The Prime Minister's Tryst with Gangaikondasholapuram: Rajendra Chola I and his fabulous mega-structure

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The Prime Minister, Narendar Modi visited this famous temple near Tiruchi and offered prayers. The entire area reverberated with the sounds of cymbals and musical instruments, and Ilaiyaraja's rendering of the Tirupadiyam hymns was awesome. The programme can be seen as a step in the reclamation of Tamil Nadu and a rededication of the ancient land to its people and culture. The Prime Minister came to the temple attired as a common pilgrim seeking the blessings of the deity. This message was not lost on the people who turned out in thousands to witness the event.

This region has not seen a more potent political spectacle than what we witnessed a few days back.

This drone view shows the immense mass of stone and masonry creatively fused to conjure up a monument that Percy Brown,an early historian of Indian architecture described as, "a feminine counterpart to Tanjavur". The question implied in the quote of Percy Brown has intrigued scholars for the past century or so and there is no concensus on the issue. Rajaraja I built his great temple the Brhadesvara Temple, Rajarajevara Alayam, in his capital, Tanjavur and had endowed it with immense wealth in order to carry out the ritual and religious activities as part of the service of the ruling monarch to Siva. Afterall he was a mere Siva pada sekara, an ornament at the holy feet of Siva. Dancing girls, muscians, priests and managers were appointed to ensure that the activities were carried out smoothly. And the records of the kings gifts along with those of his Queens, his sister, Kundavi nachiyar, his commanders and chieftains were inscribed on the walls of the temple in the cultured script of the Chola chancery. And yet when Rajendra Chola I came to power in 1014, one of his first acts was to complete the digvijaya and in his 17th regnal year completed the Gangaikonda Solapuram Temple. Rajendra I trnasferred a sizeable part of the Tanjavur staff to man the new temple that he built. What is surprising is that, Rajendra Chola did not even leave a single inscription on the walls of this temple and we learn of his great achievements from the 12 records of his son Vira Rajendra I and his successors. The new capital built by Rajendra with the temple as its ceremonial centre is described in a number of literary works. 

Gangaikonda Sholapuram is described in Karuvur Deva's Tiru Issaipa and there is a fairly detailed account of the Chola capital in Kalingattup Parani by Jayankondar as the army marched out on the Kalinga expedition. The information provided by these literary accounts enable archaeologists locate the Chola palace. Maligai Medu has now been identified as the Chola palace which stood on a stone platform with wooden pillars that supported a highly ornamental roof. Coins, jewelry and Chinese ceramics all point to the high status enjoyed by the residents. The Muvar Ula, a peculiar kind of late Chola text, by Ottakkuttar also contains information about the city and the temple.

While speaking in the Temple, the Prime Minister drew attention to a theme that is as relevant today as it was during the reign of Rajendra Chola I (1014-1044). The Chola king returned from his victorious expedition against the Western Chalukyas, the Pandyas and even the Palas of Bengal and emptied vessels of the water of the Ganga into the huge irrigation tank he constructed, the Chola Ganga tank or Ponneri, the Golden Tank. This demonstrates the central importance of the Ganga as an integrating idea in medieval South India. The Tank was fed by channels from the Kollidam, a tributary of the Kaveri, and the Vadavarru. The water spread was over 130 square kilometers making it a substantial engineering feat.

Both Rajaraja I (985-1914) and his son and successor, Rajendra Chola I (1014-1044) lived at a time when critical changes were taking place in the doctrine and practice of Saiva religion. The Tamil region was deeply influenced by the Kashmiradesa School of Saiva theology and many learned scholars affiliated to the Kashmira school were settled in the Kaveri Delta. The immediate upshot of this was the articulation of Agamas in Chola temple and in both the Tanjavur Temple and in Gangaikonda Solapuram Temples we have agamic saivism embodied in stone with the performance of rituals closely attuned to what the texts prescribed. From the physical layout of the temple,the disposition of the subsidiary shrines, the placement of images on the walls, and the alignment of the devakoshta images we can ascertain the agama informing this temple. This historian has already published a paper on the Agamic background of Rajaraja's temple in a volume in honour of Dr K V Ramesh, one of the preeminent historians and epigraphists of medieval India.

