Cow ringing the bell for…. even justice ….. Palace miracle…A page from Tamil Chola history…….

 A visit to the beautiful ornate stone chariot dates back to 12th century located in  Thyagaraja Temple, Tiruvarur – Tamil Nadu, India makes one speechless for its history, cultural and moral values.   ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyagaraja_Temple,_Tiruvarur)

I had the opportunity to visit this historic place on 19th June 2019. In local Tamil language it is popularly known as the “Kal Thaer” (stone chariot).

 The chariot represents King’s passion for fairness and what he did to achieve that, is unimaginable.  

The pictures published here speak volumes in depicting the unimaginable act of the king to establish the rule of “even justice” to all.

 Ellalan ( https://en.wikipedia.org/ ) was a king of Tamil Chola dynasty. He is very well recorded in the pages of Tamil History as follower of Manusmriti or laws of Manu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manusmriti ). What did he do?

 The king created a Bell Tower at the entrance of his palace in Tiruvarur with the principal objective to render justice to all living over in his kingdom.

 Any aggrieved can trigger the Bell, and on hearing, the King would hear the aggrieved and announce the Judgments in consultations with his counselors. The main objective of his rule was to ensure “even justice towards friends and foes and all living in his kingdom.

No one used the grievance bell for long. That is, for the simple reason the king was so just and there were no grievance at all. 

One day what happened was really stunning. That is, a mother cow whose calf had been trampled under the wheels of his son’s chariot sought justice by pulling the bell hung in the bell tower.

The conscience stricken king did the unimaginable by punishing his son in the same way the calf got killed. He put the prince on the ground and ran the chariot on him on the spot where calf was overrun by his son.

What is unparallel in the history of justice is that a Tamil king heard the complaint from the cow and rendered full justice.

The Chola King’s name Manu Needhi Cholan, also known as Ellalan , who ruled South India around 250 B.C has thus become a metaphor for” even justice”.

It is indeed true that “Law without justice is a wound without a cure.”