The Final Campaign- A Pandyan Noble’s Tale of Rare Courage

Invasion of India by the Central Asian Turks, was indeed the turning point in her history, affecting the entire subcontinent, in various aspects like culture, religion, warfare etc. It also lead to different kingdoms, arising in response to their authority all over the country, drastically changing the political scenario as well.

The Deccan faced, invasion by the end of 13th century, a century or two later, but not too late to have it’s impact. The southern part of the country from time immemorial, was extremely prosperous. Trade flourished along both the coasts, especially the western coast. The Arikamedu excavation, leading to the finding of Roman and Greek articles, including coins of Augustus Caesar and references in Periplus of Erythrean Sea and Ptolemy are an evidence to the extensive trade that occurred. Substantially backed by the writings of Mamulnar, a Tamil poet who makes a reference to the amount of wealth surrendered to the Nandas, following their conquest and the Tamil Sangam literature; southern India could definitely not have missed the attention of the Delhi Sultanate. The raid of Devagiri in 1296 , not only promised Alauddin Khilji, the throne, but also marked the opening of the gates to conquest of South India.

Alauddin sent his slave Malik Kafur; also called Malik Naib to win the southern territories; which he did, very efficiently. Yadavas of Devagiri who had to be taught another lesson, the Kakatiyas of Warangal and Hoysalas of Dwarasamudra; all fell one by one. The individual conquests of each of these prosperous kingdoms are an interesting account on their own; so the details of these conquests will not be discussed here. Warangal was captured by 1310 and Dwarasamudra by 1311.

From Dwarasamudra, Malik Kafur headed to the Malabar in order to conquer the entire territory till the ocean. In the words of Amir Khusrau who accompanied Kafur,

“After that, Barbek (Malik Kafur) was further ordered to make the
elephants of Ma’bar food for falcons ; he should make the heroes
throughout the army on every side drunk with Ma’bari blood ; he
was to grasp the shores up to the territory of Lanka”

In the land of Pandyas , a civil war was going on between Vira Pandya and Sundara Pandya, sons of Mahavarman Kulashekara. Kulashekara and his father, Jatavarman Sundara Pandya were extremely efficient rulers who had taken the Pandya empire to it’s zenith; the former subdued the Cholas, defeated the Hoysalas twice, and extended their territory up to Nellore, defeating their Kakatiya counterparts and also conquered Ceylon; the latter ruled efficiently over the territories conquered by his father for a period of about forty years.

However his sons, Vira Pandya and Sundara Pandya fought for the throne, and it is even believed that Sundara Pandya murdered his father as, Kulashekara wanted Vira Pandya to sit on the throne. Hoysala Veera Ballala -3, tried to take advantage of this situation, in order to recover the territories lost by his ancestors. It was then, Malik Kafur raided Dwarasamudra in his absence. When Dwarasamudra was raided, Ballala immediately came back and surrendered. He had to forgo a large booty in terms of elephants, horses and gold; he also promised Malik Kafur to lead them to the Pandya country.

Now this was a real challenge for the brothers. The throne would not mean anything if they would be defeated by the army from Delhi. The invasion evidently, wasn’t a big surprise as Warangal had fallen just a year ago. The brothers had to choose between; their unnecessary conflict for the throne or a bigger challenge that was facing them, which could lead to the end of their nation’s glory; a feat achieved by their father and grandfather.

The brothers finally decided to end their conflict and first deal with the invader. When Malik Kafur reached Bir Dul( in the neighborhood of Uraiyur; also identified by scholars as Virudhacahalam), the capital of Vira Pandya, he had already fled and hid himself in Kandur. The weather had become harsh, but Malik Kafur and his men braved the weather and went to Kandur to find out, that Vira Pandya had fled once again. From there he marched to Chidambaram ( Marhatpuri) and plundered the Nataraja temple, which was made of gold, studded with rubies and diamonds. He then returned to Bir Dul. From there he headed to Madurai, which was the capital of Sundara Pandya. Even Sundara Pandya had fled with his family along with the treasure. However, Malik Kafur’s campaign hadn’t actually gone futile. He plundered the cities, captured about 250 elephants and other treasure; also desecrated rich temples.

But in an unexpected turn of events; Vikrama Pandya, brother of Mahavarman Kulashekara and uncle of the brothers who was in retirement, took charge and inflicted defeat on Malik Kafur’s army. He and his men then, marched back to Delhi; though not with empty hands.

This a neutral narration of events that occurred during the conquest of Malabar.

