Coromandel: A Personal History of South India

by Charles Allen

COROMANDEL . A name which has been long applied by Europeans to the Northern Tamil Country, or (more comprehensively) to the eastern coast of the Peninsula of India.

This is the India highly acclaimed historian Charles Allen visits in this fascinating book. Coromandel journeys south, exploring the less well known, often neglected and very different history and identity of the pre-Aryan Dravidian south.

During Allen's exploration of the Indian south he meets local historians, gurus and politicians and with their help uncovers some extraordinary stories about the past. His sweeping narrative takes in the archaeology, religion, linguistics and anthropology of the region - and how these have influenced contemporary politics.

Known for his vivid storytelling, for decades Allen has travelled the length and breadth of India, revealing the spirit of the sub-continent through its history and people. In Coromandel , he moves through modern-day India, discovering as much about the present as he does about the past.

Genres: History, India, Nonfiction, Religion, Indian Literature, Travel, Cultural

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Charles Allen is a British writer and historian. He was born in India, where several generations of his family served under the British Raj. His work focuses on India and South Asia in general. Allen's most notable work is Kipling Sahib, a biography of Rudyard Kipling. His most recent work, Ashoka: the Search for India's Lost Emperor, was published in February 2012.

Selected works:

Plain Tales from the Raj: Images of British India in the Twentieth Century (1975)
Raj: A Scrapbook of British India 1877–1947 (1977)
Tales from the Dark Continent: Images of British Colonial Africa in the Twentieth Century (1979)
A Mountain in Tibet: The Search for Mount Kailas and the Sources of the Great Rivers of India (1982)
Tales from the South China Seas: Images of the British in South-East Asia in the Twentieth Century (1983)
Lives of the Indian Princes, with co-author Sharada Dwivedi (1984)
Kipling's Kingdom: His Best Indian Stories (1987)
A Glimpse of the Burning Plain: Leaves from the Journals of Charlotte Canning (1986)
A Soldier of the Company: Life of an Indian Ensign 1833–43 (1988)
Architecture of the British Empire, Ed. R. Fermor-Hesketh (1989)
The Savage Wars of Peace: Soldiers' Voices 1945–1989 (1990)
Thunder and Lightning: The RAF in the Gulf War (1991)
The Search for Shangri-La: A Journey into Tibetan History (1999)
India Through the Lens: Photography 1840–1911, Ed. Vidya Dehejia (2000)
Soldier Sahibs: The Men who Made the North-west Frontier (2000)
The Buddha and the Sahibs: The Men who Discovered India's Lost Religion (2002)
Duel in the Snows: The True Story of the Younghusband Mission to Lhasa (2004)
Maharajas: Resonance from the Past (2005)
God's Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult and the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad (2006)
Kipling Sahib: India and the Making of Rudyard Kipling (2007)
The Buddha and Dr Führer: An Archaeological Scandal (2008)
The Taj at Apollo Bunder: The History of the Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, with co-author Sharada Dwivedi (2011)
Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor (2012)

Reviews

[Abhishek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the subtitle says, this is a personal history of South India, which means the history Allen covers is that which interests him the most. So one must be prepared to not be shocked at the lack of mention (or utmost a line or two) about the Kadambas, Pandyas, Pallavas, the Vijayanagar Empire, the Nayaks, the brief Madurai Sultanate and so on.
What Charles does very well is to cover the pre-Pallavan, pre-Chalukyan South. This is the Buddhist and Jain heritage of South India explored through its ruins. I now have a whole bunch of places on my travel list that I did not have before. I had never heard of Phanigiri or Kanagahalli, built by the Satavahanas, themselves Hindus but patrons of Buddhism. Kanagahalli contains the earliest craving of Ashoka in India, and was discovered only in the 1980s. I always knew it, but I am constantly surprised at how much what we know of India is because of the work done in the last two centuries - that of a dynasty called Satavahanas whose trade with the Romans funded their empire building, Ashoka and the deciphering of Brahmi script, establishing the antiquity of Tamil and Kannada, etc.
If you are product of the Indian school system(with its bias towards the North), I would highly recommend this book. It does its share in unveiling the South, and will act as a stepping stone towards a more thorough exploration of that overlooked regions south of the Vindhyas.

[Arun Divakar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The narratives of Indian history as told by most non-fiction books begin and end north of the Narmada river. This is not very surprising since northern India has seen a lot happen over the centuries in terms of power, politics, administration and the human condition. But this makes you wonder as to what was really going on beyond the Deccan plateau all this while and this is the question that Charles Allen tries to tackle in his book on the history of South India from the pre-Vedic times to just short of Indian independence. In Allen’s own words :

The tendency has been to equate India with the North and treat the South as an adjunct.

The south has also seen some very dynamic movements of history and it is by turns artsy, beautiful, religiously turbo charged, brutal, bloody and downright terrifying as the centuries went by. Organized religion rose, fell and rose again while in parallel empires came and went across the south. As royal power declined and went down a steep curve, European colonialism moved in to fill the gaps and all of these have shaped southern India into the shape and form it is in today. Charles Allen’s recounting of the forces that moulded the south is equal parts informative and vexing.

