accounts that said that the kings of South India wasted a large amount of their income on importing horses every year from Arabia because they didn't know how to look after them or breed them properly.(13) The 20,000 horses that Malik Khafur looted from the South in 1311 would have made a major dent in the treasuries of the southern kingdoms. Though the wars and lifestyles of King Vallalan's generation may seem to be far removed from today's world, at the domestic level there has been a cultural continuity. Marco Polo's account, the first eye-witness account of Tamil culture by a European, showed that ordinary people there were living in much the same way that they do today:
And let me tell you that the people of this country have a custom of rubbing their houses all over with cowdung. Moreover, all of them, great and small, kings and barons included, do sit upon the ground only… It is their practice that everyone, male and female, do wash the body twice every day (14)… So also they drink only from drinking vessels, and every man has his own; nor will anyone drink from another vessel. And when they drink, they do not put the vessel to the lips but hold it aloft and let the drink spout into the mouth.
484
'O Ladies,' He said. 'You who have eyes like a fish, whose speech is like a parrot and whose faces are like the moon; you who wear garlands of light flowers in your hair and have breasts like young coconuts rubbed with sandalwood fragrance! How much gold is needed to stay with you till dawn so that the suffering caused by Kama [the god of love or lust] with his five arrows is removed?'
485
The devadasis replied, 'O Lord whose beauty defies description! You who resemble Paramasiva wearing the cobra with lifted head! Listen! We neither lie nor cheat. You must give 1,000 pon for one lady to make love all night. If you give this we will join our bodies with yours and remove the suffering caused by Kama.'
486
Siva immediately handed out the gold that the devadasis had demanded. Matching up one mendicant with each lady, he signalled to them with His eyes that they must stay together all night. Thus, in the city of Arunai, which grants many boons, Siva made the devadasistreets light up with the great assemblies of sangamas embracing all the devadasis.
487
Siva made sure that no devadasi was left unengaged and had everyone embrace according to the path of the lustful Kama. Then he set off for the king's palace with His disciple [Alakesan, the god of wealth], who had experimented with [and followed] the path that leads to goodness. Seeing them come towards the palace, the king, who was an expert archer and the ruler of the land, approached the two sangamasdeferentially, praised them, invited them inside and seated them there. Then the king began to speak:
488
'Lord, Your golden feet have deigned to come here. Is it [because of] the tapas I have performed? What is the good deed I am performing in the world? If, due to my past merit, I am able to give whatever You ask, I will be honoured and I will receive Your gracious glance.'
489
Siva said: 'O King, listen. May your kindness and your just path flourish for ever! I have come to you for a purpose that I will now tell. If you give me a woman to remove the misery caused today by the five arrows sent by the formless Kama, your fame will shine over the seven seas.'
490
The king replied: 'I shall do more! For You, Lord, a beautiful marriage will be arranged.' Hearing this, the Venerable One replied: 'O king, listen. Marriage is a great bother. Only the devadasis have the skill and knowledge, which is a great treasure, to alleviate the suffering caused by the disease of lust.'
491
'O sangama who teaches wisdom even to those who have made their minds steady, I shall act according to Your wish.' Then the king called his guards and said, 'Go immediately and fetch a beautiful devadasi'. The guards set off faster than the wind.
492
They reached the street where the devadasis lived and entered every house. Each time they looked inside the crowded houses they saw adevadasi dancing and singing affectionately with a Siva devotee wearing kondrai flowers. 'Today it won't be possible to find an available devadasi,' they thought, and returned to the palace to tell the king.
493
The king listened to what his guards told him and became angry. Looking at his ministers he said, 'Is it the doing of the Lord that my words should fail? Is there any defect in our pujas? Is it proper to tell that sangama who spoke so clearly that we can't get him a lady because there are none available?'
494
The ministers said: 'O prosperous one! Stop worrying. We, your humble servants, will bring back a beautiful devadasi. Give up your anxiety.' Arriving at the street of the devadasis, they saw the amorous play inside the houses and they addressed the devadasis who had perfumed their rounded breasts:
495
'On this street where there are crowds of lotus-eye ladies living closely together, if there is one lady who can satiate the lust of the wise man who has approached our king, she will have bracelets, ornaments made of rubies and tinkling anklets; she will always eat food with six flavours along with ghee, curds and milk.'
496
After hearing what the ministers had said, the ladies humbly replied, 'We have already been paid by these devotees to stay with them all night. After this night is over, we will do what you say.' The ministers were much disturbed and reported what the devadasis had said to the king.
