Sthanu Ravi Varma ( early Malayalam and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

: Ko Tanu Iravi), known as the Kulasekhara, was the

Chera Perumal Chera Perumals of Makotai, also known as the Perumal dynasty of KeralaThapar, Romila'', The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300.'' Penguin Books, 2002. 331-32., or Cheraman Perumal dynasty of MahodayapuramNoburu Karashmia ...

ruler of Kerala in southern India from 844/45 to 870/71 AD.Noburu Karashmia (ed.),
A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations
'' New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 143-44.'Changes in Land Relations during the Decline of the Cera State,' In Kesavan Veluthat and Donald R. Davis Jr. (eds),
Irreverent History:- Essays for M.G.S. Narayanan
'' Primus Books, New Delhi, 2014. 74-75. He is the earliest

ruler known to scholars. The Chera Perumal relations with the

Chola dynasty The Chola dynasty was a Tamils, Tamil thalassocratic Tamil Dynasties, empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated ...

were inaugurated during the reign of Sthanu Ravi.Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 64-66 and 78-79. The famous Quilon Syrian Christian copper plates are dated in the fifth regnal year of king Sthanu Ravi. Two more inscriptions dated in the regnal years of Sthanu Ravi can be found at

Irinjalakuda Irinjalakuda is a municipal town in Thrissur district, Kerala, India. It is the headquarters of Irinjalakuda Revenue Division and Mukundapuram Taluk. After Thrissur, this town has most number of administrative, law-enforcement and judicial of ...

Kudalmanikyam Temple, and at Thiruvatruvay,

Thiruvalla Thiruvalla, alternately spelled Tiruvalla, is a town in Kerala and the Headquarters of the Taluk of the same name located in Pathanamthitta district in the State of Kerala, India. The town is spread over an area of . It lies on the banks of ...

.Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 436. Koyil Adhikarikal (the Royal Prince) during the time of Sthanu Ravi was his son-in-law (husband of his daughter) Vijayaraga. Sthanu Ravi had a son born to him in or about 870 AD.Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 79-80. He was succeeded by

Rama Rajasekhara Rama Rajasekhara (''fl.'' 870/71 – c. 883/84 AD) was a Chera Perumal ruler of medieval Kerala, south India. Rajasekhara is usually identified by historians with Cheraman Perumal Nayanar, the venerated Shaiva ( Nayanar) poet-musician of the B ...

(870/71–c. 883/84). Sthanu Ravi probably abdicated the throne toward the end of his reign and became a

Vaishnavite Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

alvar An alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse grassland vegetation. Often flooded in the spring, and affected by drought in midsummer, alvars support a distinctive group of prairie ...

saint known as

Kulasekhara Alvar Kulasekhara (Tamil: ''குலசேகரர்'') (''fl.'' 9th century CE), one of the twelve Vaishnavite alvars, was a bhakti theologian and devotional poet from medieval south India (Kerala). He was the author of Perumal Tirumoli in Tamil ...

(seventh of the twelve mystic

alvars The Alvars ( ta, ஆழ்வார், Āḻvār, translit-std=ISO, lit=The Immersed) were the Tamil poet-saints of South India who espoused ''bhakti'' (devotion) to the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu, in their songs of longing, ecstasy, and ...

).'Changes in Land Relations during the Decline of the Cera State,' In Kesavan Veluthat and Donald R. Davis Jr. (eds), ''Irreverent History:- Essays for M.G.S. Narayanan,'' Primus Books, New Delhi, 2014. 74-75 and 78. He is also identified with playwright Chera king Kulasekhara Varma.

