Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I also known as Sadayavarman Sundara Pandyan I was a great Philanthropic and heroic conquerer of Pandyan dynasty of Tamil region or South India who probably ruled between 1250 - 1268 A.D. He was probably the first Pandyan king about whom we get to know much from epigraphic records and inscriptions on temples. A very little is known about the early kings of Pandyan Empire unlike Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I.
Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I ascended the throne probably in the year 1251 A.D. There was a practice of shared ruled was very common in the Pandyan kingdom where kingdom was ruled by many princes of the royal line with one prince asserting primacy.
Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I was a great conqueror. He ruled almost the whole of the area extending from Kanyakumari in the south up to Nellore and Cuddapah districts in the north. He is remembered for his patronage to arts and Dravidian architecture along with construction and repairing many Kovils ( Temples ) in the Tamil country. Under his rule, there was a masive growth in the economy of the Pandyan empire. The people lived happily and there were very nominal taxes and they were rich.
Conquests of Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I :
Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I was very heroic, very much interested in conquering, expanding his kingdom and thus became one of the greatest rulers of South India and Pandyan empire.
Now coming to his first ever conquest, he first invaded Chera kingdom. At that time the ruler of Chera empire was Viraravi Udaya Marthandavarman. During the battle, King of Chera was killed by Pandyans and the Chera army was defeated easily.
Now he turned his attention towards Chola empire. The ruler of Chola empire at that time was Rajendra Chola III. He was also unable to withstand the powerful Pandyans and was defeated and made to accept Pandyan suzerainty.
The Hoysala territories including the stretch along river Kaveri and fortress of Koppam were captured by Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I. Many Hoysala generals including Singana were killed and great amount of loot was captured along with numerous horses, elephants. This invasion was blocked when Someshwara I took over the throne of Hoysala. Later around 1262 A.D., Someshwara I tried to invade Pandyan empire. He was badly defeated and eventually killed in the battle by Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I.
He also waged a war with Kadava king Kopperunchigan II. He defeated him and occupied the city fortress of Sendamangalam. However the throne was given back to Kopperunchigan II as he accepted the supremacy of Pandyan king. During this invasion of Kadavas, he also conquered Magadai and Kongu empires.
He also led a expedition to the north of their empire. On the way, they defeated telugu ruler Vijaya-Gandagopala and captured Kanchipuram around 1258 A.D. This resulted in to conflict with Kakatiyas under Ganapathi II. The Pandyan army defeated a Telugu army at Mudugur in the modern Nellore district. The successors of Kadava Pallava Kopperinjungan II were very weak and this made the invasion of Sundara Pandyan I very easy. He annexed Kanchi, Nellore and Visayavadai ( now Vijayawada ).
A great achievement for Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I was the invasion of Sri Lanka. A Sri Lankan minister requested help from the Pandyan king, Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I against Chandrabhanu of Tambralinga. Chandrabhanu was made to submit to Pandyan rule by Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I and made to offer precious jewels, horses and elephants in tribute annually. Later Chandrabhanu tried to invade Pandyan empire around 1262-1264 A.D., and this time he was killed by Pandyan army.
Construction Of Temples :
Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I devoted much of his time to temples. With the huge wealth that he got out of his wars to revamp the temple of Lord Shiva in Chidambaram and the Vishnu temple in Srirangam. Many endowments were given to the temples of Trichy, Tanjore and Kanchipuram. He built a temple at Aragalur. He built a gate at Sri Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam on which he engraved the names of Cholas, Pallavas, Pandyas and Cheras. East tower of Meenakshi temple in Madurai was built during his rule. He gold plated and placed the gold gilded Kalsam atop the gopuram of Ananda Nilayam vimana of Thirumala Venkateshwara temple in Tirupathi which is now world famous spiritual centre of Hindus.
He was given the titles like " Emmandalamum Kondaruliya Pandiya ", " Tribhuvana Chakravarthy ", " Ponveintha Perumal " and " Hemachadana Raja ".
Death And Succession :
Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I was succeeded by Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan I in 1268 A.D. He died around 1271 A.D.
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