497
The king said, 'Why is this insignificant thing becoming so difficult for us?' He grew sad and his mind was filled with anxious thoughts. 'Is this the working of the Lord's grace? I will fulfil my promise to thesangama who has appeared before us as if He was Siva Himself.' So saying, the king took his bow and quickly went to the street of thedevadasis.
498
He spoke to them in the following manner: 'A flag has been hoisted on high so that those who come here will know that whatever they ask for will be given. I will give this kingdom to the devadasi who will help me avoid breaking my word to the beautiful sangama who has come today.'
499
'I will give her elephants, horses and as much gold as she wants. She will have a palanquin inlaid with pearls. If she satisfies the desire of the Venerable One, I shall give her the great sceptre of authority to govern this ancient land. I shall serve her and she shall become my own mother.'
500
'All the rishis who are knowledgeable in the Vedas say that among all worldly pleasures, this is the highest. Therefore, come ladies. If you can remove the desire of the sangama who has come to our land, and in return you ask for my life, I shall give it.'
501
The ladies humbly replied, 'Abiding by your laws, O Lord, we have already accepted the gold to have pleasure with these pure devotees. What else can we do?' The king of this land became ashamed and went back to his famous palace.
502
When he got home two of his wives, Nallamadevi and the young generous Sallamadevi perceived the change in his moon-like face. Prostrating at his feet, they said, 'O Lord who can rule [the whole of] this ancient world! What is the reason for your sadness? Please tell us.' Then Vallalan, who walks the path of purity, replied to them:
503
'Today a venerable man approached this prosperous king desiring pleasure with a woman having deer-like eyes. In accordance with his request, I tried to get a devadasi but none is available in our city. Because of this I am distressed.' After listening to the king, the younger wife began to speak.
504
'O king who has made a promise to the devotee suffering from lust, we don't know what is on your mind. If you think that I, the younger wife, should offer myself to him, then I shall do so.' The king, who was blessed by Lakshmi, rejoiced in his mind. He looked at his wife and said, 'O noble lady, you will go with the devotee into a room and remove the suffering inflicted on him by the formless Kama.' Then the good king informed the venerable man.
A queen of King Vallalan is mentioned in a epigraph dated 1335, but her name is not legible. He may have had two queens, but if he did, there is no record of the second one.
In the Vallalan Gopuram, over the western entrance, there is an image of King Vallalan with a queen by his side. In the sixteen-pillared mantapam outside the temple, the second pillar on the south side has carved on it the ganda-berunda, the imperial emblem of the Hoysalas. Facing north there is a statue of King Vallalan's queen, standing on a projecting platform, supported by lion's heads. She appears to be past middle age and stands with her hands folded in supplication to a statue of Siva and Parvati, seated on a Nandi.
505
Sallamadevi immediately bathed in perfumed water, dressed up beautifully and went inside the room. There she skillfully played thevina and sang melodiously. But when she came close to the Supreme One and looked at Him, she saw that the One who wore the rudrakshabeads was deep in meditation.
506
Then, thinking that she would make the Venerable One happy, she took perfumed water and sprinkled it over His dazzling form, speaking to Him in a pleasant manner. When He didn't even open His eyes to look at her, she hesitated a moment and then began to speak.
507
'O Lord, alas, is it proper that the king's promise should be uttered in vain?' Then the beautiful lady placidly bent over and embraced Him. At that very moment Paramasiva turned into a baby and, to make her happy, began to cry.
508
When Siva became a child and was crying loudly, the king, thinking that this was the Lord's doing, came quickly, took the child in his arms, embraced it and lovingly kissed it on the forehead. But just as the king was so immersed in bliss, that Immaculate One disappeared.
509
'O Lord, will we ignorant ones know the working of Your divine will? O embodiment of Truth! You who have three eyes! You who are theVedas and the Lord of the Vedas! Pure One! Is it to test us that You have appeared in the form of a child and then disappeared? What is our destiny now, O Great One?' The king, along with the queen, lamented in this way.
510
Then the king's heart weakened. As he was crying out loudly, Iswara, who is praised by the excellent tapasvins, appeared mounted on the bull with Parvati, all surrounded by Siva ganas. Brahma and Vishnu followed them. In this way the Lord gave his darshan to the prosperous king dwelling in Aruna. The king prostrated and prayed with fervour:
511
'O Origin of Everything, I surrender! O luminous One who can protect devotees on earth, I surrender! O Lord wearing the crescent moon and the Ganga in Your pure, lustrous red matted hair, I surrender! O Immaculate One, bless me with a son to carry my sceptre and rule with justice.'
