Ellalan

{{More citations needed|date=March 2026}} {{Short description|King of Anuradhapura from 205 to 161 BCE}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}} {{Use Indian English|date=January 2016}} {{Infobox royalty | image = MadrasHighCourtManuNeedhiCholanStatue (cropped).jpg | caption = Statue of Ellāḷaṉ{{According to whom|date=March 2026}} in the premises of Madras High Court in Chennai | succession = King of Anuradhapura | reign = {{circa|205|161 BCE}} | religion = Hinduism<ref>{{cite book|title=Ancient Coins of Sri Lankan Tamil Rulers|quote=The Mahāvamsa (XXI : 15-34 ) talks high of the just and righteous regime of Ellālan . He followed the Hindu religion but did not persecute the Buddhists.|page=92|author=Paramu Pusparaṭṇam|year=2002}}</ref> | predecessor = Asela | successor = Dutugamunu | birth_date = 235 BCE | death_date = 161 BCE (aged 73–74) | death_place = Vijithapura, Kingdom of Anuradhapura | issue = Veedhividangan<ref name="auto">{{cite news|title=From the annals of history|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-editorialfeatures/from-the-annals-of-history/article484460.ece|newspaper=The Hindu|date=25 June 2010|location=India}}</ref>{{Verify source|date=March 2026}}<br/>Princess Shardha{{Citation needed|date=March 2026}} | dynasty = Chola }}

'''Ellalan''' ({{langx|ta|எல்லாளன்|translit=Ellāḷaṉ}}; {{langx|si|එළාර|translit=Eḷāra}}; 235–161 BCE), also referred to as '''Elara the Pious''', and by the honorific epithet '''''Manu Needhi Cholan'''''{{Citation needed|date=March 2026}}, was a member of the Tamil Chola dynasty in Southern India, who upon capturing the throne became king of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, in present-day Sri Lanka, from 205 BCE to 161 BCE.<ref>{{cite book | last=Allen | first=C. | title=Coromandel: A Personal History of South India | publisher=Little, Brown Book Group | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-4087-0540-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qutzDQAAQBAJ | access-date=2022-10-10 | page=154|quote=A later chapter of the 'Great Chronicle' describes how the Chola prince Elara (Ellalan) of Thiruvarur invaded and captured the throne of Lanka in about 205 BCE but was later killed in battle by the Sinhala prince Dutugamunu in about 161}}</ref>

Ellalan is traditionally presented as being a just king even by the Sinhalese.<ref name="Chapter XXV">{{cite web|url=http://lakdiva.org/mahavamsa/chap025.html|title=Chapter XXV|website=lakdiva.org}}</ref> The Mahavamsa states that he ruled 'with even justice toward friend and foe, on occasions of disputes at law',<ref name="Chapter XXI">{{cite web|url=http://lakdiva.org/mahavamsa/chap021.html|title=Chapter XXI|website=lakdiva.org}}</ref> and elaborates how he even ordered the execution of his son for killing a calf under his chariot wheels.

Ellalan is a peculiar figure in the history of Sri Lanka. He is often regarded as one of Sri Lanka's wisest and most just monarchs, as highlighted in the ancient Sinhalese Pali chronicle, the ''Mahavamsa''.

According to the chronicle, even Ellalan's nemesis Dutugamunu had a great respect for him, and ordered a monument be built where Ellalan was cremated after dying in battle. The Dakkhina Stupa was believed to be the tomb of Ellalan. Often referred to as 'the Just King', the Tamil name ''Ellāḷaṉ'' means 'the one who rules the boundary".{{Citation needed|date=March 2026}}

