PM Modi at Gangaikonda Cholapuram: How this grand temple's history is linked to present-day politics

Indian Express

7 days ago

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (July 27) offered prayers at the ancient Shiva temple of Gangaikonda Cholapuram in Tamil Nadu.
The Gangaikonda Cholapuram Shiva temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is often considered the pinnacle of Chola architecture, a triumphant declaration of the might and magnificence of an empire that at its peak stretched from near the banks of the Ganga in north India to parts of Sumatra, Malaysia, and Myanmar.
According to the official press release, PM Modi 'will release a commemorative coin honouring one of the greatest emperors of India, Rajendra Chola I, celebrating Aadi Thiruvathirai Festival during a public event at Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple.'
In many ways, the Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple and the Aadi Thiruvathirai festival are linked to the proudest moments of the Chola empire. While PM Modi's visit brings the grand temple under the spotlight, the occasion is not without politics. We explain, in 3 points.
PM Modi's visit
This Aadi Thiruvathirai Festival this year also commemorates 1,000 years of the legendary maritime expedition of Rajendra Chola I to South East Asia, the press release said.
During his visit, PM Modi said the names of emperors Rajaraja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola I are synonymous with India's identity and pride and announced that grand statues would be built for them in Tamil Nadu, PTI reported.
Rajendra Chola I, who reigned for 30 years (1014 to 1044 AD), built Gangaikonda Cholapuram as his capital after his Army marched right up to the Ganga river, defeating the Pala kingdom of Bengal, and returned victorious. In this new town, he built a grand water tank and a grander temple. The tank, Cholagangam, was meant to be a Ganga-jalamayam jayasthambham, or 'a liquid pillar of victory'.
Historian K A Nilakanta Sastri, in his book 'A History of South India', writes, 'The name of the city, Gangaikondaśõlapuram, 'the town of the Chola who took the Ganges', was an advertisement of the new power of South India to the rest of the country.'
After so establishing his dominance within India, Rajendra Chola I then led several successful maritime campaigns, extending the boundaries of his empire and the reputation of his dynasty as one of the foremost Naval powers of India.
The great Chola king before Rajendra I had been his father, Rajaraja I, who built the Brihadeeswara temple at Tanjore (now Thanjavur). 'Brihadeeswara' simply means 'big', or 'great' (brihad in Sanskrit means massive), and the word is also used for the temple Rajendra 1 built, for example in the UNESCO heritage list.
Sastri in his book writes, 'The temple of Gangaikondaśõļapuram, the creation of Rajarāja's son Rājendra, was evidently meant to excel its predecessor in every way… Erected about 1030, only two decades after the temple of Tanjore and in much the same style, the greater elaboration in its appearance attests the more affluent state of the Chola empire under Räjendra.'
Thus, where the Tanjore temple has a straight, proud tower rising up, the Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple has softer lines and curves, proclaiming more assured power and the luxury of beauty and grace.
The temple today is the site of the annual Aadi Thiruvadhirai festival. Aadi is the name of the month, and Thiruvadhirai is a nakshatra (arrangement of stars and planets) linked to Lord Shiva, also believed to be the king's birth star. Traditionally, the festival involves therukoothu or road shows enacting Rajendra I's achievements. The king's statue is offered new silk robes.
Competing politics
The Chola empire was a stable, great Hindu power in the south at a time north India was broken up into several small kingdoms flattening under the onslaught of Muslim invaders. Sastri writes of Rajendra I and his father, 'At a time when Northern India was divided into a number of weak and warring states, some of which began to stagger under repeated Islamic inroads, these two great monarchs gave political unity to the whole of Southern India for the first time and established it as a respected sea-power… This was the silver age of the religious revival which had begun under the Pallavas…'
Thus, the Chola empire can be held as a glorious example of both Hindu power as well as Dravida power, and in PM Modi's visit to the temple, both these narratives are at play. Tamil Nadu goes to polls next year, with the BJP desperate to make inroads into the state, and Chief Minister MK Stalin a major champion of Dravida identity and pride.