The historic undercurrents for South India begin in the North in the form of the pre-Aryan Harappa civilization. From here on it is the slow and steady development of the Aryans and their growth in India that Allen focusses on. What I found amusing about the writing approach was that it always keeps organized religion as the hub and all other developments are spokes which evolve and grow around these. As the Aryans and their Vedic gods takes a backseat, Jainism takes over. While the Jains did not have royal sponsorship they did have powerful and charismatic figures that aided their growth across the South. One of the most prominent figures of Jainism still stands tall in the form of the 57 foot high Gommateshwara statue in Sravanabelagola, Karnataka. Buddhism was hot on the heels and soon overtook Jainism as the most prominent religion. Buddhism had one great advantage over the Jains in the persona of Emperor Ashoka who accelerated the development of this religion while at the same time being tolerant towards the existing ones. The author spends a lot of time on Ashokan rock edicts and their history and present state and these make for fascinating study. As history would have it, the Mauryans too disappeared from the stage to be replaced by a series of other dynasties in the form of the Sungas, the Ishvakus, the Rashtrakutas etc. The decline of the Mauryas was also a decline of Buddhism and the ascendance of Hinduism as the force to be reckoned with. Hinduism went through a change at this time by evolving from a dispassionate Vedic pantheon of gods to a more anthropomorphic and personalized pantheon of gods the forerunners of which were Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. Allen also focusses on the all but forgotten dynasty of the Satavahanas and their trade with Rome and also a brief narrative about the Jagganath temple at Puri in Odisha. Chapters are divided roughly on the basis of the Indian states by putting in focus on Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The next phase was when the overlords of the south – the triumvirate (this is an approximation as they were bitter rivals) of Chola, Chera and Pandya dynasties fell and were eventually swallowed up by the Muslim warlords from the north. The first to enter the fray and begin the danse macabre was Alauddin Khalji and his eunuch general Malik Kafur whose armies decimated every figurehead they could find of the Hindu religion. Then again at the Battle of Talikota, the Deccan Sultans razed the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagara to dust. Hotspots of these nature went on until the decline of the Mughals and the Marathas after which the British effectively became the rulers of India. A chapter is dedicated to the history of the Muslims in India where Allen begins his narrative with the conquests of Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan and closes it with the aftermath of the 1921 Mappila (Muslim) riots in Kerala.

As a reader, an Indian and specifically a South Indian I did have a few areas of disagreement with the book :

1.The Epilogue : The epilogue of the book goes into clichéd territory by calling the BJP the bogeyman and also making the inevitable observation that the current environ in the nation is not very tolerant. The names of murdered public intellectuals are all called out here and he arrives at the conclusion that it is a very dangerous time to be alive and speak your own mind in India. While I was a subscriber of this notion a while back, this has now started to lose steam. The biggest counterpoint to this argument is that it conveniently discards any and every transgression on individual freedom that happened in India before May 2014 ( when Narendra Modi became the PM). Granted that there might be incidents that do not sit well with a lot of people but then what about the time before the BJP ? As Allen himself says one must read history by understanding where it is coming from. So the question really is, where is the author’s reading of the present affairs coming from ? If this epilogue had covered all the aspects of what happened in post-independence India this would have made for excellent reading but alas the easy way out is taken.

2. The British : There is a very visible effort to vindicate and applaud the British as the key to almost all the historic discoveries about India. While there are Indian historians and archaeologists that he recognises, they are few and far between. Essentially if it weren’t for the Sahibs, we wouldn’t have discovered our roots for a long, long time. Pretty ironic when you consider how much was destroyed by the British while rediscovering history.

3. Bias : Allen confides that he is a distant descendent of the wife of John Munro, the former dewan of Travancore (1811-1814) and agrees that he might be a tad biased to his ancestors. The bias however is rather prominent as he claims that the taxes imposed by Munro were not very heavy and that generally he was a very genial gentleman. Now I do not know much of history but Allen keeps saying that while the general feeling among the populace could have been one thing, the records from the time tell a different story. Considering that the records were mostly kept by the British or their employees I do not think that this was much of a surprise ! And so we have it that personalities like the erstwhile King of Travancore Marthanda Varma and the Travancore Prime Minister Velu Thampi Dalawa are shown as ruthless and aggressive natives while the Britishers for most of their parts were accommodating gentlemen. It could be that I have been spoiled by Shashi Tharoor’s book but I do see an empire apologist hidden in there somewhere.

The title of the book would have already given an indication that this is personal history and one that is quite selective. Allen is quite right in stating that a full blown history of the south would be a gargantuan book and one that would wander in all different directions. Keeping aside my contentions with the epilogue and also with the softness with which Allen deals with the British, this is a very informative book.

Recommended. Read it and take a call as to what you think about it.

[Gorab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous!
Started slow, but catched up pace pretty quick. I'm still in awe of multiple eye openers this book offered.

Loved:
The research work.
The Maps and inscriptions.
The Buddhist connection - unraveling of relics from different places.
Facts on Cholamandalam… to how it got converted to this book title.
Malabar - The world of Nambiars and Nairs. This was the best of the lot for me.
The Portuguese and the French colonies, the rise of East India Company and its effects on various rival groups.

The details on the Hindu caste system leaves a lot to ponder - on whether the Islam and Christian conversions were forced? Or the caste and tax system made it a mandate for the suffering group.

Did not like:
The slight bias.
Had to gulp down this claim that Kerala has emerged as the most tolerant state of India!

Highly recommended to take a dip in this well researched history.

[Venkataragavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In coromandel Charles Allen takes through a journey of chronicling history of south india (i.e south of narmada river). This book being a personal history , charles allen is selective , talking about some portions while overlooking certain parts. There is a feeling of colonial apologist bias which is felt throughout the background of the book. Other than that , topics like Agasthya , Buddhism and Jainism in south india , cholamandalam, malabar region , are well represented. Topics like vijayanagar empire, golkonda, bijapur, bedar are glossed over. And in the topics charles allen undertakes , he impresses .

