Personal Preface
One of the delightful things about travelling in Tamil Nadu is the inexplicable joy of discovering grand art set in stone in remote villages, especially in the temple belt in and around Tiruvannamalai, Chidambaram, Tanjavur, Tiruchinapalli, and Madurai. Apart from the sheer awe, the aesthetics, and the devotion this inspires, it teaches us valuable history lessons if we care to just scratch the surface. And so it was when I discovered a stunning Shiva and Vishnu temple in a remote village near Sivaganga district. The priests at these temples informed me that they were built during the Chola reign. Ironically, this was a Muslim-majority village, which could only mean two things: a bulldozing Muslim invasion in the region followed by sustained Muslim occupation, which changed the character of the place and that such changed character has remained intact till today .
Further investigation revealed that this village was once part of a little-known titbit of history: the Madurai Sultanate. I wasn’t too far off the mark: today’s Sivaganga is some 65 Kilometres from Madurai.
Decline and End of the Pandyas
Our history begins with the disintegration of the Pandya Empire. The Pandya Empire is among the most famous dynasties to have ruled Tamil Nadu and finds a place of pride with the Cholas, Cheras, and Pallavas. Among other things, the Pandyas were renowned to be great patrons of pretty much all aspects of Sanatana Dharma—dance, art, temple-building, sculpture, music, and literature. A tribute of sorts to the greatness of the Pandya empire is given by Muthuswami Dikshitar, singer, composer, raga-founder, and one of the Carnatic Classical Trinity along with Thyagaraja and Shyama Sastri. In his Meenakshi Memudam Dehi set in Raga Poorvi Kalyani, he describes the Goddess of Madurai, Meenakshi as Malayadhwaja Pandya Raja Tanaye—daughter of the Pandya King.
Maravarman Kulashekara Pandyan I, who presided over the Second Pandyan Empire, is credited with bringing an end to the weakened Chola Empire in 1279 when he dealt a decisive defeat to Rajendra Chola III. His 40-year rule saw the re-consolidation and stabilization of a reawakened Pandyan Empire. These 40 years saw the visits of various travellers including the Persian traveller-historian, Abdulla Wassaf who described the Pandyan country under Kulashekara as “most agreeable abode on earth and the most pleasant quarter of the world.” Wassaf mispronounces his name as “Kales Dewar” and says that he ruled for forty years during which time “neither any foreign enemy entered his country, nor any severe malady confined him to bed” and the “treasury of the city of Mardi (Madurai) had 1,200 crores of gold not counting the accumulation of precious stones such as pearls, rubies, turquoises, and emeralds” (SOUTH INDIA AND HER MUHAMMADAN INVADERS, DR. S. KRISHNASWAMY AIYANGAR, PG 96).
Kulashekhara Pandyan I, towards the end of his life began to favour Jatavabrman Vira Pandya, his “illegitimate” son born of a courtesan/mistress over his “legitimate” son, Jatavarman Sundara Pandya. Upon Kulashekhara Pandyan’s death in 1308, a fratricidal war broke out between the brothers paving way for what is described in the rest of this account.
The First Muslim Incursion
Hoysala Consolidation in Karnataka
The Hoysala Empire, which came of its own following the disintegration of the Chalukya Empire made huge strides by conquering large territories under Bittideva or Vishnuvardhana, who is regarded as the greatest ruler of that dynasty. After Vishnuvardhana’s death in 1152, the Hoysalas lost territory owing to weak successors and powerful enemies. A recovery of sorts was made by Vira Ballala III in 1292 who annexed the territory of his uncle, Ramanatha after the latter’s death. This proved to be strategic because Vira Ballala III ruled from three capitals—Dwarasamudra (today’s Halebid in Hassan district) in the North/North-West, Kundaani (north frontier of today’s Salem district) in the middle, and Kannanur (today’s Kandur) in the South.
