Aditya II (942 CE – 971 CE), also known as Aditha Karikalan, was a

Chola The Chola dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century B ...

prince who lived in the 10th century in India. He was born in

Tirukoilur Tirukoilur also spelt as ''Tirukkoyilur'' or ''Tirukovilur'' is a city and the headquarters of Tirukoilur taluk in Kallakurichi District, Tamil Nadu, India. The town is located on the southern bank of Thenpennai River and famous for Ulagala ...

and was the eldest son of

Parantaka Chola II Parantaka Chola II ( Tamil: இரண்டாம் பராந்தக சோழன்) (r. 958 – 973 CE) was a Chola emperor. He is also known as Sundara Chola as he was considered an epitome of male beauty.''Early Chola temples:Paranta ...

. He was the elder brother of

Rajaraja Chola I Rajaraja I (947 CE – 1014 CE), born Arunmozhi Varman or Arulmozhi Varman and often described as Raja Raja the Great or Raja Raja Chozhan was a Chola emperor who reigned from 985 CE to 1014 CE. He was the most powerful Tamil king in South ...

and

Kundavai Kundhavai was a historic and a popular name of a number of royal women in southern India between the ninth and eleventh century. Some of the women who went by the name Kundavai are as follows: *Kundhavai, the daughter of Western Ganga king Prith ...

. He was called ''Virapandiyan Thalai Konda Koparakesari Varman Karikalan''.

Early life

Aditha Karikalan was the elder son of the Chola king

Parantaka II Parantaka Chola II (Tamil: இரண்டாம் பராந்தக சோழன்) (r. 958 – 973 CE) was a Chola emperor. He is also known as Sundara Chola as he was considered an epitome of male beauty.''Early Chola temples:Parantak ...

(alias Sundara) and queen Vanavan Mahadevi. He was the elder brother of Rajaraja Chola and Kundavai. He led the Chola expedition against the Pandyas and defeated the Pandya king Veerapandyan at the Battle of Chevur. He killed Veerapandiyan after chasing him on the banks of

Vaigai river The Vaigai is a river in the Tamil Nadu state of southern India; it passes through the towns of Theni, Dindigul and Madurai. It originates in Varusanadu Hills, the Periyar Plateau of the Western Ghats range, and flows northeast through the ...

. According to the Esalam bronze and copper plates discovered in Esalam village in Tamil Nadu, Aditha Karikalan conquered the Pandya ruler in battle and beheaded him. Aditha was made the co-regent and heir apparent to the Chola throne even though

Uttama Chola Uttama was a Chola Emperor who ruled from 973 CE to 985 CE in present-day Tamil Nadu, India. According to Tiruvalangadu plates of Rajendra Chola, Madurantaka Uttama Chola's reign is placed after Aditya II. The latter may have been a co-regent ...

, the son of Gandaradita Chola, had a stronger claim to the throne. Aditha Karikalan was assassinated and was succeeded by Uttama Chola. The Udaiyarkudi stone inscriptions in Anandheeswarar temple at present day Udaiyarkudi in Tamil Nadu names the killers - Soman Sambavan, Ravidasan alias Panchavan Brammadhirajan, Parameswaran alias Irumudichozha Brammadhirajan and Malaiyanooran. The inscription also mentions the decree of Raja Raja confiscating the lands of the murderers. As per epigraphs, the inquiry into the death was completed in the second year of

's reign and the lands of certain officials were confiscated for their complicity in the murder of "Karikala Chola who took the head of the Pandya".''Epigraphia Indica, Volume 21, page 167'' Historians are divided as to whether the inscription says that the confiscation was a direct royal order of Rajaraja or that the decree was giving permission for selling the land confiscated earlier from the killers. According to archaeologist

Kudavayil Balasubramanian Kudavayil Balasubramanian (born Kudavayil, Tiruvarur district) is an archaeologist from Tamil Nadu, India. He is former curator and publication manager at Saraswathi Mahal Library located at Thanjavur. He is credited with discovering more tha ...

, "Dr K T Tirunavukkarasu in his collection of historical essays titled "Arunmozhi Aiyvu Thogudi", comprehensively ruled out Madurantaka Uttama's role in Aaditha Karikala's murder. In the said article, basing his view on a number of historical data points, Dr Tirunavukkarasu has gone on to explain that there was a delay in apprehending the perpetrators immediately thereafter and it was only during

Rajaraja I Rajaraja I (947 CE – 1014 CE), born Arunmozhi Varman or Arulmozhi Varman and often described as Raja Raja the Great or Raja Raja Chozhan was a Chola emperor who reigned from 985 CE to 1014 CE. He was the most powerful Tamil king in South ...

's second regnal year that the culprits were brought to book . Suspicions were pointed to

, but confiscations of land belonging to culprits started before Raja Raja's period, suggesting that Uttama Chola did not spare the plotters. Among the punished were Ravidasan, Soman and Parameshwaran who were all government officials.

In popular culture

Ponniyin Selvan ''Ponniyin Selvan'' () is a historical fiction novel by Indian author Kalki Krishnamurthy, written in Tamil. It was first serialized in the weekly editions of ''Kalki'', a Tamil magazine, from 29 October 1950 to 16 May 1954 and later integr ...

, a

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pud ...

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ...

novel by Indian author

Kalki Krishnamurthy , birth_name = Ramasamy Aiyer Krishnamurthy , birth_date = , birth_place = Puthamangalam, near Manalmedu , death_date = , death_place = Chennai, India , occupation = journalist, critic and writer , nationality = Indian , education = H ...

, tells the story of the early days of

prince Arulmozhi Varman and features Aditha Karikalan as an important character. * '' PS-1'' and '' PS-2'', movie adaptations by Indian director Mani Ratnam of the 1955 Ponniyin Selvan novel, feature Vikram as Aditha Karikalan.

References

Works cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aaditha Karikalan Chola dynasty 10th-century Indian monarchs 942 births 969 deaths Murdered Indian royalty Chola princes