Who was Pandiyan Nedunchezhiyan?
Who was Pandiyan Nedunchezhiyan?
IC 338, Periyapuliyankulam, Vavuniya
“Raja Naga Jita Raja Uti Jaya Abhi Anurati ca Karapita sa ima lena satutisa sagaya agata anagata agatanam pasu viharaye aparimita lokaththuyasatthana sita sukhaye.”
Its meaning is as follows:
This rock shelter (karpāḻi) was created and donated by Princess Anurati, the daughter of the Naga king, and her husband, King Uti. It was intended for ascetic monks (sannyāsis) coming from the four directions, as a viharaya for monks undertaking the practice of “Lokaththuyasathana,” a materialistic and atomic philosophical practice.
Therefore, it becomes clear that, at that time, the term viharaya referred to ascetics themselves and did not refer to a constructed monastery in the way the word “vihara” is understood today. A similar term, Sativihariya, referred to wandering ascetics who did not remain permanently in one place.
Likewise, the terms Buddha, Theraha, Vihariya, and Sativihariya can be seen through the inscriptions to have originally been associated with Jainism. Furthermore, the practice of worshipping footprints, as well as the worship of Venkayapa Ayyanar, confirms that this too was connected with Jainism.
Moreover, this Puranar was not a Buddhist Buddha who propagated Kriyāvāda, that is, the doctrine of karma. Rather, he held the directly opposite doctrine of Akriyāvāda, the rejection of karma. He was a Jain Buddha.
The king Uti mentioned in this inscription
The King Uti mentioned in this inscription was, historically, one of the ten sons of the foremost king of Eelam, Kamani Abhaya, at the time when this inscription was written in the 6th century BCE. He married Princess Anurati and, after King Kamani Abhaya, was crowned as the first Pandyan emperor under the title Devānampiya Maharaja Uti.
However, his father does not appear to have possessed the imperial titles Devānampiya and Maharaja. He appears simply under the title Kamani. Therefore, it can be understood that this royal dynasty began as a royal lineage with King Kamani Abhaya, and that it rose to imperial status during the reign of his son, Devānampiya Maharaja Kamani Uti.
This first Pandyan emperor, Devānampiya Maharaja Kamani Uti, had a son. After his reign, that son too was crowned emperor, bearing the name of his grandfather, Devānampiya Kamani Abhaya.
He in turn had a son, who succeeded him as Devānampiya Kamani Tissa, an emperor. He too had a son, who received the title Devānampiya Tissa. Both of this latter king’s wives entered Jain monastic life.
With this, the rule of this royal family appears to come to an end on the basis of the evidence provided by the inscriptions. There is no evidence that the descendants of this royal family continued to rule thereafter. The stories contained in the Mahavamsa do not correspond with this historical account.
A detailed examination of these kings
All of these kings were followers of Jainism and adopted the names by which they were known as their royal names. However, the inscriptions indicate that when their sons reached the appropriate age, these kings crowned their sons and subsequently entered their traditional Jain ascetic life.
After entering asceticism, they were known by the initiation names (dīkṣā names) that they received as monks. One such name was Majimha Raja.
To identify which emperor received the name Majimha, we can examine the inscriptions from Koththamukala, Bowathagala, and Kenanagala. One inscription states:
“Kamani Tissa ha pita ha ca Majima Raja ha ca Niyata Kamani ca Paripakani Giridissa Game Karajinidissagame Vilagame Kasapanagare Malugame Negabike.”
From this inscription, which states that the father of Kamani Tissa was Majima Raja, we understand that the person referred to as Majimha was Devānampiya Maharaja Kamani Abhaya, the father of Devānampiya Maharaja Kamani Tissa.
We have also identified a coin issued by this king bearing the image of an elephant and the name Majimha.
IC 1045
The inscription reads:
“Saga Mogali puta Paramaka Majima puta datta lene.”
Through this inscription, we understand that the ascetic Mogali, who received the initiation name Majimha, was none other than Devānampiya Maharaja Kamani Uti, the father of Devānampiya Maharaja Kamani Abhaya and the first Pandyan emperor of Eelam.
We also understand that he was the founder of Ājīvika, which was known in the Prakrit language as a Jain tradition, and that he attained the state of Kalivenpirappuand came to be worshipped as Ayyanar.
This is why an inscription concerning Mogali—since the Tamil special letter “ற” did not exist in that Prakrit language, the name Mogali was written rather than Margali—was also discovered at Kenanagala.
It reads:
“Bhagavata Gotama Samane Mogali Puta Theraha, Sariputa Theraha, Puna Theraha, Pusa Theraha, Sativihariya agata anagata satutisa sagasa dine, Paramaka Abhaya puta Paramaka Eraka.”
Since this inscription was engraved by Eraka, the son of Abhaya, he may have been one of the ten brothers and a son of their father, Abhaya.
Uti and Princess Anurati at Periyapuliyankulam
The fact that Devānampiya Maharaja Kamani Uti, who received the initiation name Bhagavata Mogali Gotama Samane, donated the above-mentioned rock shelter at Periyapuliyankulam, Vavuniya, to ascetics while he was still a prince, together with his wife Anurati, suggests that this royal couple may have lived in a palace located close to this place.
Therefore, it is likely that this was a royal palace belonging to the Pandyans at Ritikkala, because it is difficult to find such palaces at Anuradhapura and Mihintale. Those places appear, in that period, to have consisted predominantly of Jain rock shelters.
After Ritikkala, the place called Rasakkal appears to have contained royal palaces, but it is located a very long distance away, in Ampara.
Therefore, it is possible that Uti, who was the emperor Devānampiya Maharaja Kamani, lived in the palace at Ritikkala. His son Abhaya, who later received the name Majimha, may also have lived there from his childhood.
The elephant (kaliru) depicted on the coin bearing the name Majimha reflects their Jain (Ājīvika) tradition.
At the same time, in Eelam, places such as Kandarodai, and in Tamil Nadu, Tirunelveli, have yielded the purely Tamil-Brahmi name Peruvazhuthi, which contains the distinctive Tamil letter “ழ”.
It can therefore be identified that this Vazhuthi was the Pandyan emperor Nedunchezhiyan, referred to in the Ritikkala inscription as Kadalan and Mahasamudda, and in the Mangulam inscription as Vazhuthikadalan.
He was the person who constructed and donated a rock shelter (pāḻi) at Mangulam for the ascetic Kani Nandasiriya, who is identified as an Iyakan.
Thus, the person referred to in the inscriptions of Eelam by the names Devānampiya Maharaja Kamani Abhaya, Majimha, Mahasamudda, Kadalan, Panavan, and Vazhuthi is also identified as Pandyan Nedunchezhiyan, the Pandyan emperor.
Translation by Hari
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