Worth a read for understanding south indian history though it is highly selective

[Vasudhendra Vasudhendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author calls it as "A personal History of South India" - more personal than academic. He tries to cover the history of South India at various periods - Prehistory, Vedic, Jain and Buddhism period, medieval times etc. He has an interesting narrative skill, which gives the touch of fiction to History. Many paintings, photographs, maps used in the book make the reading interesting. There is serious study and research behind this book.

What I personally found disappointing is the authors narrow mindset of South India. He thinks Tamil Nadu represents the South India. He avoids writing anything about Vijayanagara or Bahmani Sultans, which are core part of South Indian history; But writes in detail about Aurangzeb's reign of Mughal history. Even Kakatiya dynasty of Andhra Pradesh is missing in the book. This narrow mindset of the author, which unfortunately exist with many Indians, make the book weak.

[Manu · Rating 5 out of 5]

For once, I'd judge the book by its cover, because the multiple themes, the detailing and the overall quaint, charming imagery are a good representation of what the book will deliver. While the title of the book is an indication of its focus, it actually does more in terms of coverage, and provides a fantastic narrative of South India - historical, social, societal, cultural and political facets.
Over a period of time, history becomes stories, then legend, and finally myths. This is the journey that Charles Allen undertakes, and while he smartly calls it a "personal history" to avoid religious minefields, it is comprehensive and erudite discussion.
He begins at the end of the subcontinent - Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari) and traces the tectonic shifts that created the Indian Plate, which we know as the Deccan, and its rock walls on one side - the Western Ghats, with Palakkad providing the only gap until the railways were built in the nineteenth century. The rest of the first chapter provides a good summary of the hunter-gatherer populations that resided in this part of the world in the Mesolithic era.
There's then a detour - to the North and the Harappans. It also contains a clear, scientifically backed commentary of the Aryans, the location of the Saraswati and the connection to the Zoroastrians, the historical account of the Vedas, and the epics - Mahabharata and Ramayana.
We return to "Agastya's country", early Tamil literature and the sage himself, who is credited with bringing Sanskrit to the South. The chapter clarifies and rebuts the paradox of him (also) being the person who brought Tamil to the South! This chapter is also interesting because it touches upon the origins of Vishnu and Shiva in mythology. The next few chapters were quite an eye opener for me, because it showed how both Jainism and Buddhism were dominant in the south, including Kerala. To the extent, where even Sabarimala, Ayyappa's abode, has its origins in Buddhist shrine. Dharmashasta's devotees chanting Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa seen side by side with Buddham saranam gacchami. Fascinating! It also captures the reasons behind the migration of Jains to the South, whose ranks include the first great emperor of India - Chandragupta Maurya. Speaking of empires, the Chola, Chera and Pandya dynasties were the result of a three way split between brothers who didn't want to share power.
A following chapter throws light on one of the most under-acknowledged dynasties in India, who ruled for almost five centuries - the Satavahanas. Muziris finds a mention too, as the primary trading port for Romans. In other international voyages, we find Bodhidharma, the South Indian monk who exported Mahayana Buddhism to China - which became Chan and finally in Japan, Zen. But contrary to pop culture, Shaolin kung fu wasn't something he introduced to China.
"Juggernaut" covers the origins of Vishnu (including the avatars) and Shiva in greater detail, and is made even more interesting by the suggestion that the lord of Puri was (again) originally a Buddhist shrine. Apparently 'palli' was the original term for 'vihara' and in Kerala, it became the common term for any non-Hindu place of worship. This section also covers Adi Shankara and his role in resurrecting Hinduism. Chapter 8 finally gets us to the title, which is appropriate from a historical perspective too - its first appearance was only in 16th century maps. That also brings us to Vasco Da Gama's terrorism, and the slow but steady entry of European powers in the Deccan. The next chapter is a deep dive into Malabar and Kerala in general, and I learned a lot - the origin of the Nambudiris and Kerala's caste order, the context of Vivekananda calling Kerala an asylum, and that Narayana Guru had a quarrel with Gandhi during the Vaikom satyagraha. The final chapter is named after Tipu, and it also covers the rise of Islam in the South.
The endnote is a must read, and shows how nationalist forces have been trying to reshape historical narratives for a while now. It also contains a good perspective on how the cleansing of textbooks in the early 80s and their glossing over of communal clashes actually provided ammunition to those who reverse engineer history to meet their interests.
What I really loved is the systematic deconstruction of mythology into its historic components, with an amazing amount of detail. As a person who loves both mythology and history, it was an absolute treat!I am quite miffed at myself for not having read Charles Allen earlier, but plan to rectify that for sure! If you're interested in history, this is a book I cannot recommend enough.

[Rohit · Rating 2 out of 5]

In his introduction chapter in this book, author Charles Allen quotes Romila Thapar from a 1999 speech in which she is said to have told her fellow academics, "All historians when they put out theories have an axe to grind, and have a political message. So always ask yourself, what is the political message of this historian you might be reading". This is a fair indication of what follows in the remainder of the book - page after page of subjective interpretations of historical facts, with a deliberate political overtone.

About 20% of the book is facts, researched and presented from a laudable variety of sources. Geographical references are plenty, offering additional context for a lot of fascinating chapters in the region's history. Simple language, and a light style of writing, make this template all the more enjoyable.