512
'O handsome king, listen! I myself became your son. Hence, at the time of your death, I will perform the vedic ritual for you.' So saying, the One bearing the crescent moon blessed the king and returned to Kailash. Thereafter King Vallalan ruled the land with great virtue.
Siva's promise to 'perform the vedic ritual' 'at the time of your death' is still remembered and commemorated every year in Tiruvannamalai. In the month of Masi the temple priests read out the news of King Vallalan's death to Arunachaleswara. His image is then carried in a procession to the village of Pallikonda Pattu, about three kilometres from Tiruvannmalai, for the performance of the king's annual sraddha rites. The connection between this village and the life and death of King Vallalan is no longer known. It is unlikely that he lived there since his palace is thought to have been located about a mile to the east of the main temple. Until about a hundred years ago the last remains of what was reputed to be his palace could still be seen there, but around the turn of the century the land was levelled and cultivated and the railway line from Villupuram to Tirupati now runs across the site.
King Vallalan continued to rule until 1342. His final military campaigns were waged against the rulers and generals of Madurai. The Delhi Sultanate had overcome the Pandya dynasty there and had installed its own ruler. In 1330 the ruler of Madurai declared independence from Delhi and gave himself the title Sultan Jalal-u-din Hasan Shah. Ten years later he was murdered by his chief minister, Udauji, who then took office as the next Sultan. Shortly afterwards he decided that the time was ripe to launch an attack against the Hoysala territories to the north. He marched his army to Tiruvannamalai where King Vallalan was waiting for him. In the ensuing battle the Madurai troops were gaining the upper hand when a stray arrow struck Udauji and killed him. This effectively ended the battle, for the Muslim troops retreated leaderless back to Madurai.
Taking advantage of the ensuing disorder in the Madurai kingdom, King Vallalan decided to attack the fortress town of Kannanur, the former southern capital of the Hoysala kingdom. The family had not controlled it for many years, but with the Sultanate of Madurai looking to expand its territory, King Vallalan anticipated that it would be a useful bulwark against the expansionist ambition of the Madurai Sultan. In 1340-41 he besieged the fort for six months. At the end of that time the defenders asked for a cease-fire so that they could consult the Sultan of Madurai about the terms of the surrender. The new Sultan, Ghiyas-ud-din, ignored the cease-fire, marched a hastily assembled army of 4,000 to Kannanur and made a secret night attack on King Vallalan's sleeping army, which was completely taken by surprise. King Vallalan's besieging army was routed and the king himself was captured and taken as a prisoner to Madurai.
At first he was treated very well, but after Ghiyas-ud-din had persuaded him to part, not for the first time in his life, with all his riches, horses and elephants, he had him killed and flayed. Ibn Batua, an Arab traveller who happened to be in Madurai at the time, witnessed the aftermath of the execution: 'His skin was stuffed with straw and hung upon on the wall of Madurai where I saw it in the same position.' Thus ended, ingloriously, the illustrious reign of King Vallalan III. As he predicted, his utterly useless son lost his empire within a few years and the Hoysala dynasty came to an end.
Though he had no worthy heir 'to carry my sceptre and rule with justice' (v. 511), there was one man in his court who had all the characteristics and traits that he desired for his own son. That man was Harihara, one of his generals, and it was he who later became the first ruler of the Vijayanagar empire, the same empire that rapidly swallowed the crumbling, leaderless remains of the Hoysala kingdoms. Knowing what an able general and administrator he was, King Vallalan gave him increasingly wide authority over the affairs of his realm in the last few years of his reign. I think he eventually came to regard him as 'the son he never had', an attitude that the Arunachala Puranam indirectly endorses.
When Siva first appears in Tiruvannamalai, it is in the guise of a sangama, a term which primarily denotes a monk of the Virasaiva school. This branch of Saivism started in Karnataka around the twelfth century and later spread south, although its stronghold was and still is Karnataka. Because it is a strange term in a text such as this, I think it has a symbolic significance. Harihara came from a Karnataka family whose surname was Sangama. I suspect that Ellapa Nayinar, the author of the Arunachala Puranam, used this fact to weave an allegorical fable.
At a time when King Vallalan was probably pleading with God to give him a worthy successor, Harihara Sangama appeared on the scene and effectively took on the role. In the final verse of the Arunachala Puranam account (512) the 'Sangama' announced: 'O handsome King, listen! I myself became your son.' Though he was not the king's biological son, he became a son-in-law by marrying one of Vallalan's daughters.
Harihara and his successors were fanatic militant Hindus who conquered and united most of South India, forced the Muslim invaders to retreat back to the north, and set up a stable dynasty that ruled for seven generations. King Vallalan would have been proud of them.
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