Aditya Karikalan

Aditya Karikalan or Aditya II was a Chola prince who lived in the tenth century in South India. He was the eldest son of Sundara Chola and the brother of Rajaraja Chola I.

At a very young age he led the Chola armies against the Pandyas and the Rashtrakutas. He defeated the Pandya king Veerapandyan at the battle of Chevur and made him flee to the hills surrounding the battlefield. It is also possible that Aditya Karikalan killed Vira Pandya in that battle. Aditya II’s inscriptions use the epithet "Vira Pandyan Thalai Konda Adithha Karikalan" - "took the head of Vira Pandya".

Aditya was the heir apparent to the Chola throne, and was mysteriously killed in 969 CE. Uttama Chola, the son of Gandaraditya became the next Chola king. It has been speculated, based on circumstantial evidence, that Uttama Chola could have been a party in this conspiracy. [See Neelakanta Sanstri, K.A., "The Colas"]

Fictional accounts

The cause of Aditya Karikalan's death has been the subject of many Tamil historical romances.

* According to Balakumaran in Udaiyar, he was killed by the body guards of Veerapandian.
* Kalki, in Ponniyin Selvan does not give the exact details of the cause of death. He makes the incident pretty enigmatic and ensures nearly half a dozen people were present at the place of his death. The Pandya conspirators led by Ravidasan were also involved.

Notes

References

* Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1935). "The CōĻas", University of Madras, Madras (Reprinted 1984).
* Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1955). "A History of South India", OUP, New Delhi (Reprinted 2002).
* South Indian Inscriptions - http://www.whatisindia.com/inscriptions/