Sadly, this good work is undone by the author's adamant insistence to inject every historical event with his own narrative and judgement of people. While perfectly within his license to do so, this personal speculation often overbears the underlying story and its place in Indian history. For instance, several pages are devoted to discussing "Brahministic" tendencies of the Cholas and their subjects in the conception of the Bronze Nataraja idols in the Seventh Century C.E, but an obvious semantic branch-out - metalworking expertise in South India in that Era - is not even mentioned in the passing.

Glaring omissions of this nature are plenty - while temples, cities and rivers all form a part of the narrative, the evolution of architectural styles is disregarded, there is no word on urbanization, and the advances in agriculture and irrigation which made the rice belt region of India possible are not considered important enough to discuss.

These obvious near misses arise from the author's obsession to view Indian history purely as a Secular vs Religious Zero Sum Game, thereby missing out on the anthropological significance of what he sees in every story. It also results in the Vijayanagara Empire, arguably the most significant medieval dynasty in South India, and the one with the greatest impact on the modern Era, completely eliminated from the narrative.

Coromandel: A Personal History of South India is scarcely about "South India", even lesser about "Coromandel", arguably with very limited "History", and primarily reads as a "Personal" journal of an author who likes to legitimize his views of India and Indians based on his birth in the region in pre-Independence India. Along the way, casual defence of British Imperialism, general contempt towards Indian religions and rulers, and a conscious political spin make the book a disappointing read.

[Vivek KuRa · Rating 5 out of 5]

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if you are interested in knowing the “not much talked about” Pre-history or Early history of South India.

The book is filled with page after page, line after line of unknown interesting facts & information about South India and India. I ran out of Ink in my highlighter marking interesting information!

Me being a south Indian myself, some of the information he brings is unknown or not commonly known. Be warned that some of the information and analysis might contradict with popular believes.But it brings a newfresh perspective.

Author is a master in telling an interesting, non-humdrum story of India with his point of view backed by facts. At times, especially in the last two chapters he started to feel like an apologist of British Imperialism, but immediately (in most cases) he clarified that he is not taking any sides by postulating facts.
The following chapters are pretty interesting.
• Prehistory of south India
• Early south Indian tribal deities, Demigods, Jainism, Buddhism and Brahminical Hinduism in south India and their shared or stolen ideas and practices
• Puri Jagganth's history
• Cholamandalam (Coromandel)
• Malabar caste system
Also the "End note" about History and Anti-History is a must read.

I would add Charles Allen to my short list of well read, credible, honest, non-biased and sensible, yet easy to read indologist such as John Keay, Tony Joseph in English and Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy and Prof. Tho. Paramasivan in Tamil.
UNPUTDOWNABLE

[Achyuth Sanjay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice and compelling read on the history of South India, which is in itself refreshing because of how school history tends to focus more on North India. This is by no means comprehensive which is why it’s called a ‘personal history’ - it covers the parts of history that interests the author the most. This is what probably sets it apart, as not only does he explore lesser known facets of history (for example the centuries for which Buddhism and Jainism dominated the South), he also manages to string together a narrative which is the right mix of informative and entertaining. I would also say that this is one of the most balanced perspectives I’ve read of Indian history - the author himself lays bare his biases in the preface and implores the reader to always keep them in mind while reading the book.
He follows it up with an End Note in which he talks about the process of writing and revising history and how it impacts society, politics and vice versa - this note is one of the best pieces of writing on history that I’ve read, and is something that should be read by anyone aspiring to have a opinion/critique in today’s political climate.

[Lady Clementina ffinch-ffarowmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2017, Coromandel is Indian-born British popular-history writer Charles Allen’s exploration of the history of South India, one that focuses on lesser known or at least lesser explored aspects of the region, explanations from legend and fact, aspects that are interesting and those that are ugly, personages known and unknown, but all in all a book that was both engaging and enlightening in many ways.

The book isn’t (nor does it claim to be) a comprehensive history of the region, and focuses in its ten chapters on different facets—these do proceed chronologically starting from prehistory to colonial times (also weaving in the present), with an introduction (to the region and author) highlighting his personal experiences and an endnote delving into the debate on history and the (expectedly) coloured accounts we get from different quarters. One has to agree with him that no account is without its political undertones, but (at least I feel) that reading as many and as varied accounts as possible, one can get some sense of the broader story. Though we tend to do so, nothing can be quite neatly labelled as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ or ‘ugly’, often most have all these sides to them to varying extents and the whole picture might just be that—not one but multifaceted.

Back to the book itself now. In its ten core chapters, we explore different facets and times in the history of South India—ranging from the prehistoric to Buddhist and Jain roots in the region, to the Satvahana dynasty, the Cholas, different religious influences and the conflicts and discriminatory practices that relatedly emerged, and much else. Naturally, even though this is a history of ‘South India’, and has its own stories to tell, to some extent (perhaps more than just ‘some’) while it may have had its own trajectories, developments in and interactions with the north had their impact and relevance too, and these (such as the discovery of the Harappan/Indus Valley Civilisation, the gaps in history thereafter, the discovery of some bronzes in the 1970s and so on—the latter closer to the region) too are explored.

School texts sadly give one only limited knowledge of the region and developments here (skewed in terms of region but also partly I should think because there is just so much to tell), and much that was gone into in the book was in that sense new and interesting reading. I had no idea for instance that there existed theories of an entire continent Lemuria, supposedly between Africa and the Indian subcontinent through which the migration supposedly took place (or indeed how popular it actually was). Likewise, the extent of Buddhist and Jain presence in the region and their influences or shadows which are woven into the religions and practices that followed was something I wasn’t as aware of. I didn’t also know about the Indian connection with the Shaolin monastery or the first revolts against the British in this region (smaller scale but before the 1857 one). Allen doesn’t shy away from the ugly sides of things nor the pricklier aspects or personages either in his exploration, and so we see that history like the present had those that were more tolerant and what we would today call ‘secular’ and those who weren’t. But neither are these labels confined to particular types or categories.

