The existence of this king has not yet been scientifically confirmed and is only evident from religious literature such as Periyapuranam, semi-biographical poems of the later Chola period, and temple and cave inscriptions.

Description

Two names stand out prominently from among those of the Cōḷa kings known to the Sāngam literature; and their memory is cherished in song and legend by a loving posterity; they are those of Karikāla and Kōccengaṇān.

1

The life of Kōccengaṇān, like that of Karikāla, came to gather a haze of legend round itself; and it is necessary to avoid mixing up facts drawn from contemporary sources with the beliefs of later times. A song in the Puṟanānūṟu and the forty verses that contitute the poem Kaḷavaḷi by Poygaiyār frome the earliest evidence on this king’s life.

The references to him in the hymns of Tiruñānasambandar and Tirumangai Āḷvār as well as Sundaramūrti take us to the next stage in which the emphasis falls on the religious side of the king’s life.

He figures also in the legendary genealogy of the Cōḷa copper-plates of the tenth and eleventh centuries though his place in the list is not the same in all.

2

Informations

Preamble: no preamble of the Chola ruler available

Title: no ruler title available

Year of birth: no date available

Place of birth: no location available

Year of death: no date available

Place of death: no location available

Reign: no information about his reign

Seat of government: no location available

Predecessor: no name available

Successor: no name available

Father: no information about his father

Mother: no information about his mother

Wives: no information about his wives

Children: no information about his children

Era: Sangam period

Time period: Early Cholas

Pictures

no picture available

no picture available

  1. Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta, The Cōḷas, 1955, p. 30 ↩
  2. Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta, The Cōḷas, 1955, p. 51 ↩