[world-vedic] THE SWORD OF SIMHA VISHNU

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THE SWORD OF SIMHA VISHNU

Desikan srinivasan

desik

Venu (Pen name)

 

 

 

It was the end of 500s when I came into the possession of Simha Vishnu,

the founder of the Pallava dynasty. Simha means Lion and Vishnu is the

name of God who takes charge of day to day activities of life and the

preservation of creation.(It also refers to Vishnu's Avatar as the

Half-Man Half-Lion, known as Shri Narasimha.)

True to his name, Simha vishnu was a lion for his enemies and came to

power by defeating them. The dynasty he found ruled for more than two

centuries with prosperity. I was used by him in a number of wars he

fought against his enemies.

 

After his death, I came into the possession of his son,Mahendravarman.

He was a saivayite and a learned man. He liked arts and culture. He was

very successful in the beginning by keeping all his enemies under

control. He is also a good painter and started the construction of rock

cut temples in Mahabalipuram. I was immensely pleased to reside in the

hands of the famous king. On my first visit to the site with him, I was

taken aback by the massive employment of people in the construction.

The sound of the hammer and chisel cutting the hard mountain rocks was

too much even for some one like me who had seen even harsher sounds in

many wars.

 

Mahendravarman also constructed lot of temples in his capital city of

Kanchi. I think this was at this time, some famous poet sung this

famous poem.

 

 

Naarishu Ramba,

Naarishu Vishnu,

.......

Nagareshu Kanchi"

 

The meaning went this way. Ramba , the heavenly dancer is the beautiful

women in the world while Lord Vishnu is the most beautiful Man. In the

same way the poem praised Kanchi as the most beautiful city on earth.

He also made cave temples at Pallavapuram, seeyamangalam,

thirukazhukundram, mandagapattu, maamandur, thalavaanur, singavaram,

Mahendravadi and Trichy.

By this time, I started observing the young son of Mahendravarman. His

name was Narasimhavarman. He had a well built body and his activities

showed that he is intelligent. He had established a name for himself in

the "Mallyudha" or Wrestling. He had defeated great wrestlers known at

that time and was awarded the title "Mammalla" meaning "Great

Wrestler". I know that, even in future I will be going into worthy

hands.

 

 

 

 

Now came the worst part. Pulekisin II , the great chalukya ruler learnt

about the riches of kanchi and wanted to capture it. He came with a

huge army and defeated Mahendravarman at Pullalur in 620 A.D. It was a

great insult to the pallavas and Mahendravarman in particular. This

ruined his health . I saw Mahendravarman's defeat at Pullalur and his

attempt to take revenge in a series of battles with Pulikesin in the

northern part of Tamil nadu. All went in vain and he died a broken man

in 630 A.D.

When Narasimhavarman ascended the throne in 630 A.D, his prime vow was

to revenge the insult done to his father. By this time I have gone very

weak after facing countless wars. Narasimhavarman took me with him, not

as a weapon to fight but as a guide to remind him of his duty. In me he

saw his father and that used to bring him back the memories of defeat.

With immense strength and tact he defeated Pulikesi II in the Battle of

Manimangalam and Pariyalam. It was also said that he completely burnt

the capital city of Pulikesi. I was too tired and weak that I could not

even go out of the camp to see what was happening outside.

 

Next thing I remember vaguely is when he took me to Mahabalipuram where

he had restarted the construction of cave temples which was stopped by

the war for more than a decade. But I felt very proud later when

Narasimhavarman personally introduced me to the great Chinese traveller

Hiuen Tsang during the later's visit to Kanchi, as the great companion

of his father and whom his father respected.

 

Narasimhavarman completed the cave temples of Mahabalipuram and also

constructed many temples . He is also the greatest ruler of the

Pallavas.

 

Years rolled, decades passed and I was passed on to the successors of

Narasimhavarman. Though they were able rulers, none could match the

tact and intelligence of Narasimhavarman. But somehow they were able to

safeguard the territory until the 800s when the Cholas rose back and

completely rooted out the Pallava dynasty. With that came the end of

one of the greatest dynasty which contributed much to the arts and

culture of ancient India.