This is a book that touches on so many aspects and has so much of interest that it isn’t really easy to write about all of them in a review. Besides things I’ve mentioned briefly, it also looks into language (predecessors of many present-day ones), the interactions with and influences of indigenous people and cultures (for instance, the Jagannath temple images), prehistorical migrations and legend and archaeology, among others. A rich and interesting read, not to be picked up for a general history of the region as much as for various interesting facets (complemented by historical sketches and photographs), and one that I enjoyed reading very much indeed. The author has written a number of books on the subcontinent, and my first experience reading him has certainly left me keen to explore more of his work.

4.5 stars

[Sairam Krishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

So so good! Coromandel is brilliant, and i don't mean just the essays and the scholarship in them. This is a lovingly constructed and put together book, right down to the every last detail. There is just so much here, and it's so well told, that I was sorry when I put it down. If Charles Allen had given me 15 more chapters, I'd have read them all.

I suppose each reader of this book will take it how they want to, but to me this book is a great starting point to delve deeper into all the history Charles Allen has raised. I barely knew half of the things he's talking about here, and Coromandel has ensured that I'm going back to history in a big, big way.

Very highly recommended. Read.

[Rick Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. Who wrote this brief work of History on Tamil Nadu?

This work is written by an English author, Charles Allen.

He is kind to admit, he is related to one of the figures in History.

He admits, he is related to John Munro. John Munro, was a leading figure who established, Travancore and Cochin.

Charles Allen, the author's work is accurate based on my other readings. He writes a clear narrative of topics pertaining to South India.

2. What did I learn from this work?

I learnt about works of Arumuka Navalar, a Shaivaite Preacher (Hinduism).

Fascinating, I was aware of revival movements in Srilanka. In revival movement, foremost among was, Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera.

I learnt, more about social classes of Travancore or Modern day Kerala.

I came across social groups like Brahmins, Nairs, Eravas, Parayars and Pallars, Nadars.

There was fierce discrimination among them, most horrible among was the Mulakkaram tax for Women.

I'd say Tamil Society is organized in collectivistic, self-sorts themselves in family, clan-groups, rather than individuals, with strong demands for face & honor. Without Face & Honor, one can't peek into Tamil Society.

In the West, Society is individualistic, people self-sorted themselves into individual interest-groups, with strong demands for rights, justice. Without rights & justice, one can't peek into the West.

3. What's inside the Book?

Take a peek at the outline, please

Outline of this Book:

1  The Indian Plate
2 The Knowledge
3  Agastya’s Country
4  Jains and Sangams
5  Buddhists and Rock-cut Caves
6  Satavahanas and Roman Gold
7  Juggernaut
8  Cholamandalam into Coromandel
9  Malaya into Malabar
10 Tippoo’s Tiger


4. What are my own thoughts/comments?

My Own Contention on first chapter:

In the Chapter of Introduction, I take a different stance. I'd say, I'm more familiar in this topic, than the author.

The author rules out miracles or supernatural.

I’d say the rational conclusion would be possibility of miracles, note, I say possibility, meaning, one cannot completely rule of out miracles.

To rule out miracles, one has to completely thoroughly show and disprove every miracle claim.

In my own journey, I found the reasonable conclusion is possibility of miracle.

Therefore, when any religious tradition brings out claims of miracles; I consider them, not reject them completely.

Some might sound outlandish, but if I am reasonable, I’d have to use possibility of miracles, not say, I reject them, again, notice the word possibility

Much work has been going on in this discussion, I find the contemporary cutting edge discussion in Religion and Science, fascinating.

I'd recommend people to explore, Ian Barbour, Arthur Peacocke, John Polkinghore, Alister McGrath, Stanley Jaki.

Until late 19th century, most were Natural Scientists or Natural Philosophers. As Knowledge became more specialized, people lost track of seeing the big picture, on how it is all connected.

Imagine reality, there are different ways to describe it, from physics, chemistry, history, mathematically.

When we ask, Why did it all come from? We’d have to look into Philosophy, Theology, Religious Tradition for answers.

4.a History & Tamil Nadu:

There’s no desired, commendable work about Tamil Nadu History.

I’ve been searching, reading, upgrading myself to understand about South India.

Some day, this would enable me to write a book about my people, as I'm Tamil.

I'd like to weave a narrative of Tamil People, that is accessible, yet of high-quality work.

I've been trying to learn more of Tamil Nadu’s History. Unfortunately, I could not find respectable works.

The Last Work on Caste & Tribes of South India was written by Edgar Thurston in early 20th century.

And, nobody has taken any interest to update his work, write rebuttals to it.

Frequently, In Conversations, Caste often comes to discussion in Tamil Nadu.

Sadly, none interested to do real work about it.

Most works from scholars about South Indian work are dry, obfuscated.

Scholars on this area: Robert Eric Freykenberg, Stephen Neil, Noboru Karashima, Nilakanta Sastri et al

4.b Would any Tamil Person consider writing?

Introducing Tamil Nadu to broader world, so they can know about Tamil History.