Rajaraja I and his son Rajendra Chola have both been poorly served by historians of contemporary India. In their eagerness to establish the moral equivalence between Turkish maurauders who attacked Hindus Temples desecrated them and finally destroyed them, and indigenous rulers like Rajendra I who ocasionally relocated icons from the territory of the conquered king. I have illustrated the Mahishasuramardini image taken by Rajendra after he defeated Satyasheraya the king of the Western Chalukyas. THe image was installed in the temple where worship was offered, It was not destroyed. Hence there is no equivalence between indigenous rulers and Turkish hoardes. Similarly from Kalinga Rajendra brought back an image of Surya deva which is still under worship. It is time to reassess Indian practices in light of historical evidence and experience.

Prime Minister has honoured Tamil Nadu by his visit and I can confidently say that Rajendra would certainly bless him.

Gaza, Israel, Palestine and October 7th: Gaza Faces History

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Gaza Faces History

Enzo Traverso

Footnote, 2024

Where does the world satnd on the tragedy of October 7th 2023 when the 59 kilometer border between Israel and Gaza was berached and thousnads of HAMAS men stormed into the settlements along the breached wall and massacred with extreme brutality and violence around 1300 civilians and by definition non-combatants. Babies were killed in front of their parents in Be'eri Kibbitz and some even thrown into micro wave ovens by HAMAS militants. In the Supernova Music Festival barely a kilometer within the perimeter fence another 350 young revelers were gunned down and in the Re'im Kibbutz the same scene of nauseating violence was reeneacted all over again. The breach in the Erez border was further widened by JCBs that were pressed into service and HAMAS men trooped into Israel in SUVs and other vehicles. Soon paragliders with heavily armed Palestenians were seen over the Mediterranean near Gaza. By 8 in the morning the Palestenians had uploaded the videos of the horrendous acts of violence that were committed in Israel on Social Media with live coverage on Telegram channel of the HAMAS.

The author of the book cited above dismisses October 7th as an irrelevant detail and launches in a tirade against the Israeli response. Before discussing the book, one point must be cleared. Israeli response was brutal and highly destructive and though nearly 44 000 Gazans were killed we cannot term this as Genocide as the Palestineans in the West Bank were largely unaffected though Israel has launched punitive strikes against Palestenian targets in the West Bank as well. The UN Convention is clear in its definition of what constitutes Genocide and the savage attack against Gaza falls short of Genocide. And in terms of sheer numbers the US and NATO attacks on Iraq, Syria, and Libya caused at least 5 to 7 million deaths.  By 10 30 the IDF swung into action and started engaging the Palestenians near the breached border and in 3 days of intense fighting killed all the Palestenians holed up within Israel. The retreating HAMAS militants took nearly 250 civilians hostage and the number included Israelis, Americans, Germans and other nationalities. The capture and the cynical use of the hostages as "bargaining chips" added a new dimension to the tragedy of October 7th. 

The map illustrates the attacks on Israel and the counter launched from Israel. The militants in the early phase of the October 7 attacks launched more than 5000 rockets against targets in Israel which completely overwhelmned the Iron Dome Missile Shield and at least 2 500 rockets landed in residential areas. Israeli Air force started bombing targets in Gaza though the ground troops The ground troops entered Gaza only after 2 months  in January 2024 when full scale invasion of Gaza and limited attack on Hezbollah positions in Lebonon were carried out. This book is a critique of Israel and its policies in Palestine which the author has termed a Genocide with War Crimes galore. The western press which is inherently anti semetic/Israel and Russophobic has largely been scating in its reportage regarding the Gaza War.  Let us look at some of the criticism made.

