Perang kebaikan dan kesusilaan

Prajurit kebenaran dan kebaikan

Salah satu kewajiban pokok seorang manusia yang berbudi luhur akan membantu sesuai kecakapannya menghasilkan usaha yang mana pun yang dimaksudkan untuk memberantas angkatan perang jahat dan jahat yang bisa macam-macam bentuknya. Yang mengambil tempat perlindungan di kaki Yang Maha-kuasa tanpa maksud yang mementingkan diri sendiri yang mana pun atau angan-angan berpikir diberkati dengan naluri langka itu yang memungkinkan mereka membedakan yang benar dan sebenarnya dari jahat dan licik. Yang bersedia berkompromi atas peraturan di atas lebih banyak memusatkan diri, bisnis berkeberatan perseorangan daripada seorang diplomat lihai.

Keterangan yang lebih memuaskan untuk konsep waktu ditemukan di kesusasteraan rohani India yang kuno. Puranas (sejarah), yang adalah pada hakekatnya dokumentasi milenium-milenium tahun-tahun hidup di atas tanah, menceritakan bahwa waktu dipisahkan ke dalam empat titik epos memanggil krita, treta, dwapara dan kali umur. Umur Krita, yang pertama di antara umur epos adalah yang paling mulia dan oleh karena itu mempunyai jumlah tahun-tahun yang paling tinggi. Umur epos berikutnya yaitu treta ketuaan memahami kemunduran di watak manusiawi sampai luas yang sangat kelihatan. Periode ini menyaksikan kejahatan keras dan perbuatan ketamakan dan keserakahan itu yang tidak diketahui pada umur sebelumnya. Tahun-tahun jumlah umur ini adalah sangat banyak kurang dari umur sebelumnya. Yang berikut dwapara ketuaan melihat kecenderungan jahat mulai menyukai derajat yang jauh lebih tinggi. Raja, pun yang dilahirkan di dinasti kerajaan menonjol menyalahgunakan tenaga dan menjadi sulit diduga. Akibat itu jumlah tahun-tahun pada umur itu lebih jauh dikurangkan. Umur sekarang kali adalah yang terakhir dari umur epos. Jumlah jumlah tahun-tahun pada umur ini akan sangat kurang daripada tiga sebelumnya. Pada umur ini kebaikan manusiawi akan di air surutnya yang paling rendah. Akan sama sekali mengabaikan karena meminta kebenaran. Pengasa tidak akan menganggapnya sebagai pekerjaan mereka untuk menyelenggarakan keadilan. Perencanaan profesional akan membuat jauh ke machiavellian persekongkolan dan cara licik hasil mencapai. Thereby yang mengikuti analisa di atas mungkin setuju bahwa selama 100 A.D, manusia beings menempuh jauh lebih banyak hidup jujur yang jujur yang saleh yang berbudi luhur daripadanya selama kedua puluh abad. Untuk semua keajaiban teknologi, tiang baik itu mengadakan kepercayaan di tuhan yang adalah kebenaran tertinggi mempunyai hampir betul-betul roboh. Kami mesti menyetujui bahwa kami sedang hidup pada umur di mana kebaikan tulus, kejujuran, dan kejujuran adalah kekecualian daripada kesamaan dan berhasil hanya sesudah pyrrhic usaha.


Kami tetapi mungkin berdamai bahwa ini tidak adalah ganti mendadak. Kejahatan sudah dengan ajek dan terus-menerus berat untuk menerima tahap tentang masa lalu sedikit abad. Sudah ada usaha luar biasa dan cemerlang di menghancurkan yang sama yang cukup berhasil eventhough dilakukan mereka oleh sebab itu dengan saluran baik sumber penghasilan. Mereka tetapi berhasil mencegah kejahatan menerima kontrol mutlak yang itu sangat hasrat dan yang sampai sejauh ini sudah menyinggung itu.

In this context, a study of the history of the ancient chola clan during medieval ages reveals that for centuries during that age, they led a spirited, serious, determined, purposeful and largely successful wars against evil forces. The numerous wars waged by them during medieval ages can be termed as a previous instance of a war on terror. It was not without consequences. There is no living sample of their period in this century. There are but a handful of literary works available from arguably the most productive period in the medieval history.

with the end of the cholas,a civilization that could most favourably identify itself with the civilization described in the puranic literature came to an end. The life during chola times continued unbroken from the previous epochal ages. It is possible that almost every subject and skill that is mentioned in the ancient literature like ramayana and mahabharatha was very much in existence during the chola period. This also included all the ancient recensions of vedas, of which the sama veda is supposed to have had the highest number at 3000. Presently, not many vedic recensions are alive and of samaveda there is only one recension which is currently available in a very vague form, with very few scholars who could claim some kind of authority over the same.

The chola domination of the medieval ages can be seen from a spiritual stand point. The clan of cholas was a vedic royalty. According to the hoary tradition, the princes of such clans had to assume kinship after the traditional coronation ceremony at the ancient temple ritual halls as chants from vedas reverberated the air. The process symbolically implied that the person under question was truthful enough and would discharge the royal duties to satisfaction.