5. Why and Who should read this Work?

5.a Why:
-South Indian History
-Tamil Nadu
-Kerala
-Madras State
-Dravidian movement
-Archeology
-Early theories for origin of communities

5.b Who:
-South Indians who want to know about their ancestors
-Western People who have interest in India
-Hindoos
-Anyone who is new to learn about South India

Deus Vult,
Gottfried

[Kavitha Sivakumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read!

[Maumita Sinhamahapatra · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is well researched in terms of historical dates etc and in many instances readers will appreciate the author actually having visited the places he describes. But added to this are subtle but consistent attempts to justify British imperialism in India with arguments such as 'Indian nationalists' blaming British rule for its divide and rule policy despite other foreign powers having practiced the same in India. A criminal act is a criminal act no matter whether it has historical precedents or not. Referring to Tipu Sultan as a 'usurper' in his battles against the British is hardly even politically/historically correct- a personal history cannot be so personal that the ones usurped from are described as 'usurpers'. Add to this the author's likening of one attempt by the Chola ruler Rajaraja to annex South East Asian territories to more than 200 years of domination by the British in India. Glorifying characters (such as the infamous Munro) based on a personal interpretation of historical events is again stretching the personal element too far.
Had the author not felt the compulsion to give in to his intrinsic urge of justifying/excusing the British Empire, this could have been a decent read.

[Aniruddha · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s a quote in the preface of the book by Prof. Romila Thapar about how every historian has an axe to grind and one should not separate the circumstances from the historian. And this acts a true marker for what comes in the next 370 or so pages.

A mixture of History, Mythology, Opinions and Hearsay, this “Personal History” goes big on the former half than the latter half of the phrase. The book at times seems like a whitewash activity for the colonial times but saves grace by mentioning a few shortcomings as a balancing act.

The premise was promising but the execution was left as an exercise to the reader. History turns up on every corner with names and dates and events to legitimise opinions. Unless you’re big on reading the colonial history from the perspective of the colonisers, I’d suggest an omission from your reading lists.

But credit where it’s due, the book does paint a pretty good picture of how no religion has ever been clean of their evangelical pasts.

[Sajith Kumar · Rating 2 out of 5]

South India is in many ways different from the north such as in language, costumes, social organisation and political outlook. While the north was always susceptible to invasions from the northwest frontier, the south interacted with foreign powers mostly as trade partners rather than opponents in the battlefield. Whatever invasion the south had to endure was from those foreign powers that had subdued the north. Even though the differences between the two regions appear formidable to some, even a cursory examination would prove that it is only skin-deep and the same culture runs through the veins of both the north and the south. However, the Dravidian Movement in Tamil Nadu blows these petty differences out of proportion as something fundamental in nature and harps on the distinctness of the south. They have not yet been successful in convincing even their brothers in the southern states other than Tamil Nadu. Sane people find it difficult to palate their fanciful claims that Tamil was the original language spoken in the world in a now submerged continent of Lemuria. In spite of this, they find support from some foreign NGOs and evangelist groups. This book is also a clear marker of support to the movement. It is based on the personal travels the author and his wife had made to the south in a number of years. There is no chronology, story line or structure for the content and any chapter can be read independently without loss of context. Charles Allen was born in India during the last days of British Raj as the son of a civil servant. He is the author of many bestselling books on India and the colonial experience elsewhere.

A crucial distinguishing factor that sets apart the south in academic circles is the Dravidian identity. Even though the term was coined and used to denote the southern language group, Tamil supremacists denote a human race by it who was the founders of the Harappan Civilization. But here the author refutes Mortimer Wheeler’s Aryan Invasion Theory. Wheeler uncovered a number of skeletons from Mohenjo-daro and declared them to be victims of a massacre of Harappans by invading Aryans. This violent invasion theory has since been disproved by more solid archeological evidence which points to the arrival of predominantly pastoralist people by degrees and over an extended period (p.56). Allen then makes a leap of faith by assuming that the Aryans displaced the Dravidians. He goes on to say that to understand the huge cultural gulf between the Harappans and Aryans, you have only to consider what is and is not to be found in the Rig Veda! But Harappan script is not yet deciphered and we can only guess at the content of Harappan thought. Later Aryan texts show loss of importance to some objects such as soma. Does he mean to say that the plant had gone extinct in Punjab? The sole source of such arguments is the leftist historians such as D. D. Kosambi and Romila Thapar. Allen then works overtime to establish the Aryan out-of-India theory. He suggests the Harut River in western Afghanistan as the Saraswati and that neighbourhood as the Aryan homeland. As in North America, the autochthonous people were demonized as savages in the victor’s literary texts. This comparison, however, is outright bunkum. The present Hindu pantheon is a smooth assimilation of Vedic and non-Vedic divinities, with the non-Vedic ones gaining predominance. Now, who has heard of Red Indian gods being worshipped by whites in America today?

The book gives a short survey of the origin of the Dravidian Movement and how it sought to rewrite Tamil history to suit their needs. The term ‘Dravidian’ was coined by the maverick British civil servant Francis Ellis and the Christian missionary Robert Caldwell. Both were ardent supporters of British colonialism and Protestant Christianity. The most ironic fact is that Ellis chose ‘Dravidian’ as it was already used by Sanskrit philologists to denote the south Indian people and languages. In short, the word ‘Dravidian’ itself comes from Sanskrit! The author blindly accepts the colonialist argument that Brahmins introduced idol worship, ‘Puranic’ system of religion, caste system and undermined and reduced the status of Tamil literature by replacing it with Sanskrit. As you can see, the Dravidian Movement was kindled by the ideas of missionary Caldwell who tried his best to drive a wedge between various sections of people and persuade some of them to convert. Allen presents a few fanciful examples – most of them not sufficiently authentic – of how Jainism and Buddhism were replaced by Hinduism in the south and alleges that this was a clever ploy of the Brahmins to impose their religion on the natives. However, he fails to consider that both those religions were not indigenous to the south and that they too had come from the north!