== Birth and early life == Ellalan is described in the Mahavamsa as being "A Damila of noble descent . . . from the Chola-country";<ref name="Chapter XXI"/> In that work, he is mentioned as ''Elara''. Little is known of his early life. Around 205 BCE, Ellalan mounted an invasion of the Rajarata based in Anuradhapura in northern Sri Lanka and defeated the forces of king Asela of Anuradhapura and slayed the Asela of Anuradhapura,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Senaveratna |first=John M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9TeEcMi0e0C&q=Asela+205+BC |title=The Story of the Sinhalese from the Most Ancient Times Up to the End of "the Mahavansa" Or Great Dynasty: Vijaya to Maha Sena, B.C. 543 to A.D.302 |date=1997 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |isbn=978-81-206-1271-6 |language=en|page=86}}</ref> establishing himself as sole ruler of Rajarata. Ellalan's territory is said to have been to the north of the Mahaweli River<ref name="Sastri">{{cite book |last1=Sastri |first1=Nilakanta KA |title=The Colas |date=1955 |publisher=University of Madras |location=Chennai |page=24 |edition=2nd}}</ref>

He has been mentioned in the ''Silappatikaram'' and ''Periya Puranam''.<ref name="auto1">{{cite news|title=Tiruvarur in religious history of Tamil Nadu|url=http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/16/stories/2010071652340600.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100718030249/http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/16/stories/2010071652340600.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 July 2010|date=16 July 2010|newspaper=The Hindu|location=Chennai, India}}</ref>{{Who|date=March 2026}} His name has since then been used as a metaphor for fairness and justice in Tamil literature. His capital was Thiruvarur.{{Citation needed|date=March 2026}}

== Defeat and death == {{Main|Battle of Vijithapura}} Despite Ellalan's famously even-handed rule, resistance to him coalesced around the figure of Dutugamunu, a young Sinhalese prince from the kingdom of Mahagama. Towards the end of Ellalan's reign, Dutugamunu had strengthened his position in the south by defeating his own brother, Saddha Tissa, who challenged him. Confrontation between the two monarchs was inevitable and the last years of Ellalan's reign were consumed by the war between the two. Ellalan was near seventy years when the battle with the young Dutugamunu took place.<ref name="Obeyesekere 172">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xiERHFK_QeoC&q=elara&pg=PA172|title=The Work of Culture: Symbolic Transformation in Psychoanalysis and Anthropology|last=Obeyesekere|first=Gananath|date=1990-11-27|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226615981|pages=172|language=en}}</ref>

The ''Mahavamsa'' contains a fairly detailed account of sieges and battles that took place during the conflict.<ref name="Chapter XXV"/> Particularly interesting is the extensive use of war elephants and of flaming pitch in the battles. Ellalan's own war elephant is said to have been Maha Pabbatha, or 'Big Rock' and the Dutugamunu's own being 'Kandula'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mahavamsa.org/2008/05/war-king-elara/|title=War Against King Elara|website=mahavamsa.org|access-date=2017-12-15}}</ref>

The climactic battle is said to have occurred as Dutugamunu drew close to Anuradhapura. On the night before, both King Ellalan and prince Dutugamunu are said to have conferred with their counsellors. The next day both kings rode forwards on war elephants, Ellalan "in full armour . . . with chariots, soldiers and beasts for riders". Dutugamunu's forces are said to have defeated those of Ellalan forces. Dutugamunu, declaring that 'none shall kill Ellalan but myself', closed on him at the south gate of Anuradhapura, where the two engaged in an elephant-back duel and the aged king was finally felled by one of Dutugamunu's darts.<ref name="Obeyesekere 172"/> [[File:Dakkhinatupa.jpg|left|thumb|Until 19th century, the Dakkhina Stupa was believed to be the tomb of Ellalan]] Following his death, Dutugamunu ordered that Ellāḷaṉ be cremated where he had fallen, and had a monument constructed over the place. The ''Mahavamsa'' mentions that 'even to this day the princes of Lanka, when they draw near to this place, are wont to silence their music'. The Dakkhina Stupa was until the 19th century believed to have been the tomb of Ellalan and was called ''Elara Sohona'', but later it was identified as the Stupa of ancient Dakini (Dakkhina) Vihara by Senarath Paranavithana with the help of a Brahmi inscription of the 3rd century A.D. unearthed from the ground between the southern and western Vahalkadas of the Stupa.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Inscriptions of Ceylon. Vol. II (II)|last=Paranavitana|first=S.|publisher=Archaeological Survey Department, Sri Lanka|year=2001|pages=161-172}}</ref><ref name=lankapradeepa>[https://www.lankapradeepa.com/2020/07/dakkhina-stupa.html Dakkhina Stupa] by Lanka Pradeepa, 12 December 2020, retrieved 12 March 2022</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k15uAAAAMAAJ&q=Elara+Sohona|title=Archaeological Department Centenary (1890-1990): History of the Department of Archaeology|date=1990|publisher=Commissioner of Archaeology|pages=171|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|jstor=2059412|title=Reviewed Work: The Presence of the Past: Chronicles, Politics, and Culture in Sinhala Life.by Steven Kemper|last=McGilvray|first=Dennis B.|publisher=The Journal of Asian Studies|year=1993|location=The University of Colorado Boulder|pages=1058}}</ref> The identification and reclassification is considered controversial.<ref>Indrapala, K. ''The Evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils of Sri Lanka'', p. 368</ref>

