Aryacakravarti dynasty: Difference between revisions

{{Royal house|

| founder = [[KalingaKulasekara Magha|Kulingai CakravartiCinkaiariyan]]

| founding year = 1200s1277 CE

| cadet branches = None
}}

The '''Arya Chakravarti dynasty''' ({{lang-langx|ta|ஆரியச் சக்கரவர்த்திகள் வம்சம்}}, [[Sinhalese language|Sinhalese]]: ආර්ය චක්‍රවර්තීචක්&zwj;රවර්තී රාජවංශය) were kings of the [[Jaffna Kingdom]] in [[Sri Lanka]]. The earliest Sri Lankan sources, between 1277 and 1283, mention a military leader of this name as a minister in the services of the [[Pandyan Empire]]; he raided the western Sri Lankan coast and took the politically significant [[relic]] of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]’s's [[tooth]] from the [[History of Sri Lanka|Sinhalese]] capital city of [[Yapahuwa]]. Political and military leaders of the same family name left a number of [[inscriptions]] in the modern-day [[Tamil Nadu]] state, with dates ranging from 1272 to 1305, during the late [[Pandyan Empire]]. According to contemporary native literature, such as ''Cekaracecekaramalai'', the family also claimed lineage from the [[Iyer|Tamil Brahmins]] of the prominent [[Hindu]] [[pilgrimage]] [[temple]] of [[Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram|Rameswaram]] in the modern [[Ramanathapuram District]] of India.<ref name=":1" /> They ruled the Jaffna kingdom from the 13th until the 17th century, when the last of the dynasty, [[Cankili II]], was ousted by the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]].

From the thirteenth-century inscriptions commemorating dignitaries calling themselves Aryacakravartis in present-day [[Tamil Nadu]] we can deduce that they hailed from the coastal region of present-day [[Ramanathapuram District]], which they called ''Cevvirukkai Nadu''. They administered land and held important military ranks. It is believed that most of them belonged to one family of [[Iyer|Tamil Brahmins]] in the modern Ramanathapuram District who had become prominent during the days of the Pandyan king [[Maaravaramban Kulasekara Pandyan I|Maravarman Kulasekaran]].<ref name=P11>{{Cite book|url=http://noolaham.org/wiki/index.php/The_Kingdom_of_Jaffna?uselang=en|title=The Kingdom of Jaffna|last=Pathmanathan|first=Subramanium|publisher=M. Rajendran|year=1978|page=11|language=ta|archive-url=https://archive.vntoday/PVrBe20201110110548/https://noolaham.net/project/38/3706/3706.pdf|archive-date=10 November 2020|access-date=10 November 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> The kings of [[Jaffna Kingdom]] claimed the title ''Sethukavalar'' meaning "the guardian of ''Cetu''”".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kj_aWm4DeFEC|title=The Sri Lanka Reader: History, Culture, Politics|last=Holt|first=John|publisher=Duke University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0822349822|page=83|language=en}}</ref>

Furthermore, the title ''Cakravarti'' seem to have been commonly used in the Pandyan kingdom as a [[caste]] or job title. Compound titles exist, such as ''Maravacakravarti'' that belonged to a [[Maravar]] chief as well as ''Malavacakravarti'' that belonged to a ''Malava'' chief. ''Ariyar'' in [[Tamil language|Tamil]] could denote a noble or a learned person, a [[Brahmin]] or alternatively a person from [[Aryavarta]]. Thus the title ''Ariyacakravarti'' seems to fit the structure of similarly used titles across the Pandyan kingdom.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://noolaham.org/wiki/index.php/The_Kingdom_of_Jaffna?uselang=en|title=The Kingdom of Jaffna|last=Pathmanathan|first=Subramanium|publisher=M. Rajendran|year=1978|pages=11–13|language=ta|archive-url=https://archive.vntoday/PVrBe20201110110548/https://noolaham.net/project/38/3706/3706.pdf|archive-date=10 November 2020|access-date=10 November 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.whatisindia.com/inscriptions/south_indian_inscriptions/volume_22/part_1/miscellaneous.html

The ''Cekaracecekaramalai'' written during the Aryacakravarti rule in Jaffna asserts that the direct ancestors of the Kings belonged to a group of 512 Ariyar (a [[Brahmin]] priestly [[caste]]) of the [[Pasupata]] sect of the Rameswaram Hindu temple. The source also claims that two out of the 512 were selected as Kings of Ariyars.<ref name=":1">Pathamanathan, ''The Kingdom of Jaffna'', p. 9</ref> It also explains that a direct ancestor of the kings was a scribe in the Pandyan kingdom and was called during a war with other kingdoms to assist the king, and that the ancestors of the kings fought in wars against kings in the [[Hoysala]] and [[Karnataka]].{{citation<ref needed|datename=Marchp4.5/><ref>Kamath, 2020}}''A concise history of Karnataka : from pre-historic times to the present'', p. 118</ref>

|url = httphttps://wwwarchives.sundayobserver.lk/2005/04/10/fea08.html

|url-status = deadlive

{{QuoteBlockquote|Beloved Kokila, wing the way to Yapa Patuna. Our Prince Sapumal has driven away from there King Arya Chakravarti, and has established himself in war-like might. To him, I offer this message. Arya Chakravarti beheld his glory, dazzling as the glory of the sun. He beheld his might which was poised throughout the eighteen ''ratas''. Thereupon grief entered into his heart, he abandoned his realm and fled beyond the sea.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.beyondthenet.net/medit/esalacover.htm|title=Buddhist Jaffna|access-date=2008-01-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719172604/http://www.beyondthenet.net/medit/esalacover.htm|archive-date=2011-07-19|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