Charles Allen seethes with a severe variant of anti-Hindu bias. His handling of Sabarimala which is one of the most popular Hindu pilgrimage sites in South India proves this point. The author is so hostile to the temple and its devotees whom he describes as ‘looking alarming at first and can be mistaken for rowdies who have had too much country liquor’. He then puts forward the nonsensical claim that the temple administration has installed a scanning machine that detects menstruating women (p.106). The book purports to associate Brahmins with every kind of misfortune or misdeed the southern society had had to endure. The second century BCE Chola king Elara conquered Sri Lanka. He placed a bell outside the court room which a person seeking justice was free to ring. One day, a cow rang the bell and complained that her calf was run over by the prince’s chariot. In the interests of justice, Elara ordered his son to be killed in the same manner. Allen claims this story to denote the beginning of Brahminical influence. Pathetically, he forgets that this was taken from the Buddhist text Mahavamsa and that Jains and Buddhists were as much against cow slaughter as the Hindus.

This book presents many ideas which were in circulation for a long time, but have since been discarded in the light of new discoveries and consensus. Tamils were said to inhabit a continent named Lemuria which submerged in the Indian Ocean. They were the progenitors of all world cultures. The amazing truth is that this ridiculous idea is still taught in Tamil Nadu as established history! For this to be true, mankind should have evolved into existence at the time when continents were drifting across the earth’s crust and sea level much below what it is today. Similarly a sect among Kerala Christians believes that they were the descendants of Brahmins converted to Christianity by no less a person than the Apostle Thomas a few years after crucifixion in the first century CE. This theory has also been rejected by historians. However, the author claims that since there were many Roman settlements in Muziris which is now in Kerala, ‘one of these Roman citizens could well have been the Christian missionary Judas Thomas in 52 CE’ (p.179). To bolster this outrageously pseudo-historical comment, he remarks that hoards of Roman coins were found near two churches believed to have been built by Thomas.

As is the usual practice by left historians to discount atrocities by Muslim invaders, the author claims that though the Jagannath Temple at Puri was destroyed sixteen times by Muslim generals, they were ‘for the most part motivated by politics rather than religious fanaticism’ (p.220). How can these scholars pronounce such outright lies? Dravidian fundamentalists usually consider Brahmins and north Indian Hindi-speakers as having oppressed the Tamils in various ways over the centuries. But this book describes the greatest plunder of the Tamil country in the fourteenth century when Sultan Ala-ud-din Khilji invaded the south. He removed 9600 maunds of gold (anywhere between 1000 to 6000 tons in modern measure). When paraded in triumph through the streets of Delhi, along with 612 captured elephants and 20,000 horses, this booty created such a sensation that it passed into folk lore within the Muslim world, eventually to be transformed by way of the Arabian Nights into Aladdin’s Cave (p.258). Anyway, today’s Dravidians are okay with this particular loss!

The author professes himself to be an atheist/agnostic but consciously or not, his scholarly outlook so closely matches the colonial evangelist viewpoint that we would suspect the book to have been written a century ago. This book is only as authentic as an Amar Chitrakatha designed for kids. His fixing of the site of Kalinga war is amusing. Mark Shand, an elephant enthusiast, rode on his elephant through the fields of Dhauli in Odisha. This elephant refused to go forward when it reached a particular place. Whatever Shand and the mahout did could not persuade the animal to cross the open ground in front of them. Hundreds of elephants were killed in the Kalinga war and Allen ascribes the elephant’s behavior to ancestral memory! So much for the authenticity of the narrative! The Vijayanagara Empire is not even mentioned in this history of the south. The author is highly critical of Hindu influence and even its mere presence in South Indian culture though this is caused mostly by ignorance than mal-intent. Though knowledge of established facts is very superficial, the author often assumes the airs of a scholar.

The book is recommended only for very light reading, such as when you embark on a long train journey and have nothing worthwhile at hand to spend your time.

[Sandeep Nair · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a relief that this is an excellent account of South Indian history, since it's the 'Chicken Tikka Masala' version of Indian history that is most available and made popular.

While the title reads Coromandel (anglicized version of Cholamandalam, i.e. reign of the Chola Dynasty) it covers way more than that - from the early Dravidians to the States before Indian independence and a little beyond.

Since kingdoms in India changed as frequently as org structures at a contemporary tech company, it's hard to cover everything in a book. So, this isn't a comprehensive account but by all means covers a lot of breadth and most events that matter.

The structure of the book is clever, advancing in an almost spatio-temporal direction while carving out chapters for each topic like religion, mythology, kingdoms, eras, colonial invasion etc.

The book contains plenty of maps, photos and paintings, original words with their etymological explanations, to navigate the reader through the complex history of the region. The only tool missing was a visual timeline that would have further aided the reader's quest.

The author also doesn't jump into the temptation of telling one popular story after another, but mentions various accounts of the same incident or "fact" revealing the multitude of layers that Indian society is made of. They also start by showing the evidence at hand and how they derived at an inference, leaving it for the reader to make a judgement.

I highly recommend this to anyone interested in general history or history of India.