The HAMAS has carried out attacks using civilian infrastructure as shields. In pursuit of this policy Schools, Parks, Hospitals and housing areas were seeded with rocket launching pads and in the counter offensive many civilians lost their lives. It is necessary to keep this context in mind and Enzo Traverso ignores this reality. The Jabaliya Indonesian Hospital housed the control and command post of the HAMAS along with a huge cache of arms and ammunition. Western public opinion has been moulded by generally  overstating the Palestinian case and ignoring the political and strategic reasons for Israeli action, And if the past conduct of Israel is any guide we know that Israel will take decisive and brutal countermeasures. HAMAS ought to have known the consequences of its misadventure of Ocober 7th. 

The UN Convention on Human Rights and Genocide were signed in the heady days after the victory in World War II. Terrorism since has morphed into a multi dimensional threat with or without State support. HAMAS, Houthis, Hezbollah are all non state groups and therfore operate outside of the constarints of UN charters and conventions. Israel therefore chooses not to be restrained by laws that act as fretters that bind States and not non state actors. 

This book is an excercise in intellectual polemic that is aimed at the liberal white audience,

The Tamils: A portrait of a Community Critical Review

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The Tamils Portrait of a Community

Aleph: New Delhi 2025

This book provides a close look into the dark world of politico-ethnic fantacies that is being promoted by the "Dravidian Model" partly as an ideological carapace to gloss over the rather bizzare social experiment that has been enacted in the Tamil region under the leadership of E V Ramasamy Naikker and his acolytes and to further the political objectives of the ruling dispensation. Academia and Media act in concert one furthering the discourse of the other. If indents for Zyklon are not being filled in Tamil Nadu, the answer lies in the reality that the Indian State is a reassuring presence. Like every kind of fascism Tamil Nadu, for political reason has identified one particular ethnic/caste group for instense campaign of hate and marginalization. And Stockholm Syndrome prevents its victims from even apprehending the scale and scope of their own debasement.

Let us start with the positive elements in this book. Though highly repetitive, especially on the historical aspects of medieval History, the book rests on a solid base of secondary material culled from the published work of Burton Stein, Noboru Karashima, Y Subbarayalu, Nilakanta Shastri amomg others. The geographical locus of the study is entirely Madras and Nothern Tamil Nadu with ocassional forays into Tanjavur and Madurai. The rich history and culture of the Kongu region is completely neglected except for the interegmum of Tipu Sultan and his father. The Kongu region has had a complex history and became the hub of entrepenuership and industrialization early in the twentieth century and as such deserves more engagement. 

The obsession with the so-called Sangam Age is paraded throughout the book. Using  literary narratives to frame an archaeological culture is always problematic in that it presupposes a clear and unambiguous chronology. The bardic compositions associated with the narrative poems are beset with intractable controversies relating to the dating of these poems and their modes of transmission down to the nineteenth century when they were "discovered" by Dr U V Swaminatha Aiyer. Whitney Cox has demonstrated that the Manuscript Culture prevalent in the medieval period presupposes a professional literate group with the skill set necessary to curate copy preserve the literary works. This being the case there is no truth in the oft repeated fable that the "Sangam Age" and its literary heritage was lost until the Tamil Renaissance rediscovered it.

On page 125 the author writes: "...the general boost that Brahmins received socially from royal diminished the resistance and gave brahmin landlords an inbuilt advantage that servered  them multigenerationally in the accumulation of wealth and resources". Of course when grand sweeping generalizations of this nature are made whose purpose is to play along with the dominant dravidianist narrative, we cannot expect evidence to stand in the way. Historical facts tell a different story. The brahmadeyas endowed disappeared from the agrarian landscape in the turbulent thirteenth century when the Chola Empire preciptously declined. Burton Stein has shown through a detailed study of inscriptions that brahmadeyas were not extablished after the 13th century. In fact during the later Chola period the base of royal patronage shifted from brahmadeyas to the rapidly proliferating Saiva mathas that were coming up in the Kaveri region and its environs.  So much for intergenerational accumulation that she talks about. This fixation on brahmin privilege is hardwired by vigorous propaganda in political, cinematic and media channels and of course organic intelllectuals will parrot this "wisdom" ad nauseum. Coming to more recent evidence, the fact that less than 40% of the graduates of Madras University  who got their degrees in the first commencement were of non brahmin origin. And the list of voters who were elibible to vote in the elections held as per the Minto-Morley Reforms which was on the basis of property qualification is even more damning to this self serving argument trumped up through political grandstanding.

