Kocenganan Chola - History Of Jambukeswarar Temple (Thiruvanaikaval) - Battle Of Kalumalam

Kocenganan or Kochchenganan or Kocengannan or Senganan, was one of the prominent ruler of early Chola dynasty like Karikala Chola, who was mentioned in ancient Sangam literature. He succeeded Killivalavan and ascended the throne. Most of the information about him is known from some of the fragmentary poems of Purananuru (ancient Tamil poetic work) and also from the forty verses of Kalavazhi Narpathu by the poet Poygaiyar (earliest form of information about Kocenganan). The information regarding his religious aspects can be known from hymns of  Thirugnana Sambanthar, Thirumangai Aazhvaar and Sundaramoorthy Nayanar. He was a Saiva saint and preached Saivism.

Battle Of Kalumalam :

Kocenganan Cholan fought a battle called "Battle Of Kalumalam", against Chera kingdom. The information about this battle can be known from a poem named Kalavazhi Narpathu. According to that poem the battle was fought at a place near Karuvur in the Chera country. The battle was between Chola king Kocenganan and Chera king Kanaikkal Irumporai. Kocenganan very badly defeated Kanaikkal Irumporai and made his captive. The Chera king had a friend named Poygaiyar who was a poet. He requested the Chola king Kocenganan to release his friend Kanaikkal Irumporai, in the battle field in a poetic form. Kocenganan accepted his request and released him. A poem in Purananuru was composed by the Chera king Kanaikkal Irumporai in which he confessed his cowardice in surviving the attack by Kocenganan.

Jambukeswarar Temple ( Thiruvanaikaval ) :

Jambukeswarar Temple or Thiruvanaikaval is a famous Shiva temple located in Tiruchirapalli (Trichy). This temple was built by Kocenganan Chola nearly 1800 years ago. This temple is one of the five major Shiva temples (Panchabhoota Sthalams). This temple represents the Mahabhoota of five great elements. It represents the element of water.

The legend of this temple is, once there were two disciples of lord Shiva namley 'Malyavan' and 'Pushpadanta'. They used to fight a lot. In a fight Malyavan cursed Pushpadanta to become an elephant and latter cursed Malyavan to become a spider. The elephant and spider came to Jambukeswaram and continued to worship lord Shiva. The elephant used to collect water from river Cauvery and conduct ablution to Shiva Lingam under Jambu tree. The spider used to construct web above Lingam to prevent dry leaves to fall on it. The elephant thought the web as a dust and removed it. There began a fight between both again. The spider went in to the trunk of the elephant. Elephant tried to kill spider to hit its trunk to a rock and hurt itself. Both of them died. Lord Shiva impressed by the devotion of both of his disciples, relieved them from curse. As the lord Shiva was worshipped by an elephant here at this place, it was called as Thiru Aanai Kaa (thiru means holy, aanai is elephant and kaa means forest).

As a sin of killing the elephant, the spider was born as the king Kochengot Chola (Kotchengannan Chola meaning red eyed king) or Kocenganan. He built nearly 70 temples and this was one among them. He was succeeded by Perunarkilli.