The Srirangam Massacre
After the Pandyan country was plagued by internal strife in the 1300s, the Delhi Sultanate invaded three times. First, Malik Kafur invaded in 1311 and returned with wealth. Khusrau Khan invaded a few years later but didn't have a major impact. The third invasion came in 1323. This one has had the biggest impact on Tamil Nadu's culture and heritage.
During the reign of Ghyasuddin Tughlaq, his son Ulugh Khan came with an army towards Deccan. He wanted to take their wealth and make them serve the Delhi Sultanate. He was successful in Warangal, and the Hoysalas, who ruled the Dwarasamudras, also surrendered. Veera Vallala III made peace with Ulugh Khan and let him pass through the kingdom towards Madurai. Even after the raid by Malik Kafur, the Madurai Pandya Kingdom still had a lot of wealth. Ulugh Khan passed through the Servarayan Hills and reached Kannanur Koppam, which is now known as Samayapuram. Kannanur was the second capital of the Hoysalas.
Srirangam was also celebrating Panguni Uthiram. On the seventh day, after Azhagiya Manavala Perumal had finished the procession, the temple authorities heard that the Sultanate forces had reached Samayapuram. They discussed whether to go ahead with the next day's event, in which the Perumal is taken to the Varaha temple. It was called Pandriazhvan Medu then. It was close to Samayapuram, so few objected. But there are good reasons to think otherwise. The region had seen many battles since the Sangam days between Tamil kings, but this had no impact on temple affairs. Second, they knew Ulugh Khan was going to Madurai. Why would he come to a temple event? The temple authorities decided to go ahead with the event on the 8th day of the Panguni festival.
They were wrong. Ulugh Khan attacked the Srirangam temple because he knew it was wealthy. He first attacked the devotees at the Varaha Swami temple. Thousands came from far away to watch the festival. The Sultan's army attacked them. They didn't know why they were being attacked and couldn't defend themselves. Kovil Ozhugu says that 12,000 devotees were killed. This was called the Battle of the 12,000 Heads.
The devotees heard the news and Azhagiya Manavala Perumal(Sri Ranga) was ready to leave for the Kaveri River. Two Acharyas, Pillai Lokacharyar and Swami Vedanta Desikan, decided to protect Perumal. Pillai Lokacharyar was old, so he left for the south of Tamil Nadu with the Utsava Murthy in a palanquin with some temple treasures. Vedanta Desikar left for northern Tamil Nadu with important texts. When Ulugh Khan's army attacked the temple, they heard that Azhagiya Manavala Perumal had been taken to safety. One division of the army chased them. The rest of the army sacked the temple and killed those defending it.
Pillai Lokacharya led Perumal through the jungle to safety, avoiding the army. He reached Paramapatham at Jothishkudi near Madurai Anaimalai, exhausted. His disciples took Perumal through Tirunelveli and Aralvazmozhi to Kerala. Perumal went to Melkotte in Karnataka and then to Tirupathi.
Meanwhile, Ulugh Khan captured Madurai and made Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan the governor. Ahsan Khan made Madurai a separate sultanate after Ulugh Khan left for Delhi. This sultanate caused chaos in Tamil Nadu for 48 years. Many temples were destroyed and prayers stopped. Kumara Kampala of Vijayanagar came with an army in the 1360s and destroyed the sultanate.
Gopanna Raya, a general of Kampanna, heard about what was going on at Srirangam Temple and decided to bring back Azhagiya Manavala Perumal. He went to Tirupathi, took Perumal with him to Ginjee, performed poojas, and then took him to Srirangam. Nobody knew if the statue was the same one taken by Ulugh Khan. A washerman who lived through this time was brought in to verify the deity. He was blind, but he could tell it was Namperumal (our God). Gopanna put the deity in the temple and brought back the rituals and prayers. This is written in the temple.
Nowadays, people in Srirangam light Moksha Deepa to remember the innocent followers who died during the festival. It is a fitting tribute.
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