CHENNAI: The images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tamil attire, carrying Ganges water in a small pot inside the Brihadeeswarar temple in Gangaikonda Cholapuram in Ariyalur district on July 27, went viral on social media.
The BJP and its supporters hailed it as yet another instance of the PM honoring “hitherto unacknowledged” glories of ancient Tamils. Former Telangana Governor and senior BJP leader Tamilisai Soundarajan, writing for this paper, even drew a parallel between the PM and Rajendra Chola himself, who founded Gangaikonda Cholapuram and the temple there, with both bringing water from the Ganges to the town.
Modi also announced that grand statues of Rajaraja and Rajendra would be installed.
Actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, the nascent political party that has repeatedly criticised BJP and DMK for colluding covertly in its bid to position itself as equally opposed to both, accused the ruling DMK of not doing enough to honour the Cholas and thereby ceding space to the BJP to claim credit.
Keeping aside the facts that the birth anniversary of Rajendra was made an official function only by the incumbent government and that CM MK Stalin announced Rs 19.5 crore worth projects to rejuvenate the Chola Gangam lake and develop tourism at Gangaikonda Cholapuram a few days before PM’s visit, the allegations by BJP and TVK of Cholas not being honoured enough lacked merit.
Believing that the Cholas became popular only after the release of Ponniyin Selvan I (2022), the movie based on the eponymous historical fiction written by Kalki, or after the installation of a Chola-inspired “Sengol (sceptre)” in the Lok Sabha in 2023 would in fact be a disservice to a nuanced understanding of contemporary Tamil politics.
The truth is that the Chola dynasty has not only been part of the Tamil psyche, as evidenced by ‘Rajendran’ being a common Tamil name even today, but they have been an integral part of the shaping of a distinct Tamil identity for the past many decades by political forces, albeit in a complex manner.
Parties and movements in TN have both lavishly praised and sharply criticised the Cholas, based on their reading and interpretation of the history.
For instance, the DMK and its parent organisation, the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK), take widely different stances on Rajendra and his father Rajaraja Chola.
DK, founded by ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramasamy, celebrated the early Cholas - who predate the later Cholas by around a millennium - but criticised the later Cholas. The organisation in particular hails Karikala Cholan, the preeminent figure of the early Cholas, who built the Grand Anicut (Kallanai) across the Cauvery around 2,000 years ago. Periyar himself was staunchly critical of the later Cholas - including Rajendra and Rajaraja - for supporting and sustaining the caste hierarchy.
History professor A. Neelakandan from Tirunelveli said that the DK being a social-liberation movement (not participating in electoral politics) viewed the Cholas differently from the DMK.
DMK celebrated both the early and later Cholas as symbols of Tamil identity. They emphasised how Cholas symbolised Tamil valor, as the later Chola rulers not only conquered some South Asian countries but also some northern regions of India. This dovetailed with the DMK’s staunch opposition to centralisation of powers by the Union government.
Interestingly, late CM and DMK president M Karunanidhi, for a Q&A section that carried his answers in the party’s mouthpiece Murasoli, chose the title ‘Karikalan Pathilgal (Answers)’.
Despite being rooted in republican ideals, the DMK had no qualms in celebrating emperor Rajaraja, to reclaim the Tamil past in its desire to construct a modern Tamil identity as being a continuum.
As CM, Karunanidhi sought permission from the Union government in 1972 to install a statue of Rajaraja inside the Brihadeeswara temple (the Big temple) in Thanjavur, which was protected by the Archaeological Survey of India.
When permission was denied, the government installed the statue near the temple. At the unveiling ceremony, the characteristically sharp Karunanidhi asked, “If we do not have the rights even for this (installing the statue inside the temple), then what will happen to our other rights?”, linking it with the broader question of States’ rights.
Moreover, in the 1970s, when the DMK government nationalised bus transport, the State-run transport corporations were named as Pallavan, Pandian, Cheran, Cholan, and others, referring to the prominent dynasties that ruled the Tamil-speaking regions in the past.
The different stances of DK and DMK persist today, as observed in the way the two approached the PM's recent visit.
“Why this sudden love for Rajaraja from Modi? Who can equal the achievements of emperor Karikalan,” was the title of the pamphlets printed in lakhs by the DK for distribution across the State.
