,
32 tweets,
6 min read
Read on Twitter
So, this meme in the tweet.
I think I have a thing or two to say about it. So, please bear with me through this thread.
I think I have a thing or two to say about it. So, please bear with me through this thread.
What is it that the so-called RW in India is often accused of? "A false sense of pride in India's past"? I have a feeling this meme fits that description with a slight modification.
Tamil Nadu has plenty to be proud of. In the present, it leads the country in terms of several important HDI indices, employment creation etc. etc. Historically, the architecture of its temples, schools of philosophy, cultural connect with SE Asia and so on.
Which is why it makes me sad that a meme that is rife with historical inaccuracies is seen as fascinating because it shows that "TN (and Kerala) have ALWAYS kept out of pan-India political formations".
The qualifier "always" is problematic, which is why I've capitalised it, even if @ShoaibDaniyal original statement does not do it.
Let's see how.
Let's see how.
The creator of the meme cannot use the excuse of ignorance, because he/she has used dates very intelligently. Which is what makes the claim "always" problematic.
If you have to show that a part of India stayed out of "political formations"/empires, you'll have to look at the empire at its peak in terms of geographical spread.
If we were to go with the conventional understanding that the Mauryan empire reached the peak of its spread under Ashoka, why are we looking at it in 293BC? Notice that Kalinga is also not part of the Mauryan empire in the meme. 
The evidence from primary sources on the geographical spread of the MAuryan empire is not very clear. But let's look at what we have, foggy as it may be.
a. Taranatha, the Tibetan historian, in his History of Buddhism claims that Bindusara was "master of all territories between the eastern and western seas". (VA Smith quoting Taranatha)
Admittedly, Taranatha is writing this almost 2000 years after Bindusara.
There are claims that Mamoolanar and Paranar, Tamil poets, refer to Vamba Moriyar, in their works and that this is the Maurya upstart (Chandragupta Maurya)
There are claims that Mamoolanar and Paranar, Tamil poets, refer to Vamba Moriyar, in their works and that this is the Maurya upstart (Chandragupta Maurya)
But we do know that Ashoka edicts are found as far down south as Nellore (AP) and Brahmagiri (KA). But most important is Ashoka's Major Rock Edict no.13.
It opens with the conquest of Kalinga, goes on about Ashoka's turn towards Dhamma, and that subsequent conquests were Dhamma-based, and not war-based.
Ashoka goes on to say that this conquest was won by Devanamapiya over his borderers as well, and lists Greek kings and Cholas and Pandyas ruling as far as Tamraparni.
Now to Major Rock Edict No. 2 which talks about Ashoka sending two kinds of medical men, those for people and those for cattle. And that he sent them to the territories of those on his borders, Cholas, Pandya, Satyaputras and Keralaputras.
Based on this, we can say that the Cholas, Pandyas and Cheras remained on the borders of Ashoka's empire, while still accommodating the Dhammic services he sent forth. One can't conclusively claim that they were part of the Mauryan political formation.
While however, they did maintain friendly relations with the Mauryan empire of 273BCE. Why does the meme use 293BCE then?
I leave that to you. Moving on to the next one where the evidence is much more clear.
I leave that to you. Moving on to the next one where the evidence is much more clear.
The Delhi Sultanate. Again, the reference year. 1323 CE. Why is this important? Because Madurai faced a major invasion by Ulugh Khan (later to be crowned as Muhammad Bin Tughlaq-MBT) in 1323 CE.
Of course, there were earlier invasions, by Malik Kafur in 1311 CE and Khusro Khan in in 1314 CE. But MBT's invasion was so brutal that the Pandyas lost their ancestral capital of Madurai and moved down south.
The invasion weakened (almost destroyed, let's say) the Pandyan empire so much that in the same year, 1323, the Jaffna kingdom of Sri Lanka,that had been paying tribute to Pandyas since 1258, declared its independence.
Having lost Madurai and their feudatories in SL, the Pandyas were limited to ruling a few districts in south Tamil Nadu. This would provide safety to those taking the idol of Sri Rangam (after it fell), but that's another thread.
What happened to Madurai? Well, it promptly became part of the Delhi Sultanate, under the Governor of Ma'bar province of the Sultanate in 1323.
See why the reference years used in the meme are mischievous?
See why the reference years used in the meme are mischievous?
This Governor, Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan, declared independence soon after MBT became embroiled in his experiments, and by 1335 (when he struck his own coins) the Madurai Sultanate was born.
The Madurai Sultanate was short-lived, lasting about half a century, but it wasn't because TN refused to be part of any pan-India political formations. It was because Kumara Kampanna and the Vijayanagar destroyed the Madurai Sultanate.
It is important to note here that with the creation of Vijayanagar in 1336, Harihara and Bukka already took parts of Karnataka and Andhra out of the "pan-India political formation", before Madurai Sultanate was fully independent.
Now to the 3rd part of the meme. Again the year 1699. Why not let's say 1677? Because then, we'll have to admit that Gingee fort (in Vizhuppuram) had been captured by Sivaji.
Gingee and a part of the territory around it would remain with the Marathas until a 8-year long siege by Aurangazeb's forces would capture in 1698.
Again, see why the reference year of 1699 is mischievous?
Again, see why the reference year of 1699 is mischievous?
Parallely, you also have the Thanjavur Marathas whose rule controlled the fertile Kaveri delta. The Madurai Nayaks continued to rule over south TN from Madurai.
We need to understand that neither of these were indigenous Tamil rulers. The Marathas, were form Maharashtra and the Nayaks were from Vijayanagar empire.
Subsequently, TN would be controlled variously between the Poligar (Palayakkarar) successors of the Vijayanagar Nayaks, the Nawab of Arcot, Mysore, and eventually, like the rest of India, by the British.
I repeat, none of this discredits TN's achievements and gains of the past or present, as compared to the rest of India. At the same time, the "fascinating meme" showing how "TN(and Kerala)have always kept out of pan-India political formations" is mischievous and false.
The thread went longer than I thought it would. Well, what's an extra tweet or two over a story of 2 millenia? Thank you for your patience. #End
