Karikala Chola

Karikala Cholan
Peruvaḷattān Tirumāvaḷavan
Bronze statue of Karikāla Chōḻaṉ
Reign	c. 190 CE
Predecessor	Ilamcetcenni
Queen	Alli – Velir princess
Issue	Nalankilli Neḍunkiḷḷi Māvalattān
Father	Ilamcetcenni

Karikala was a Chola king who ruled in southern India during the Sangam period. He is recognised as the greatest of the Early Cholas. Though there is disagreement between scholars on the dating of his reign, the most widely accepted date is 190 CE, which has been arrived at through the Gajabahu synchronism.

The story of Karikala is mixed with legend and anecdotal information gleaned from Sangam literature. No authentic records of Karikala's reign has been found so far. The only sources available are the numerous mentions in Sangam poetry. The period covered by the extant literature of the Sangam is unfortunately not easy to determine with any measure of certainty.

Paṭṭiṉappālai, Poruṇarāṟṟuppaṭai and a number of individual poems in the Akanaṉūṟu and Purananuru have been the main source for the information that is attributed to Karikala.

Karikala was the son of Ilamcetcenni. The name Karikalan has been held to mean "the man with the charred leg" and perpetuates the memory of a fire accident in the early years of his life. Some scholars also hold the view kari and kalan are Tamil words meaning "slayer of elephants". Poruṇarāṟṟuppaṭai describes the back-formed origin legend of this incident as follows:

The king of Urayur Ilamcetcenni married a Velir princess from Azhundur and she became pregnant and gave birth to Karikala. Ilamcetcenni died soon after. Due to his young age, Karikala's right to the throne was overlooked and there was political turmoil in the country. Karikala was exiled. When normality returned, the Chola ministers sent a state elephant to look for the prince. The elephant found the prince hiding in Karuvur. His political opponents arrested and imprisoned him. The prison was set on fire that night. Karikala escaped the fire and, with the help of his uncle Irum-pitar-thalaiyan, defeated his enemies. Karikala’s leg was scorched in the fire and from thence Karikala became his name.