In contrast, DMK MP and its parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, in her speech in the Lok Sabha, stressed each word while mentioning the town Gangai-Konda-Cholapuram to drive home what the name literally meant.
“Remember the name. He (Rajendra Chola) conquered the Ganga (in the north),” she said, to the thumping of the desks by the MPs of the DMK and its allies.
The veiled emphasis of her remarks was that the Union government cannot try to control the State, with reference to the tussle between the two on issues like language policy and sharing of funds.
Kanimozhi’s remarks echoed what historians like K.K.Pillai and K.A. Nilakanta Sastri had written about Rajendra sending an expedition to the north that defeated several rulers there and bringing the waters from the Ganges to Gangaikonda Cholapuram, where they were sprinkled in the Chola Gangam lake that Rajendra built.
Therefore, the PM bringing water from the Ganges was indeed reminiscent of the past, though what happened during Rajendra’s rule was a celebration of a brutal military victory - a detail the BJP would rather overlook.
Neelakandan said, besides the DK and the DMK, differences can be observed even among Tamil nationalists. “The left-oriented Tamil nationalists refer to them (later Cholas) mainly to highlight a historically sovereign Tamil State, while others praise them for embodying all elements of the Tamil identity and culture, which progressives tend to reject”.
“The BJP is now attempting to bring them (Cholas) under the broader Hindu nationalist fold,” he added.
The left and the Dalits have also taken a stance, akin to that of the DK.
Many would remember the anger expressed by leftist poet Inquilab, who died in 2016, in one of his poems that was written against a statue for Rajaraja. He was acerbic in criticising the emperor for exploitation of human labour and supporting the infamous ‘Devadasi’ system.
Filmmaker Pa Ranjith attracted opposition for criticising later Cholas for similar reasons at a public event in Thanjavur district in 2019. Describing Rajaraja’s rule as a “dark age”, he had said the lands belonging to Dalits in the delta region were taken away during his rule, when caste discrimination increased. A case was registered against him for his speech, based on a complaint by a Hindu outfit, which was later quashed by the Madras High Court.
Questioning a section of Tamil nationalists and Dravidian parties celebrating the Cholas, VCK General Secretary and Villupuram MP D. Ravikumar said the Chola kings promoted “Sanskrit” and “Sanatana”.
“We can understand the BJP celebrating them. But why should the Dravidian parties also do the same?” he asked.
Ravikumar argued that the Cholas created a large landless class by granting thousands of acres of fertile land as “Brahmadeyams” and creating “Chaturvedimangalams”.
“Their actions enabled the priestly class, confined earlier to spiritual affairs, to enter the economic sphere. Under the Chola rule, a new class of landless labourers emerged because they were required to work on lands donated to priests. Until then, the lands were largely held by those who tilled them. This shift led to labour exploitation and altered social relations fundamentally,” he said.
He contended that the caste system became rigid, and Tamils suffered major social, cultural, and economic setbacks during the period of the Chola rule between the 10th and the 13th centuries.
Meanwhile, the trend of many intermediate castes claiming themselves to be descendants of the Cholas has become more common.
Following the DMK government’s grand celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Big temple in Thanjavur, banners and posters put up by different caste groups regularly appear during the annual birth anniversary celebrations of Rajaraja, observed as Sathaya Vizha.
In 2015, the PMK, whose core voter base is the Vanniyar community, organised a massive Chola Mandala (regional) conference at Gangaikonda Cholapuram.
Commenting on the PM’s visit, Ravikumar alleged that it is an attempt to appropriate the Cholas, just as they tried with Thiruvalluvar. “The BJP wants to strip Tamil of its secular character and subsume Tamil identity and its icons under a Hindu framework,” he said.
On whether the BJP’s initiatives like the PM’s recent visit would gain the party politically, writer T. Pazhamalai said, “Tamils carry a sort of “racial memory” that is naturally confrontational to the north”. Alleging that the BJP’s politics in the north is dominated by the Hindu-Muslim divide, he argued that the same would not work in TN where there is communal harmony.
“Hence, the BJP is trying to uphold Tamil icons like Thiruvalluvar and the Cholas. In my opinion, it may not produce the outcome they desire.”
Pointing out that Ariyalur district has remained underdeveloped, P. Murthy, a resident of Andimadam, said the PM could have also announced some infrastructure projects, especially since Jayankondam still lacked rail connectivity.