Yanaikatchai Mantaran Cheral Irumporai was a king of one of the greatest empires of ancient India called Chera kingdom which was once ruled by great kings like Senguttuvan, Nedum Cheralathan etc,. The chera kingdom was ruled by mainly two family divisions. King Uthiyan Cheralathan , his sons and grandsons were members of one division of the Chera regal family known as the "Vanavaramban line". Prince Antuvan Cheral, his sons and grandsons were members of another division which was known as "Irumporai line". Other than these two families, there were some other Chera rulers and the names of these monarchs were mentioned in the Sangam literature. Yanaikatchai Mantaran Cheral Irumporai is one of the major names among these other rulers list of Chera empire. He was contemporary of the Pandya ruler Nedum Chezhian (Nedum Chezhian II).
He was a great warrior and a great king. He preserved the territorial integrity of the Chera kingdom under his rule. He was hailed Yanaik-Kann-Cei which means "the child on the elephant" literally "lord murugan". He was very handsome and contained grand posture.
By the time of Mantaran Cheral, the decline of the Chera kingdom had began. He defeated his enemies in a battle at a place called Vilamkil. We can see this in the writings of his court poet Kurunkozhiyur Kizhaar, who praised his king in his writings for having saved a city called Vilamkil from the enemies attack. According to Purananur, Mantaran Cheral participated in the battle of Talaiyalam-Kanam allied with Chola ruler Killivalavan, Ezhini, Thithiyan, Irungo Vaenmaan, Porunan and Erumaiyuran. These kings together fought against Nedum Chezhian.
Nedum Chezhian won the battle and invaded the Chera empire and captured Yanaikatchai Mantaran Cheral Irumporai and he was taken to Madurai as a prisoner. Mantaran Cheral was locked inside a old fort, located inside a very thick bamboo forest which was surrounded by a crocodile lake. After some days Mantaran Cheral escaped from the fort and returned to his country. He continued to rule his kingdom peacefully for many more years.
Kurunkozhiyur Kizhaar and KoodaloorKizhaar who were the court poets of Yanaikatchai Mantaran Cheral Irumporai were present at the death of their king. They stated that the kings death was portended by a falling star (a comet).
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