Career

Thillaisthanam_inscription_(9th_century_AD,_Aditya_Chola)

Present-day central Kerala probably detached from Kongu Chera or Kerala kingdom (around 8th-9th century AD) to form the Chera Perumal kingdom.Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 89-90 and 92-93. Central Kerala was under some form of viceregal rule prior to this period.Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 80-93. The direct authority of the Chera Perumal king was restricted to the country around capital Makotai (Mahodaya, present-day Kodungallur) in central Kerala.Noburu Karashmia (ed.), ''A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations.'' New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 143-44. His kingship was only ritual and remained nominal compared with the power that local chieftains (the udaiyavar) exercised politically and militarily.

Nambudiri The Nambudiri (), also transliterated as Nampoothiri, Nambūdiri, Namboodiri, Nampoothiri, and Nampūtiri, are a Malayali Brahmin caste, native to what is now the state of Kerala, India, where they constituted part of the traditional feudal el ...

Brahmins Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru o ...

also possessed huge authority in religious and social subjects (the so-called ritual sovereignty combined with Brahmin oligarchy).

Chola contemporary of Sthanu Ravi

Sthanu Ravi was a partner in the

Chola The Chola dynasty was a Tamils, Tamil thalassocratic Tamil Dynasties, empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated ...

king Rajakesari Varma's campaign in Kongu country (central

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

).Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 435-437. It is known that the two rulers jointly conferred military honours on a chief of

Tanjore Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

called Vikki Annan (who was the husband of Kadamba Mahadevi), probably a

Ganga The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

prince. Vikki Annan, son of Prithvipati, is mentioned in a Ganga inscription of the mid-9th century AD. The title " Kadamba" suggests a relationship with the Kadamba lineage.Menon, A. Sreedhara (1967). ''A Survey of Kerala History.'' Kottayam (Kerala): DC Books, 2007

King Rajakesari Varma can be identified either with Aditya Chola (c. 871–907 ADAli, Daud. “The Death of a Friend: Companionship, Loyalty and Affiliation in Chola South India.” ''Studies in History'', vol. 33, no. 1, Feb. 2017, pp. 36–60.) or with Srikantha Chola (817–845 AD).Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 436-37. * Identification of Rajakesari Varma with Aditya I, Aditya Chola (c. 871–907 AD) (followed Elamkulam P. N. Kunjan Pillai) – Elamkulam also assumes that Sthanu Ravi ruled up to 885 AD to be able to become the junior partner in Aditya Chola's wars in Kongu Nadu. – this view is found acceptable by the recent scholarship. * Identification of Rajakesari Varma with Srikantha Chola (817–845 AD) – this puts the joint action in 844/45 AD and Sthanu Ravi's final regnal year in 883 AD – this view was found acceptable by M. G. S. Narayanan (following T. V. Mahalingam).

Astronomy

An astronomer called Sankara Narayana (c. 840 – 900 AD) was a member of the royal court of Kulasekhara. Narayana is best known as the author of ''Laghu Bhaskariya Vyakha'', a detailed commentary of on the works of mathematician Bhaskara I (early 6th century AD).Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 78-79. An observatory functioned at Kodungallur under the charge of Narayana. There are references to an instrument called "Rashi Chakra" marked by a "Yanthra Valaya" in the ''Vyakha''. This instrument might be the same as the Gola Yanthra/Chakra Yanthra mentioned by famous polymath

Aryabhata Aryabhata (ISO: ) or Aryabhata I (476–550 CE) was an Indian mathematician and astronomer of the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. He flourished in the Gupta Era and produced works such as the ''Aryabhatiya'' (which ...

. The Chakra Yanthra was developed further and called Phalaka Yanthra by Bhaskara I.

Inscriptions

As Sthanu Ravi

Ayyan Adikal, the chieftain of Quilon (

Kollam Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city i ...