Politics in Delhi
Meanwhile in Delhi, Jalal-ud-din Khilji who had become the all-powerful Sultan indulged his nephew, Ala-ud-din Khilji to an inordinate extent. And so, when Ala-ud-din Khilji sought the Sultan’s permission to conduct a raid in the Dekkan, the senior Khilji blindly gave his assent not realizing that the purpose of this raid. Ala-ud-din Khilji’s unquenchable ambition to occupy the seat of Delhi required truckloads of money, which his trusted informers said, was available in plenty in the Dekkan. And so, his maiden raid of Deogiri (Devagiri, today’s Daulatabad) in 1296 was hugely successful. After this, he secured victory after victory until he had Jalal-ud-din Khilji murdered, and became the Sultan. However, in his ascent to Sultanhood, Ala-ud-din Khilji spent money like water to buy the loyalty of nobles, courtiers, and the army.
Malik Kafur’s Devastation of South India
Somewhere along the line, Ala-ud-din Khilji had taken an extreme fancy for a handsome Hindu youth named Chand Ram, who had been captured in an earlier battle and forcibly converted to Islam, and then castrated. Chand Ram was rechristened Malik Kafur who, thanks to Ala-ud-din Khilji’s fondness, quickly rose to become a fierce general. Once on the throne, Ala-ud-din Khilji realized that it took even more money to expand and sustain his empire. His gaze turned again to the Dekkan and the regions beyond it.
Ala-ud-din Khilji despatched Malik Kafur on an expedition to the South. And so, when Kafur reached Devagiri, Ramadeva, the Yadava king who had earlier been subdued by Khilji, readily offered his services. He sent his general, Parasurama Deo as advance party to Dwarasamudra to “render it available for the extermination of rebels and the destruction of Bir [Vira Pandya] and Dhur Samundar [Dwarasamudra]” and “to hold the gates of access to the Bir and Dhur Samundar” (SOUTH INDIA AND HER MUHAMMADAN INVADERS, PG 92), apart from sending a large infantry comprising elephants, horses and soldiers. Malik Kafur was bent upon conquering and subduing the whole of Ma’bar Country (Ma’bar was the name given to the territory occupied by the Cholas and Pandyas, which roughly corresponds to today’s Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and parts of Karnataka).
Meanwhile in the South, the battle for the dead Kulashekhara Pandya’s throne was in full swing between his sons, Sundara Pandya and Vira Pandya. Vira Ballala III descended upon the Pandyan kingdom to take full advantage of this brotherly feud unaware of the destruction that had begun to happen in his own backyard.
Malik Kafur’s march to Dwarasamudra wrought with it large scale devastation and destruction of forests, villages, and entire regions that were under Vira Ballala III’s control. When reports of this barbaric march reached him, Vira Ballala III immediately returned to Dwarasamudra. However, it was a trifle too late. He sent negotiators to sue for peace. This, despite the fact that Vira Pandya had already sent his army for Ballala’s assistance. Malik Kafur accepted the peace offer on the condition that his object was to convert Vira Ballala III “to Mohammedanism, or of making him Zimmi, or of slaying him” (SOUTH INDIA AND HER MUHAMMADAN INVADERS, PG 93). After much negotiation, Ballala III was spared of conversion but had to surrender all his wealth, horses and elephants.
Once Malik Kafur had secured Ballala III’s subservience, he took his assistance to march upon Vira Pandya.
Malik Kafur Returns Empty Handed
When they heard what happened to Vira Ballala III, the warring Pandya brothers united at once. They knew Kafur’s force was far superior to their own but put up a courageous fight. They never gave him a direct, open fight. They knew the country intimately and put this knowledge to the best use. They attacked his force stealthily and displayed superior guerrilla warfare taking care never once to fall into his hands. For weeks without end, they harassed Kafur. And then the rains came to hamper Kafur even further.