The tales of persecution of Jains of course offends modern sensibilities. But there is no evidence to substantiate the oft repeated horror stories about jains being killed in Madurai on the orders of a Saivte King. Geograhical details are spotty. Is Udayagiri near Sanchi as stated on pg. 94. Does Marco Polo refer to the "Tower of Malla" near Nagapatinnam as remarked on pg. 79. The author ignores one of the most amazing cultural and intellectual contributions of medieval Tamil region. The appropriation and transformation of Kasmiradesa Saiva religion into the Saiva Siddhantha which became institutionalised in the mathas referred to above. Perhaps the reason for ignoring such developments can be traced back to the cautionary words spoken by a prince of the dravidianist movment. 

This book written by one trained in "Post Colonialism" must be read with extreme caution as it presnts contentious facts as though they have no context and are beyond debate.

Subash Chandra Bose, an American Historian and Politics A Terrible deplorable Mixture

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The book on the right is a collection of short essays. reviews and reflections of a Historian well entrenched in the "South Asia" baliwick. A Jewish heritage amkes him natrually drift to the left of the political spectrum, but when it comes to India we find him squarely with the Congress on all key issues. His book Brothers Against the Raj was based on material found and curated in the Netaji Research Bureau and and therefore presents the lives of Sarat and Subash from a perspective that does not annoy the family. However there is one very offensive line that I eake stong exception to: "British documents of the period note the he (Subash Chandra Bose) was presumed dead. If found alive, he would have been the only civilian tried (p.385). Tried for what Mr, Gordon? The implication of this sinsiter line is that Bose was guilty of collaborating with the Germans and the Japansese on whom the British Raj had declared war. Now it is very clear that being a subject state India had no say in this decision and Indians are at liberty to use the situation created by World War II to puruse its Independence. Leonard Gordon has crossed a line in making this absurd remark. Let me bring in the analogy of General Charles de Gaulle.

After the defeat and surrender of France, Col De Gaulle deserted Ftance and set up the Fighting France and sought soldiers in Algiers to join his force. It was only the good will of Winston Churchill that made de Gaulle join the victory parade after Liberation though his Fightin France had done precious little. And France will not question this politically convenient interpretation as (a) avoided the stigma of collaboration (b) avoided the consequences of defeat in that France was rewarded a victor and got a permanent seat on the Security Council. A defeated nation that collaborated with Germany becamr free of moral and political stain and Subash Chandra Bose who like Gaulle faught for his Nation has to be "tried" as Japan was defeated. Had the tables been turned the results would have been different.

Leonard Gordon has shown how easily his "white privilege" got his easy access to the Indian political and cultural elite. When Indira Gandhi's regime refused visa, he got Jyoti Basu and Satyajit Ray sign a joint letter requesting visa and the then Chief Minster of WEst Bengal Siddhartha Shankar Ray signed it and sent it to the PMO. If this is not privilege what else can we call it. And western scholars are able to suborn Indian loyalties very easily and this unfortunate tendency is still goin on. Every week we have the same suspects joining hands with white American scholars to lambast India. Colonialism still endures,

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The Bose Deception is germane to this discussion. There has been virulent controversy over the alleged plane crash in August 1944 in which the regime in power in India at that time and the Congress playing to the gallery declared Bose dead. As far as India is concerned the people at large refused to buy this self serving theory especially as the British Government under Clement Atlee decided to Transfer Power to Jawaharlal Nehru and his Party. Bose dead would have been very convenient to this arrangement and this explains why the Intelligence Bureau kept track of Bose and kept up very close surveillence on the family.