== Influence == The ''Mahavamsa'' contains numerous references to the loyal troops of the Chola empire and portrays them as a powerful force. They held various positions including taking custody of temples during the period of Parakramabahu I and Vijayabahu I of Polonnaruwa.<ref name="The tooth relic and the crown, page 59">''The tooth relic and the crown, page 59''</ref><ref name="Epigraphia Zeylanica: being lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon, Volume 2, page 250">''Epigraphia Zeylanica: being lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon, Volume 2, page 250''</ref> There were instances when the Sinhalese kings tried to employ them as mercenaries by renaming a section of the most hardcore fighters as ''Mahatantra''. According to historian Burton Stein, when these troops were directed against the Chola empire, they rebelled and were suppressed and decommissioned. But they continued to exist in a passive state by taking up various jobs for livelihood.<ref name="Journal of Tamil studies, Issues 31-32, page 60">''Journal of Tamil studies, Issues 31-32, page 60''</ref> The Valanjayara, a sub-section of the ''Velaikkara'' troops, were one such community, who in the course of time became traders. They were so powerful that the shrine of the tooth-relic was entrusted to their care.<ref name="The Ceylon historical journal, Volumes 1-2, page 197">''The Ceylon historical journal, Volumes 1-2, page 197''</ref><ref name="Culavamsa: Being the More Recent Part of Mahavamsa">''Culavamsa: Being the More Recent Part of Mahavamsa''</ref> When the ''Velaikkara'' troops took custody of the tooth-relic shrine, they called it as ''Mūnrukai-tiruvēlaikkāran daladāy perumpalli''.<ref name="Early South Indian temple architecture: study of Tiruvāliśvaram inscriptions, page 93">''Early South Indian temple architecture: study of Tiruvāliśvaram inscriptions, page 93''</ref> There are also multiple epigraphic records of the ''Velaikkara'' troops. It is their inscriptions, for example the one in Polunnaruwa, that are actually used to fix the length of the reign of Sinhalese kings; in this case, Vijayabahu I (55 years).<ref name="Ceylon journal of historical and social studies, Volume 2, page 34">''Ceylon journal of historical and social studies, Volume 2, page 34''</ref>

The Sri Lanka Navy Northern Naval Command base in Karainagar, Jaffna is named the SLNS ''Elara''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vivalanka.com/newspage/228812ai-|title=SLNS Elara conducts Medical and Dental Clinic at Karainagar|access-date=26 February 2015|archive-date=13 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191013171315/http://www.vivalanka.com/newspage/228812ai-|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== The Legend of Manu Needhi Cholan == {{Original research section|date=March 2026}} thumbnail|The cow is ringing the bell of Manu Needhi Cholan{{According to whom|date=March 2026}}