A thoroughly frustrated Malik Kafur fell upon Chidambaram. His Chidambaram expedition began at night and by morning, he “seized no less than 250 elephants. He then determined on razing the beautiful temple to the ground…you might say that it was the Paradise of Shaddad, which, after being lost, those “hellites” had found, and that it was the golden Lanka of Ram …it was the holy place of the Hindus, which . Malik dug up from its foundations with the greatest care and the heads of the Brahmans and idolaters danced from their necks and fell to the ground at their feet, and blood flowed in torrents. The stone idols called Ling Mahadeo, which had been a long time established…the kick of the horse of Islam had not attempted to break. The Musalmans destroyed all the Lings and Deo Narain fell down, and the other gods who had fixed their seats there raised their feet, and jumped so high, that at one leap they reached Lanka…(words in italics are by Amir Khusru quoted in SOUTH INDIA & HER MUHAMMADAN INVADERS, Pg 99)…They destroyed all the temples and placed the plunder in the public treasury.”
The Pandya brothers still couldn’t be captured. Ten days after Malik Kafur wrecked Chidambaram, he marched into Mathra (Madura, today’s Madurai) and found it empty. He seized the royal elephants and burnt down the temple of Jagnar (Jagannath or Sokkanatha).
Ibn Batuta, the Muslim traveller-cum-chronicler who accompanied Malik Kafur on this devastating journey records in his Ashika that after Chidambaram was completely destroyed, Kafur marched further down into a city named Fattan. Fattan corresponds to the Tamil Pattanam (or Pattinam), which is a generic name denoting a city or town. It was a temple town entrusted to a Brahmin. Ibn Batuta mistook the Brahmin to be a king. This “king” fled when he saw Malik Kafur’s destructive march. The distinctive feature of Fattan was a huge temple with an equally huge idol laden with jewels. Malik Kafur seized the horses and elephants and destroyed the idol. This Fattan is today’s Rameshwaram.
Contented with his victorious campaign, Malik Kafur turned back and reached Delhi in October 1311.
However, the consequence of Malik Kafur’s unstoppable death march was the first definitive carving out of a Muslim state of sorts deep in the South, in Madurai, which reported directly to Delhi for at more than two decades.
Continued in the next part…
Ibn Battuta s said to have travelled along with malik kafur in his south indian expedition .. In this article …
His timeline however suggests he was born in 1304 …
Any references to sources of given information ???
It is not fair to say that the Tamils did not fight the Muslims in 1311 or 1323 ..Malik Kafur enjoyed the support of ‘traitors’ who were loyal to the legitimate “Sundara Pandan” but he withdrew tactically after he found the brothers compromised under duress from the Chera King…Tamil Kingdom really rose like a Phoneix after 1312 and reached its peak in 1323 … that is when Ullugh Khan ( Tuglak) came with a bang , this time determined to stay-put in Tamil heartland… riding piggyback on Mopla Malabar … though there are no records of any resistance by the Tamil Kings, one narration on record at Srirangam Temple is about the stiff resistance put up by 13000 Viashnavites under Srimad Vedanta Desika, a Vedic Scholar and religious leader who confronted the Muslim and Yavana forces at Samayapuram and put up a brave resistance. Of course they had no dreams of victory and were all butchered by the Muslim forces; their prime objective was to save the Golden Idol of Lord Ranganatha which was being smuggled out by a group of fierce Vaishnavites down south and west and finally North East to Thiruppathi via Kerala -Karnataka. Swamy Desikan was himself a source of inspiration to Vidyaranya ,Harihara and Bukharaya of Vijayanagara – he was also a mediator between Veera Saivas and Madhvacharya..
.It is a pity ,many of us in Tamil Nadu do not realise the role of Vijayanagara empire on restoration and revival of Hindu Religion Art and Culture or whatever is left of it .Yes the ‘pure’ Tamil culture which had made deep inroads across the Bay of Bengal suffered an eclipse in its own land and it gave way to a composite Dravidian culture, conceding the legitimate space for Telugu Kannada and Malayalam languages.The short point to focus is : what would have been the alternative ? The Muslims would have stayed back and destroyed all the temples of Tamil Nadu and the remaining temples of Telugu land and Kannada land.South India would have been the same as North India where today there is not a single ancient temple intact..(they must have been 10 times more than Tamil Nadu) Ayodhya,Kashi,Mathura,Somnath and Dwarka are grim reminders of Jerusalems in Inda if not symbols of National Shame of a Millenium. No body can deny that the Muslims of India were our flesh and blood, having been essentially the victims of Muslim invasion and rule for 500 years.