) under Sthanu Ravi, issued the famous Quilon Syrian Christian copper plates in c. 849 AD. The inscription records that Ayyan Adikal granted land and serfs to a Christian church at Quilon, built by Mar Sapir Iso, and entrusted its maintenance to trade guilds

anjuvannam Anjuvannam (in Tamil and Malayalam, from Persian anjuman, and hanjama or hanjamana in Telugu or Kannada or hamyamana) typically refers to a medieval merchant guild, consisting of non-Indian traders (ethnic Persians and Arabs), primarily active ...

and

manigramam Manigiramam, or manigramam, typically refers to a medieval merchant guild, organised by itinerant ethnic Indian traders, primarily active in south India.Noburu Karashmia (ed.), ''A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations.'' Ne ...

. The grant was made in the presence of Chera Perumal prince

Vijayaraga Vijayaraga (''fl. c.'' 849—895 AD) was the Chera Perumal ruler of Kerala from ''c.'' 883/84—''c.'' 895 AD. The reign of Vijayaraga probably witnessed the expansion of Chera Perumal influence into the neighboring Ay and Mushika countries (sou ...

.Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 435 and 37. Daughter of Kulasekhara, with the title

Kizhan Adikal Ravi Neeli Ko Kizhan Adikal Ravi Neeli was the traditional title of the queens/princesses of the Chera Perumal kingdom in medieval south India. It was initially assumed that Kizhan Adikal was a proper given name (and not a royal title). The title was used ...

, was married to Vijayaraga (who was probably was the son of the sister of Kulasekhara also).

As Kulasekhara

Literary references

An anonymous work called ''Padmapada Acharya Charita'' says that the protagonist who was the disciple of philosopher-theologian Sankara flourished in time of king "Kulasekhara".Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 65-66, 95-96, 383-5, 436. Vasubhatta, a famous Yamaka poet of medieval Kerala, names his patron king as "Rama". A later commentary on a poem by Vasubhatta says that "Kulasekhara" was the regnal title of king Rama. Scholars generally consider this a result of confusion on the part of the commentators (between Sthanu Ravi Kulasekhara and

) who were separated in time from Vasubhatta. Some scholars also identify king

Rama Kulasekhara Rama Kulasekhara (''fl.'' late 11th century CE) was the last ruler of the Chera Perumal dynasty of medieval Kerala. He was a contemporary to Chola kings Kulottunga I (1070–1120) and Vikrama Chola (1118–35 AD). Rama Kulaskehara is best known ...

as the patron of poet Vasubhatta (and thus placing Vasubhatta in 11th-12 centuries AD). This view is generally found unacceptable on several counts.

''Laghu Bhaskariya Vyakha''

The opening verse of ''Laghu Bhaskariya Vyakha,'' composed in the court of Ravi Kulasekhara, gives an indirect invocation to the lord called "Sthanu" (carefully composed to be applicable to god Siva and the ruling king). The commentary also gives the current date as Kali Era and as Saka Era. * Anga = 6, Rtu = 6, Ambara = 0, Nanda = 9, Veda = 4, and Manu = 14 * Order - 6609414 * Reverse Order - 1449066 * Kali Date - 3967 years and 86 days = 25 Mithuna,

Kollam Era The Malayalam Calendar is a sidereal solar calendar used in Kerala. The origin of the calendar has been dated to 825 CE, the beginning of the Kollam Era. There are many theories regarding the origin of the era, but according to recent schola ...

41 = 870 AD * Candra = 1, Randhra = 9, and Muni = 7 * Order - 197 * Reverse Order - 791 (

Saka Year The Shaka era (IAST: Śaka, Śāka) is a historical Hindu calendar era (year numbering), the epoch (its year zero) of which corresponds to Julian year 78. The era has been widely used in different regions of India as well as in SE Asia. Hist ...

) = 870 AD It was on the basis of certain statements in ''Laghu Bhaskariya Vyakha'', the date coronation of Ravi Kulasekhara was fixed at 844 AD. * Meeting of Guru (=Jupiter) and Sauri (=Saturn) in Capa (Dhanu) = 25th regnal year of the king = 870 AD

References

{{Reflist People of the Kodungallur Chera kingdom 9th-century Indian monarchs Kodungallur Chera kings