Subash Chandra Bose remains the only Hero of the Freedom Struggle.

The Deep State, the Truth and the Battle for our Democray. Kash Patel exposes the Swamp

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Anybody with doubts about the democratic credentials of USA must read this book. Kashyap Pramod Patel, the presumptive head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the new Administration of President Trump has exposed the ugly underbelly of what he calls the Swamp or the Deep State. That USA is in a state of permanent war with the rest of the world in well known: less so are the institutional and ideological compulsions behind the constant drum beat of war and military adventures. When President Trump  left Office in 2020 there was an uneasy peace which was soon shattered by the Ukraine-Russia War. It is now generally assumed that had Trump not been deprived of his victory in the 2020  Election, the pretext for Russian invasion, the NATO membership for Ukraine would not have been present. As we survey the world today we see a widening arc of conflict from Central Europe, to Iraq, Israel, Gaza, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangla Desh. Taiwan was a point of contention even in his first term and North Korea was far less beligerent during his term in the White House.

Kash Patel as he obviously likes being called is the son of Gujarathi immigarnts who settled in Queens, New York after Idi Amin expelled Indians from Uganda. A lwayer by profession, Kash Patel worked in Florida and caught the eye of the Republican establishment there as a "public defender". In this memoir of his four years in the first Trump Administration, Patel was instrumental in exposing the deep conspiracy that emanated from the Democrat Party and the Campaign headquarters of Hilary Clinton. Joe biden has even awarded her the Presidental Medal of Honor. Using a disgraced MI6 agent Christopher Steele to prepare a "dossier" with fabricated evidence, the Deep State and its assets in the Media such as the Washington Post and New York Times ran a vicious campaign to descredit Trump as a :Russian Agent". The methods used were similar to the ones used in India to run the false narrative against Narendra Modi and his alleged involvement in the 2002 Gujarat Riots. In both cases a high decibel campaign of  slander, selective leaks, motivated public statements and lawfare were used to create a narrative. Kash Patel was part of the Congressional team investigatiing Russia Gate and the Nunnes Memo estabished the fact that Trump was in no way connected with Vladmir Putin. It is shocking that well respected global newspapers sold themselves for political causes  that are close to the Deep State.

The most damning part of the book is when Kashyap Patel discusses the Benghazi killings of the American Ambassador and his staff in the compound of the Embassy. Obama who dis bot want the Inquiry damage the political climate for Hilary Clinton's Presidential Campaign used the FBI leadership to scuttle the probe. Real crimes involving American citizens were set aside and FBI misused to harass and intimidate ordinary citizens suggests that in the brave new world of Hi Tech USA, totalitarianism lurks. And there is no defence as even the courts are compromised.  FBI and its leadership was again deployed for political purposes when  the Director made a public statement knowing that it was false that Hunter Biden's lap top which contained documents relating to his deals in Ukraine was a Russian plant and Russian Disinformation. The failure of FBI to investigate the hunter Biden Lap top and the egregious corruption it proves indicates that the security apparatus was being misused. Kash Patel is livid and he regard both the FBI and the ODNI as parts of the corrupt Deep State.

Kashyap Patel is perhaps being too simplistic when he attacks an entity called the Deep State, It is in reality too diffuse, too complex and too widespread to be apprehended in a single term or word. Perhaps we should call it an ideology that believes in western dominance, permanent war, covert and overt interventions in parts of the world where economic and geopolitical interests converge, and selective use of law and ultimately its foreign policy is militaristic and costly in terms of blood and tresaure, US interventions in Serbia, Iraq, Libya and Syria have all been fueled by a pliant media willing to sell the War Now line.

I enjoyed reading this book. I encourage geopolitical and foreign policy experts in India to read this book as Kashp Patel will move into the White House from the FBI Headquarters. politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books