The story is at variance with several authentic scripts I have read a few years back, Malik Kafur was no doubt Chand Ram and an enuch lover of Kilji but he was diverted from Hampi where he was on a previously planned mission…Veera Pandian was camping at Delhi, actually carried the ‘Olai’ ( message) from Kilji to Kafur at Hampi and accompanied him to Mathurai. The troops lost their way and landed at Chidambaram by mistake and after looting the temple completed Mission Madurai and on return, looted Srirrangam and finally returned to Delhi with loads of Gold Silver and elephants and horses and of course pretty women Devadasis of temples.Period:1311 AD. When Malik Kafur attempted to stay back, Veera Pandian and Sundara Pandian united and eased him out with his booty and he too happily went back to deliver it to Kilji.
Thank you for the piece. The Delhi Sultanate had extended, albeit momentarily, a thousand miles south. I had not realized that its military had destroyed Chidambaram, the Madurai temple and Rameshwaram, the three foremost temples in the Tamil land.
What is illustrative however is that lack of institutional continuity in both the Pandyan and Hoysala kingdoms. That alone would have led to an orderly transition of power at the death of a ruler and have allowed for continued investment and development of the military arm. It was as if Malik Kafur swept south unhindered except by the well crafted hit and run guerrilla tactics of the Pandyans.
You seem to omit one point although I stand corrected. It appears that Malik Kafur was the homosexual lover of Ala-ud-in Khilji. Overall a good piece. More comments to come on the next few instalments.
Has the time not come for many ancient wrongs to be corrected? Will people just read and ‘feel’ for the millions of Hindus who were slaughtered?
This attitude is the chief reason why the muslim invaders were able to conquer with such ease.
Maybe the people of Hoysala felt for the Hindus who were slaughtered in Deogiri as the Pandyas felt for the Hoysalas when they were overrun by Malik Kafur.
We still have not united. It is time for Hinduism to take back what it has lost.
A revolution is needed.
In response to vivecavon’s dilemma about converted Malik Kafur’s destruction of temples is explained bellow:
One of my friends had told me long back about one Dr Nene of Surat propounding a theory, of which I am not personally aware, that first generation convert to Islam is more dangerous than older generations, that he is conversant with Koran, that he is following hadith in toto, that he has to prove his Islamic zeal to his co-religionists.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi mentioned about a first generation Christian convert, denigrating Hinduism openly, in his autobiography, name of which I can not remember.
Good Job Sandeep… We donot know the precise history of South India, causes for the muslim conquest of the sub continent… We need more analysis of this sort in a general hindu mind, regarding the painful history which affects us all till today.
Cant help but wonder – Malik Kafur was forcibly converted and castrated; why would he raze the temples and Gods of his original faith to the ground?