The eternal antiquity of the chola clan is further established by their available inscriptions, grants and of course sangam literature. Some of the available grants provide a detailed geneology consisting of upto 65 kings who ruled during the previous epochal ages to the current one and excluding the same. The objective of including a genealogical account is seemingly to give a brief introduction to the dynasty while asserting that they were not elevated to kingship because of a good socio-economic status and ofcourse connections.

The chola grants and sangam classics praise them for their piety and martial courage. The medieval grants of this dynasty describe the brave acts of its several ancient kings. One of the kings belonging to this clan is said to have destroyed an army of powerful demons while fighting seated on back of lord vishnu who had taken the form of a bull. A descendent of his we are told, was so perseverant that he could keep himself awake for years together as he fought and destroyed a powerful army of swift moving demons. Another king in this line was such a compassionate and just ruler that he was applauded even by gods for having satisfactorily demonstrated his judicial wisdom to them. The hymns of nayanmar and alwar saints of 1ST millennium C.E, refer to great acts of piety and munificence of the kings of this dynasty particularly to the ancient shrines at chidambaram and srirangam.

Strange are the ways of god. For, It looked as if this brave clan was chosen by the almighty himself, after duly evaluating the great deeds of its ancient members, to combat the evil which during middle ages was multiplying at an alarming speed. Greed, rapacity, jealousy and envy had given birth to a plethora of rogue kingdoms. Some of them were little more than a horde of vandals. Combating this evil meant destroying the tyrannical ladder consisting of wicked regimes. This is metaphorically described in their inscriptions which refer to their wars as the ones being conducted to crush the excessive pride and conceit of the age of kali. The task demanded the dedication, wisdom, courage and the strength of character that had been a hall mark of many cholas in the past.

It seems as though the ever graceful Lord Siva would certainly take his abode in the temples constructed by cholas. A visit to any of the shrines constructed by them fills with devotion, tranquility and peace in even the most fragile of minds. Several inscriptions describe in great detail the wars fought by successive chola kings. Among these, emperor Raja Raja’s inscriptions are most elaborate. They describe in detail the numerous regiments of the cholas and the expeditions that they undertook. The king’s regnal year and a brief geneology of cholas is also included in these inscriptions. The engraving of these details in the walls and pillars of the shrine was a symbolic act of reporting to the almighty the great progress that they had made in subjugating the evil forces of the kali age, while thanking him for his blessings. Out of the several expeditions undertaken by Raja Raja two of them are outstanding for the display of great vision by the king. The first one is the occupation of “Maldives and 12000 other islands” that was undertaken during the 11th year of his reign. The 12000 islands that are referred to in the inscriptions have not still been identified. However, the occupation of maldives did take place. Though the actual motive of this war is not mentioned in the inscriptions available to us, it is understood that it was conducted to prevent the colonization of that island by mohammedan kingdoms from west asia, the very abode of evil. These mohammedan kingdoms had established trade contacts with some deccan kingdoms during that period and these kingdoms had also employed mohammedans in their services.

One other expedition, which the king attached a lot of importance to is the conquest and destruction of the deccan kingdom of chalukyas, who were for years inveterate foes of cholas and their natural enemies. The cholas demonstrated their military strength and tenacity in routing their enemy completely, killing anything that moved. Man, woman, child or animal. The occupation forces were withdrawn only after the opposing ruler accepted the chola overlordship and agreed to pay a yearly tribute. Much booty was collected from this war, and most of it was donated to the temple at tanjore. On his return from this conquest, King Raja Raja, worshipped Lord Siva with thousand golden flowers and took title ‘sivapadasekhara’ or the one who owes servitorship to Lord Siva. The king probably desired to compare his role with that of lord vishnu who protects the world from the wicked, and who during a day long ago had exhibited extraordinary devotion by worshipping Lord siva with thousand lotus flowers, the last of which was one of his eyes and thus earning the name kamalakshan (The lotus(kamalam) eyed (aksha) one).

God does not distinguish between a prince and a pauper. But he chooses his servitors. If the pantheon of nayanmars and alwars, not to mention the great sankaracharya were chosen to arrest the growth of false doctrines, the clan of cholas was chosen by him to destroy the excessive wickedness and pride of age of kali, manifesting itself in the form of insidious kingdoms, that were the very abode of untruth and evil. We may conclude that the cholas did the job assigned to them with exceptional merit and displayed in entirety the fiery elegance that was a characteristic of their clan.

10 miles to the south west of the city of kanchipuram, is a small village called tirumakaral, which houses an ancient temple of Lord Siva. The puranic literature mentions that at this place Lord Indra, the king of gods offered worship to lord sivan. During the days of cholas this place was held to be a great center. It is said that at tirumakaral during those days, virtuous brahmins who performed the six duties*(refer foot notes) of their clan to perfection, chanted vedas flawlessly before the deity. It is at this place that we are told that, lord sivan, as though to indicate his satisfaction at the stupendous chola efforts aimed at destroying the extreme darkness of kali age, appeared in the form of a giant golden lizard to the illustrious rajendra chola who out of devotion had put up a dreary emaciated appearance and had come to worship him.

The different chola grants available to us inform that most of the wars that they fought were aimed at destroying the evil and the entire civilization that they presided upon was involved in the same. A study of their history reveals how the war against terror was waged by a previous civilization.


Footnotes:-

* The six duties that brahmins have to perform are: learning and teaching vedas, conducting sacrifices and having sacrifices conducted by others, giving and receiving alms.