Nayanar 68: Kochengat Chola (Koccenkat-cola) or Sengenar (Cenkanar)

The 68th saint is Koccenkat-cola Nayanar (Kochengat Chola). The words of Arurar are, “Tennavanay ulakanta Cenkanarkkatiyen”— ‘I am the servant of Cenkanar (Sengenar) who ruled the world as the Emperor of the South.’ Tennavan usually means the Pandya, but Arurar here uses it in the sense of the Southern ruler. It is from this point of view that Cekkilar speaks of all the rulers who invaded South India or Tamil Lands as the Northern kings or ‘Vatapulattaracar’.

It is curious to note that Tirumankaiyalvar also refers to him as ‘Ulakamanta Tennatan’ (Tirunaraiyurp Pathigam 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 & 9) reminding us of Arurar s phrase ‘Tennavanay Ulakanta’. He is also spoken of as the victor, the king of the northern country and the western Konku. It is Tirumankaiyalvar who gives us the information that he has built 70 temples to Shiva and Nampiyarurar refers to this Cola king as one who built Nannilam temple. Campantar speaks of Ampar temple Vaikal Matakkoyil and Tan-talai ml neri as having been built by this great Cola.

Even by the time of these saints, his story has become a mythological one and a tradition in the Tamil country. Arurar speaks of the previous birth of this king. God was pleased with a spider and made it Koccenkanan Appar and Campantar give a detailed version of this story. A spider put up a cobweb of a ‘pantali with its saliva, covering it with dry leaves to form a canopy over the linga at Tiruvdnaikka. God was so pleased with the kind act of even this insect that he made it be born in the Cola country of the Kaviri fame as Koccenkanan.

Appar states that as soon as this spider died, it was made king Koccenkanan The cause of its death is explained in the following way. There was an elephant which was also worshipping at Thiruvanaikaval according to the accepted practice, the elephant being the ‘Airdvatha’ of Indra. The elephant looked upon the cobweb as so much rubbish and removed it. Thereupon the spider became enraged and got into the trunk of the elephant to give it trouble. The elephant dashed its trunk on the ground and the poor spider died. Lord Shiva appeared and blessed the spider to be born as the Cola whilst the white elephant was allowed to return to Heavens. This story is given in detail by Cekkilar. After having ruled the world as Koccenkanan, God allowed him to enter the group of Sivaganas in his next birth—that is what Appar tells us. Campantar also refers to the spider becoming the Cola. He begins to explain the name as “Ceyya Kan Irai”; “Ceyya Kan Valavan”; “Cenkatpeyar Kontavan” though he mentions also the name Koccenkanan.

Nampiyantar Nampi speaks of this Cola as one who never thought of any faith other than Shaivism. He refers to the spider becoming the king and building temples. He writes two verses: In the first of it he gives the story of Koccenkanan and in the second he speaks of Koccenkanan as the ancestor of the king who passed away during the life of Nampiyantar, the king whom we identified with Aditya I.

Cekkilar’s story is much more graphic and detailed. We had already referred to the spider and the elephant. The father of Koccenkanan according to Periyapuranam was Subhadeva and his mother Kamalavati. The parents worshipped at Tillai. The mother kepi herself hanging upside down which reminds us of the birth of Karikala so that the child might be born in an auspicious hour to rule the whole world. After giving birth at the proper time, she expired. As soon as Cenkanan grew up to manhood, the father abdicated the throne in his favour and returned to the forest as an ascetic, Koccenkanan built many temples, endowed them richly for their daily worship and for the Brahmins at Tillai. This mythological story is mentioned in the Thiruvalangadu plates of Rajendra.

The Kannada and Sanskrit traditions translate his name as Raktaksa Cola and give us the story as found in Periyapuranam.

One of the Darasuram sculptures gives us the representation of the story with the inscription Ko-Sengapperumal underneath it. In this sculpture there is a temple with the vimana in which stands the king with the crown and flowing clothes with flying ends. He holds the hands in the anjali pose.

The colophon to the Purananuru (Verse 74) says that the verse was sung by Ceraman Kanaikkal Irumporai who was defeated by Colan Cenkanan and that he sang it before his death. But Tamil Navalar earitai states that this verse was said to Poykaiyar by the Ceraman and Poykaiyar sang the glories of the Cola fight in Kalavali Nar-patu to please the Cola and obtain the release of his king and patron Ceraman. The colophon to the Cankam poems is preferred to the statements in the Tamil Navalar earitai but in the absence of any specific reference in this verse itself the colophon is not conclusive.

It is clear from what we have been writing that Koccenkanan’s name has become one of mythological importance, under whose name all sorts of stories grew sometimes as the stories of his previous birth, sometimes as the stories of his future birth. His name has come to be remembered as the greatest temple builder. He has built Shiva temples and also Visnu temples. That is the tradition and it is very difficult to say whether he had built all the seventy Shiva temples himself. The names of his parents must have been invented in later times when high sounding Sanskrit terms captured the minds of people, long after the age of Arurar. It is not also clear whether the Koccenkanan of the Cankam age is this very Koccenkanan, the saint and the temple builder. In any case, if Appar could be taken as having been born in the closing years of the sixth century at least one or two generations are necessary to have elapsed before him so as to enable the people of his times to believe in the story of the spider becoming the king.

Tirumankaiyalvar refers to Koccenkanan in his two hymns on Tirunaraiyur. He speaks of the temple there as a ‘matakkoyil’ in his Periya Tirumafal. In the first of the hymns, he refers to the Cofa as Cenkol Valavan, the correct reading should be Cenkol Valavan. In the third hymn (6:6), in every verse he refers to this Cola.

The first verse speaks of him as Cempiyan Koccen-kanan.

The second verse speaks of his greatness as the greatness of the Kaviri.

The third verse refers to the battla of Venni in which he became victorious. He is there referred to have used a divine sword and the Vaishnavite commentators explain this reference as referring to a sword given by the Lord of Tirunaraiyur.

The 4th verse also refers to this battle-field.

The 5th verse speaks of him as the Lord of the Cola country, the northern country and the southern Tamil country, whereas in the 3rd verse and the 4th verse the Alvar was speaking of victorious kings defeated and killed.

The 6th verse speaks of the chieftain Vilan-taivel of the Velir community who was conquered and killed by Koccenkanan, the Lord of the southern country and of the west Konku. The verse refers to him as Kulaccolan and describes the greatness of Kaviri.

The 8th verse refers to this Cola building 70 matakkoyil to Shiva and his ruling the world. The old Vaishnavite commentators state that this Cola failed to get his desires fulfilled by the construction of those 70 Shiva temples and, therefore, took refuge in the feet of Ma ha visnu at Tirunaraiyur.

The 9th verse speaks of the battle of Aluntai where the Cola cut away the bodies of kings. The battle of Kalumalam referred to in Kalavali Narpatu (36) “Kaviri Natan Kalumalam konta nal” is not at all mentioned by this Alvar. Nor, is there, a reference to the Cera mentioned in Kalavali—“Vancikko atta kalattu” (39). One may doubt therefore whether this Koccenkanan is identical with the Koccenkanan of Kalavali. The Venni battle reminds us of Karikala who defeated the Cera king Ceralatan. But this must be a different battle. The Cola seems to have been subduing the Velir chieftains who were proclaiming themselves as this king and that king is mentioned in “Pardlar arivar enru....” (6:6).