Indian Antiquary Vol 46

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 68

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[MARCH, 1017.
chose inimitation of Krishna, the Lord of the Gopis ! Meanwhile, "the enemy, came and attacked the city. In order not to be made prisoner and be disgraced, the king decided to die bravely. He came out with 3 sons and 18 horsemen, his relations, bearing on his horse's hindquarters his beloved queen, She, at the approach of the enemy's mighty force, felt afraid, and spoke tender words to her husband, saying that as evil chance was so great a tyrant as to rob her of further delight in his society, she prayed to him to end her life with his own hand, so that she might not fall into the enemy's power." The king could not, in spite of her repeated supplications, steel himself to such cruelty. "Still, the arguments of the afflicted and determined princess were so strong that, finding the enemy already close upon them, he was forced at length to yield to her entreaties. Seizing his sword, he cut off her head, and, his blade all bare and crimson, galloped into the enemy's ranks, followed by his companions, and in a brief space ended his life."
It is unnecessary to enter into a criticism of these fa bles. It is enough if it is understood that all agree that the Naik Dynasty of Tanjore ended on this occasion, and that with it, a highly romantic but tragical chapter of South Indian History. The annals of the world hardly furnish a finer example of a provocation so trivial and a result so disastrous and far reaching. Chokkanatha himself must have been surprised at the turn the events had taken. When he ordered the invasion of Tanjore, he would hardly have hoped for a result so victorious to his arms, so disastrous to his rival, and so momentous in the history of South India. Wars without number had disturbed the peace and maintained the mutual hostility of the sister kingdoms; but never had any of them been attended with a consequence as startling as this. The lessons of past history, in short, proved unreliable, and the satisfaction of Chokkanatha at the success of his arms and the acquisition of a dependency must have been mingled with a regret for the fate of a worthy, though misguided, monarch and the sudden termination of a dynasty in the midst of a prosperous and hopeful career. The effect of the catastrophe is felt even to-day. Any stranger who visits the palace at Tanjore can see a ruined and shattered tower at northern-western corner, and will feel a shudder at the sight, when he knows that that is the remnant of the ancient Naik Zenana. If it had a mouth of its own, it could tell a tale which, though it concerns an eccentric king, is yet a tale which does not belong to one particular man or country, but for all the world that can feel and pity. The ignorant and superstitious servant who guides the visitor through the rambling building of the palace, points to the lonely and gloomy tower, and speaks with a suppressed voice and solemn face, of the grue. some tragedy enacted therein 200 years back. The place is haunted, says he, and none dare approach it lest a contagion of the gloom that surrounds it should seize them.
Alagiri's delection. The Kingdom of Tanjore was now a dependency, an outlying province, of Madura, and Chokkanatha lost no time in arranging for a settled and satisfactory government of it: but unfortunately the arrangement he made was not such as to strengthen his hold on the conquered kingdom. He dug the grave of his own authority by appointing as viceroy a foster-brother of his, Aļagiri Naidu by name, a man of upgrateful nature and unscrupulous conduct, who like a true upstart, assumed airs and proved a tyrant. A few months after his exaltation to his high office, Alagiri addressed a letter to his suzerain in terms of equality and in the spirit of an independent chief. He at the same