About Amir Khusru, one has to go through ‘Hindu Temples: What Happened To Them’, volume ii, by Late Sitaram Goel , Voice Of India, Delhi who called himself proudly as communalist number one and of which I categorize myself without giving any rank. I quote some of Amir Khusru’s ‘poetic imagination’ about Hinduism and Hindu temples bellow:-
(1) When Jalalu’d-Din Khalji wrought havoc at Jhain, “A cry rose from the temples as if a second Mahmud had taken birth”. (ibid p-246)
(2) About Somnath:- “So the temple of Somnath was made to bow towards the Holy Mecca, and the temple lowered its head and jumped into the sea, so you may say that the building first said its prayers and then had a bath”. (ibid p-246)
(3) About destruction of Ling Mahadeo temples in Chidambaram:- “The stone idol called Ling Mahadeo which had been a long time established at that place and on which the women of the infidels rubbed their vaginas for (sexual) satisfaction,…” (ibid p-248)
(4) The temples in the environs of Delhi were “bent in prayers” and “made to do prostration”, by Alau’d Din Khalji. (ibid p-246)
(5) When the hordes of Alau’d Din Khalji sacked the temple of Somnath, he (Amir Khusru) exulted, ‘The sword of Islam purified the land as the Sun purifies the earth’. His enthusiasm broke all bounds when the same hordes swept over South India: ‘The tongue of the sword of the Khalifa of the time, which is the tongue of the flame of Islam, has imparted light to the entire darkness of Hindustan by the illumination of its guidance… All these impurities of infidelity have been cleansed by the Sultan’s destruction of idol-temples… so that the flames of the light of the law illumine all these unholy countries… God (Allah) be praised!’ (ibid p-251)
Now, a piece of secular information:
According to great intellectual secularist and Islamic reformer (sic), Asgar Ali Engineer, this ‘poet of Islam’ was paragon of ushering composite culture in India!!!
Now, a piece of communal information:
Late Sitaram Goel:- One wonders whether the poet of Islam is being honored or slandered when he is presented in our own times as the pioneer of Secularism. Or, perhaps, Secularism in India has a meaning deeper than that we find in the dictionaries or dissertations on political science. We may not be much mistaken if, seeing its studied exercise in blackening everything Hindu and whitewashing everything Islamic, we suspect that this Secularism is nothing more than the good old doctrine of Islam in disguise. (Ibid P – 251)
@ Sandeep
Hope you will throw more light on Sreerangam-Tirumala connection!
Wanted to add another story of Malik Kafur’s pillage.
This story is of plunder of Ranganatha Swamy temple in Sri Rangam is now put up as a placard in the inner prakara of Tirumala temple. After we enter the main entrance, on the left side this can be found. The placard is put up outside the mantapa wherewhere Ranganatha Swamy idol was preserved. Regular puja and veda recitation was conducted for the period during (I think it was 60 years) which Sri Rangam was under Muslim control. It seems the iyengar pundits of Sri Rangam temple got a word of pillaging Malik Kafur’s plans and overnight took the idol out of Sri Rangam in disguise as Malik Kafur’s men were right outside the city exit points. It is also said that Malik Kafur specifically wanted to steal this idol and destroy it.
It is noteworthy that this story was not in popular discourse and many marxist historians especially in AP, refuted the story. Only recently TTD made a decision that this placard will be on display because it is part of Tirumala history. Some guts they did show.
@Avinash,
This menka is a persistent troll on this site and deliberately baits people on the site. Request you to please ignore.
@ Menka, when over 1.5 billion people believe that there is a funfilled paradise stocked with abundant supply of wine, women, water, fruits,etc some others can believe in such harmless things!
“Apart from the sheer awe, the aesthetics, and the devotion this inspires, it teaches us valuable history lessons if we care to just scratch the surface.”
You missed out a lovely little place calledd Darasuram
HI Sandeep, my all salutations to you for your commendable jonb on Rediscovery of India. Would love to part of your endeavor. Can you provide your contact ids or contact me at the below mail id.
@kaushik
Nice story. ROFL. I am sure there are many who will believe it.
Good post. The Madurai Sultanate, though brief and limited in impact, is a watershed period in India History.
After the sack of Pandyan’s Madurai, Tamilakam would not be ruled by Tamil-speakers again. The Chera rule in Kerala was already at an end by then.
The Pandya and Chola rulers were replaced by an assortment of
- Nayakas, first as feudateries of Vijayanagara, and then independent in their own right
- Nawabs – of Carnatic and Arcot
- The Maratha rulers of Gingee and Thanjavur
@Kaushik,
That story has no basis in fact.
Interesting read with some good research. Btw, do you know if this is true – http://www.madurai.com/malik.htm