Cholas in focus: 12th century war poem ‘Kalingathu Parani’ celebrates the dynasty’s exploits against the Kalinga kingdom

The poem is narrated by ghosts who are companions of a fearsome goddess called Anangu

In the spirit of competition, the Chodaganga built the current structure of Puri’s Jagannath Temple in the 12th  century, to rival the height of the Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur built by Rajaraja Chola in the 11th  century. When it was discovered that the masonry was a few feet short, the king ordered a long iron flag pole shaped like a discus to be placed on top, so that Jagannath’s flag would flutter higher.

Like the Tamil people, the people of Kalinga were fiercely independent, and declared their autonomy through their deity, Jagannath, who was an amalgam of Shaiva, Vaishnava, Sakta and tribal practices. Later, the Chodagangas would insist they were mere viceroys of Jagannath, distancing themselves from the practice started by some Chola kings who identified themselves with Shiva.

Kalinga kings were known as Gajapati, as they were masters of elephants. Hundreds of elephants would be used to clear the path of the Kalinga army, and block the progress of enemy soldiers. To outmanoeuvre such a moving wall of pachyderms was no mean feat. Hence, it deserved a  parani.

What is interesting about  Kalingathu Parani, translated to English by Kausalya Hart, made accessible by Project Madurai, is that the narration is by ghosts. These ghosts are companions of a fearsome goddess, Anangu. She seems similar to the goddess known in Shakta literature as Chamunda, and is traceable to the Vedic goddess Niritti and the Tamil goddess Kotravai. She is linked to dry, hot, barren landscapes and to battlefields wet with blood.

In art, this goddess is shown holding weapons in her hand, surrounded by ghosts, seated on rotting corpses, entertained by carrion crows and wild dogs. The battleground is her sacred space, where she receives blood offered by men aspiring to be heroes.

The poem begins with prayers to many Puranic and Tantrik deities as well as to the  Vedas. There is hope that the tiger banner of the Cholas will flutter over other royal banners displaying the boar, the plough, the deer, the lion, the fish and the bow, and inscriptions of Chola conquests carved on Himalayan slopes.

Then come passages describing the yearning and erotic longing of the beautiful wives of warriors — a foreshadowing of the misery of war widows. Then comes description of the goddess, Anangu, her forest, her ghosts, and the temple they built to her with the skull of fallen kings, and bones of animals killed in battle. The goddess, a beloved of Shiva, wears elephant hide, with girdles made of its intestines. Her hand is red with the blood of warriors felled by valiant kings in her honour.