Ellalan received the title "''Manu Needhi Cholan''" (the Chola who follows justice) because he executed his own son to provide justice to a cow.{{Citation needed|date=March 2026}} Legend has it that the king hung a giant bell in front of his courtroom for anyone needing justice to ring. One day, he came out on hearing the ringing of the bell by a cow. Upon enquiry, he found that the calf of that cow had been killed under the wheels of his son's chariot. In order to provide justice to the cow, Ellalan killed his own son, Veedhividangan,{{Citation needed|date=March 2026}} under the chariot as his own punishment i.e. Ellalan made himself suffer as much as the cow.<ref name="auto"/> Impressed by the justice of the king, Lord Shiva blessed him and brought back the calf and his son alive.{{Citation needed|date=March 2026}}

The Mahavamsa also states that when he was riding his cart he accidentally hit a Chetiya. After that he ordered his ministers to kill him but the ministers replied that Buddha would not approve such an act. The king asked what he should do to rectify the damage and they said that repairing the structure would be enough which is what he did.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mahavamsa.org/2008/05/king-elara-204-bc-164-bc/|title=King Elara (204 BC – 164 BC)|website=mahavamsa.org|access-date=2017-03-01}}</ref>

Chronicles such as the ''Yalpana Vaipava Malai'' and stone inscriptions like Konesar Kalvettu recount that Kulakkottan, an early Chola king and descendant of Manu Needhi Cholan{{Request quotation|date=March 2026}}, was the restorer of the ruined Koneswaram temple and tank at Trincomalee in 438, the Munneswaram temple of the west coast, and as the royal who settled ancient Vanniyars in the east of the island Eelam.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hellmann-Rajanayagam |first1=Dagmar |year=1994 |title=Tamils and the meaning of history |journal=Contemporary South Asia |publisher=Routledge |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages= 3–23 |doi= 10.1080/09584939408719724}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schalk |first1=Peter |year=2002 |title=Buddhism Among Tamils in Pre-colonial Tamilakam and Ilam: Prologue. The Pre-Pallava and the Pallava period |journal=Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis |publisher=Uppsala University |volume=19-20 |pages= 159, 503 |quote=The Tamil stone inscription ''Konesar Kalvettu'' details King Kulakottan's involvement in the restoration of Koneswaram temple in 438 A.D. (Pillay, K., Pillay, K. (1963). ''South India and Ceylon''); }}</ref>

== See also == {{Portal|Sri Lanka|Society}} * Tamil Nadu History * History of Sri Lanka * List of Tamil monarchs * Chola Dynasty * Chola Military * Early Cholas

== References == {{Reflist|2}}

== External links ==

* Tamil Nadu History * [http://books.lakdiva.org/codrington/ Sri Lankan history] * [http://tamilnation.co/heritage/tomb_of_elara.htm The Tomb of Elara at Anuradhapura] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170112002741/http://tamilnation.co/heritage/tomb_of_elara.htm |date=12 January 2017 }} * [http://www.divaina.com/2009/11/04/feature03.html එළාර රජුගේ හිතුවක්‌කාර නීතිය] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808113826/http://www.divaina.com/2009/11/04/feature03.html |date=8 August 2019 }} {{in lang|si}} * [http://www.noolaham.net/project/01/17/17.htm எல்லாளன் சமாதியும் வரலாற்று மோசடியும்] {{in lang|ta}}

{{S-start}} {{s-hou|Chola dynasty|?|235 BC|?|161 BC|}} {{s-reg|}} {{s-bef|before=Asela}} {{s-ttl|title=King of Anuradhapura|years=205 BC–161 BC}} {{s-aft|after=Dutthagamani}} {{end}}

Category:Usurpers of the Sinhalese throne Category:Chola princes Category:Monarchs of Anuradhapura Category:Sri Lankan Hindus Category:235 BC births Category:161 BC deaths Category:3rd-century BC Sinhalese monarchs Category:2nd-century BC Sinhalese monarchs