The Tenkasi Ten inscription of Arikesari Parakrama Pandya of [[Tirunelveli|Tinnevelly]] who saw the backs of kings at Singai, Anurai,' and else whereelsewhere, may refer to kings of Singai. Singai or [[Singai Nagar|Cinkainakar]] being the capital of Arayacakravartis and Anurai the name for any Sinhalese capital; it is dated between 1449/50 and 1453/54.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lakdiva.org/codrington/chap06.html

[[Marco Polo]] was a [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] trader and explorer who gained fame for his worldwide travels. These were recorded in the book ''Il Milione'' ("The Million" or ''[[The Travels of Marco Polo]]''). He reached a port in the northern part of present-day Sri Lanka between 1292–12941292 and 1294. According to him the local king was an independent ruler who did not pay tribute to any other monarchs.<ref>Gnaprakasar, ''A critical history of Jaffna,'' p. 84</ref> He named the king as ''Cantheman'', which is considered to be a corruption of ''Cinkaiariyan''.<ref>Nadarajan, ''History of Sri Lanka'', p. 75</ref> Polo's was followed by a visit by [[John of Montecorvino]], who was a [[Franciscan]] missionary, traveller and statesman. He wrote in December 1291 (or 1292), the earliest noteworthy account of the [[Coromandel Coast|Coromandel coast]] furnished by any Western European. According to him, he saw the wreckage of sixty seagoing vessels in the general area of Jaffna.<ref>Natarajan, ''History of Ceylon Tamils,'' p. 76</ref>

[[Giovanni de' Marignolli]], a notable traveller to the Far East in the 14th century, came to Sri Lanka sometimes between 1330 and 1350. He wrote in great detail about the country, its peoples and customs. According to him, the northern part of the island was ruled by a queen, with whom he had many audiences, who also lavished him with precious gifts. This queen is considered to be the mother of an Aryackaravarti and a [[regent]] who ruled on behalf of her young son. The so-called "[[Catalan Map]]" drawn in 1375 also indicates that northern Sri Lanka was ruled by a queen.<ref>Natarajan, ''History of Ceylon Tamils'', pp. 78–79</ref> Before Marignolli, there was another traveler, Friar Ordrick, who landed in Jaffna in 1322; he also wrote about the prosperity of the kingdom. According him {{quoteblockquote|"The gold, silver and pearls this king had in his possession cannot be found anywhere else in the world".<ref>Natarajan, ''History of Ceylon Tamils,'' p. 77</ref>}}

[[File:Nallur Kandasamy front entrance.jpg|thumb|left| Tradition claims that the [[Nallur Kandaswamy Temple]] was constructed by the first Aryacakravarti king.]] In his ''Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon'', Father Queroz records a tradition as {{QuoteBlockquote|In course of time, there came some [[Brahmins|Brahmanes]], natives of [[Gujarat|Guzarata]] called Arus, who claiming royal descent; and with the favor of [[Madurai Nayak Dynasty|Nayque of Madura]], they erected a [[Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram|pagoda]] at [[Rameswaram|Ramancor]], whence they began to have trade and friendship with the king of [[Jaffna Kingdom|Jaffnapatae]], and one of them married a daughter of the king; and finally her descendants became heirs to the Kingdom.<ref>Fernao de Queyroz, ''The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon'' p. 48</ref>}}

The current consensus held by historians such as S. Pathmanathan, Patrick Peebles and K.M. de Silva is that the Aryacakravartis were a Pandyan feudatory family that took power after the chaos created by the invasions of Kalinga Magha and Chandrabhanu. That the family was connected to the Ramanathapuram Hindu temple and was of [[Iyer|Tamil Brahmin]] origin. It may have married into the family of [[GangasEastern Ganga dynasty|easternEastern gangasGangas]] or even for that matter the Chandrabanu's successors, but the direct undeniable evidence for it is lacking. The influence of Eastern gangas in its royal flag and the coins is indisputable. Kulingai Cakravarti mentioned by the Tamil chronicles of the Kingdom may have been Kalingha Magha.<ref>Coddrington, ''Ceylon Coins and Currency'', p. 74</ref><ref>Coddrington, ''Short history of Ceylon'', pp. 91–92</ref><ref>Pathmanathan, ''The Kingdom of Jaffna'', pp. 1–13</ref><ref>de Silva, ''A History of Sri Lanka'', p. 132</ref><ref>Peebles, ''The history of Sri Lanka'', pp. 31–32</ref>

| title = The Jaffna Dynasty | publisher = Dynasty of Jaffna King’sKing's Historical Society | year= 2003