[Prashanth Srivatsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always wary of popular history books, more so of self proclaimed personal histories, but this one was quite well laid out, and enlightened me enough to go digging into prominent South Indian historians and their works, primarily on the Agastya emergence and the fading of Buddhism and Jainism in early Tamil Nadu history.

[Ràmasubramanian Iyer · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is author' personal view but the entire book reeks off anti-Brahminism. Whenever he talks of Hinduism, he mentions it as different from so called Vedic Brahminism. Throughout the book, he keeps on mentioning that Brahminical Hinduism appropriated customs from local religions but when the same was done by Buddhism he mentions that Buddhism and Jainism was flexible enough. Strong word play there. In the story of Manuneedi Cholan the act of giving up his son is termed as religious fanaticism because of Brahimincal influence. Even Adi Shankarar was mentioned as a person who was professing "militant proselytising". In the end note, he is pained that the new age historians wants to rewrite history while firmly believing the linkes of Romila & Wendy are the only right source.

A very very disappointing book.

[Ravi Jain · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book contains a wealth of good research but I found it to be pretty one sided.

Charles Allen claims to be an Indian and an expert on Indian history. There is a subtle hint of anti-brahminism in that Brahmins have been portrayed to be the cause of all evils plaguing South India whereas the British colonisers and their actions have been heavily defended.

I bought and read this book thinking it would be a comprehensive reading on the history of South India - the various dynasties, their kings, important queens and ministers, governance, culture and customs. But it turned out to be mostly about the rise of Buddhism and Jainism in South India and how Brahmins drove them to extinction.

[Manish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coromandel confused me a bit. I assumed it to be a travelogue cum narration of the history of the Coromandel. But what Allen does is to explore primarily the pre-Hindu identity of the land. What we get is a riveting account of the Buddhists, Jains and the eventual dominance of the Vedic Brahminical Hinduism. One of the best chapters was his exploration of the Buddhist links of the Jagannath Temple of Puri. His study of the Thiruvalluvar’s impact on Tamil Nadu was also praiseworthy. Highly recommended for some newer insights into South India.

[Aju · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the riveting descriptions of the ebbs and flows of *so* many different cultures and kingdoms in what is sometimes glossed over as "South-India". I particularly enjoyed the story of how Kerala became what it is today and the calling out of the revisionism that is rampant in India. A "blemish", if you can call it that, is that some of the history outlined is colored by personal connections; this is acknowledged by the author.

[Aditya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was interesting, if a little patchy and inconsistent. Some chapters felt needlessly long, while others a little superficial. The states were also not covered proportionately. But the topics chosen and the sources relied upon were interesting despite the evident bias of the author towards certain ideas, people, groups. The author revealed a clear bias in favour of the British, always emphasizing the benevolent nature of their rule, and the great lengths taken by Indologists to recover and preserve ancient Indian history. But the bias is natural considering he belongs to a family of East India Company officials. And personally knew a few of the personalities discussed. He's also surprisingly pro Brahmin, like astonishingly so in spite of having a decent amount of criticism of the caste based social order apparent throughout the book.

Basically, this is an interesting and necessary book. But some of its conclusions and observations are a little sketchy, and to be believed at one's own risk.

[Dianne Lange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough and fascinating history of South India chock full of interesting anecdotes. A must if you're planning on visiting that part of the world. The cast of characters throughout history is confusing, but even though I'll probably remember only half of them (or less), this book will enhance my journey.

[Samuel Premkumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading the book based on the title of the book and an intriguing health warning in the beginning of the book. Needless to say, the book was fascinating and a fast, gripping read. Easy to read and well narrated.
One thing I realised after reading the book is that how less we know of our land's past. Starting from river valley civilisations to the current, India has gone through all sorts of religions and cultures.
South of Narmada is a new definition of Deccan as it formed the natural North-South divide. The 2500 year history of Malabar, coromandel and Travancore are well captured and narrated.
Based on this narrative it tempts you to visit all those historical sites mentioned in the book.
The book ends with a cryptic warning on the current situation in India, without mentioning names or organisations.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it’s a must read. As the title says this is a personal history of south India. The author wrote it in such a manner that made me feel like a South Indian has written it. The author has done a good job at highlighting how casteism has been a part and parcel of modern India especially in Kerala in 18th century.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book really got into its groove by the second half. The beginning was a little heavy on the dates and facts, making it a bit difficult to digest, but it finished strong with the narrative becoming more story-like.

Even with the amount of detail and research, it still felt like everything could not be covered, which is to be expected. Some of the historical events were surprising and made me look them up in more depth, while the rest was wrapped up a bit too concisely for my taste. But credit given where it's due, any of the kings and clans mentioned would probably take up several books on their own if they were gone into the amount of detail I wanted. But Coromandel manages to do justice to the dynasties and their socioeconomic struggles, while also taking into account the religious aspect of the power struggles in Southern India.

[Uday · Rating 5 out of 5]

easily the best history book on south india

[Suman Srivastava · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indians have traditionally been great students of science, mathematics, philosophy, art, culture, music and so on, but not of history. Thus we have a lot of reading to do to catch up on history. Particularly of South Indian history, of which our school history books do a really bad job. Learning about our history is particularly important in this age of "alternative facts" where everyone seems to feel free to have their own version of history and twist the facts into a narrative that they want you to hear.

[Nikhil Krishnan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the subject matter itself is quite interesting albeit basic, the author leads a merry traipse through factual history, archaeology, historical accounts, and social commentary, often within the span of a simple page. He also fails to mention any of the south's major ruling dynasties other than the Cholas and the Satavahanas. In short, it's a very brief peek into the still neglected history of the south.