So here’s a tale of bravery. A tale of courage, not to be underrated. All have tasted defeat owing to the superior warfare, like the use of manjaniqs, maghribies, aradah sabats and superior cavalry of the Turks. Kings like Hoysala Veera Ballala didn’t hesitate to surrender when they were invaded. However, this courage was not shown by the brothers who were fighting for the throne, but their uncle who stood up against the army.

The relative superiority of the Turks over these southern kingdoms is can be inferred through the observations of traveler Marco Polo on the poor state of cavalry in the Pandya kingdom. In his words,

“……Here are no horses bred; and thus a great part of the wealth of country is wasted in purchasing horses. The merchants of Kish, and Ormuz, Dhafar and Sohar and Aden collect greater number of chargers and horses, and these they bring to the territories of this King and of the four brothers. For a horse will fetch them 500 sagi of old, worth more than 100 marks of silver, and vast numbers are sold there every year. Indeed the king wants to buy more than 2000 horses every year, and so do his four brothers who are kings likewise. The reason why they want so many horses every year is that by the end of the year there shall not be one hundred of them remaining, for they all die off. And this arises from mismanagement, for these people do not know in the least how to treat a horse…..The people of the country go to battle all naked, with only lance and a shield…” (Kosambi, 2016: 206)

Superior warfare, larger armies do make a difference; but so does bravery and self belief, which compelled Vikrama Pandya, who was in his old age to come and fight. Doesn’t it ?

Well this is what I have perceived from this event and it is completely personal. It is open to interpretations, judgments and criticisms. On the other hand, I have tried my best to be neutral, while writing about the events. Blending morality and history, biased writing is certainly condemned and is against academic ethics. Hence I have included this separately and this interpretation might be dissented.

Coming to the sources, the defeat is not mentioned clearly in many texts. One reason as to why this isn’t very popular, might be due to the overall success of the campaign. Malik Kafur was undefeated throughout, and before his final retreat, he had sacked Bir Dul, Kandur, Madurai and Chidambaram. Much of wealth hoarded in elephants, horses were sent to Delhi from the Pandya country alone and much more from Warangal, Dwarasamudra and Devagiri. If not the Pandyan kings, the Hoysalas, and Kakatiyas were forced to accept the suzerainty of Alauddin Khilji and the small strip of southern mainland had been thoroughly sacked.

It is also claimed that Vikrama Pandya was not Kulashekara’s brother and uncle of Vira and Sundara Pandya. However according to the sources I have referred , Vikrama Pandya has been mentioned as Kulashekara’s brother who was in retirement. In fact Amir Khusrau, who is believed to have accompanied Malik Kafur, doesn’t make a mention of this; so does Wassaf, the 14th century Persian historian. However the writings of Issami, who stayed in south India, during the campaign writes about Malik Kafur being forced to withdraw by pressure of ‘a huge army with numerous elephants’.

The dilemma can be resolved when we adopt a different approach; the prime objective of this blog. When we consider the event mentioned above as ‘a theory’ and not the ultimate truth (which can never be reached); it sounds convincing. This holds true, not just for this event; but our approach to history in general. History is more of, ‘writings about the past’ rather than just ‘the past’. Unavailability of other writings necessitates us to accept ‘that’ as the past; nevertheless ‘what really happened’ or the ‘ultimate truth’ is just a myth and can never be decided. However when we consider it as a ‘theory’, it broadens our horizon and approach. Similar is the case with many events in history, in fact all events. Be it Prithviraj Chauhan’s death or Rani Lakshmibai and Jalkari bhai; or any war. The wars may truly have happened, but the details of it are never absolute; Allied have their own versions about World War and Axis their own; Cold War has different narratives from the USA and Soviet Union, so ultimately it’s impossible to find out the truth; in reality it doesn’t exist.

REFERENCES

1.A., N. S. K. (2009). The illustrated history of South India: from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

2.Kosambi, D.D. (2016). An introduction to the Study of Indian History. Tamil Nadu: SAGE Publications Pvt Ltd.

2. Derrett, J. D. M. (1949). The dynastic history of the hoysala kings (Order No. 10752588). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1984983099). Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1984983099?accountid=38885

3. Puri, B., & Das, M. (2003). A Comprehensive History of India: Comprehensive history of medieval India. Noida: Sterling Publishers Pvt.Ltd.

4. Kunte, B. (1969). Maharashtra State gazetteers. Bombay: Directorate of Government Printing.