Chora Man Dakini - The Sword of The Cholas

Please read these 2 articles before proceeding. It will give you the needed basic understanding. 

The Perak Coronation Address (click) 
The Meaning of Chola (click)


Yesterday, I made the above announcement in Facebook:

I was actually refering to the royal sword of Perak. This sword belonged to the Chola dynasty and I will explain about it. 

The sword is known as Chura Si Manja Kini, Chora Mandakini, Chora Man Dakini, Chora Samanda Kian, Chora Sa Mendang Kian. Some say that it is Churiga Si Mandakini and claims that it means The Blade From Mandakini in Sanskrit. Mandakini is a river in Uttar Pradesh. 

If we were to check its language structure, it will not be possible to construct such phrase in Sanskrit as the word Si and Churiga has no proper meaning when combined in such way.  Furthermore, it also has no meaning in the Malay language.

I am of the opinion that it is Chora-Man-Dakini and pronounced as Choraman Dakini. According to Tantric practices, Dakinis are female spirits who are companions of the Goddess Durga.

Although the Cholas were Saivites , they never worshipped Shiva as their clan or family deity. Shiva was considered as the Supreme God of the universe. The Chola kings were considered as representations of Vishnu. 

Durga and forms of Durga were their family deity. Durga known as Kotravai in ancient times. It was customary for ancient Tamil warrior clans to have female deities as family deities.

The family deity of Rajaraja Chola was known as Nisumbha Soodani or the Slayer of Nisumbha. The story of Nisumbha and his 
demon brother Sumbha slayed by the Goddess is written in Devi Mahatmyam.  

Like the other warrior kings of Tamil Nadu, the  Cholas made blood offerings to the Goddess, When offerings are made, worship is also conducted for the Dakinis. The Dakinis are venerated as guardians.

The sword could be enchanted with spells of a Dakini so that she ensures victory for the Cholas in their battles. This means the sword represents the Dakini itself. 

As explained in my other article, Chora = Chola. The word Man is an old Tamil word for king. We still have a Tamil king in Pudukottai district and his title is Thondaiman. 

Therefore, Choraman Dakini simply means the Dakini of Chola King in Tamil language. 

In order to prove the Chola theory, we need to look at some local sources. The Malay history book or Malay Annals is known as Sejarah Melayu or Sulalatus Salatin. Malay Annals is a mix of history and mythology. It must be interpreted carefully as it was written using metaphors.

According to the Malay tradition, Chora Mandakini sword originaly belonged to Sang Sapurba. He was also known as Sri Nila Pahlawan, Bichitram and Bichitram Shah. Together with his brothers Sri Krishna Pandita (also known as Palidutani) and Sri  Nila Utama (also known as Nilumanam), they appeared in a sacred hill known as Bukit Seguntang in Sumatra island. 

These princes were the founders of the Malay royalties. Sang Sapurba then gave his sword to his warrior Permasku Mambang which the warrior used to kill the serpent Saktimuna.

The sword was then passed into the hands of various kings who were considered as descendants of Sang Sapurba. It is now kept as a royal regalia by the Perak sultanate. The Perak Sultanate is an offshoot of the Malacca Sultanate.

During the coronoation, the sword is taken out, Sanskrit spells chanted and the sword will be kissed by the ruler. This has been going on since the days of Sang Sapurba.

The Malay tradition may after all be true and not just a myth but who exactly is this Sang Sapurba or Bichitram Shah? 



According to the Malay Annals, Raja Sulan was the mightiest prince of the lands of Hind and Sind (India) and of all the rajas under the wind. His daughter married Raja Narsi Barderas and they had three sons.

Raja Heiran 
Raja Suran
Raja Panden

Raja Suran took over the country of his grandfather, Raja Sulan. This is actually referring to Cheran (Raja Heiran), Cholan (Raja Suran) and Pandian (Raja Panden) kings. Although the three Tamil kings are not brothers as written in the Malay Annals, it is actually a metaphor to show that the three countries were under the rule of the Cholas.

This is actually correct because during the time of Rajaraja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola, the entire Tamil region of Chera, Chola and Pandya were under them. 

In fact, it was under the Cholas as one country for about 200 years. The empire started breaking after that and the Cholas were completely defeated by the Pandyas in the 13th century. The Pandyas then ruled the entire region until Malik Kafur appeared in the 14th century and destroyed them.

When the Cholas conquered it all under Rajaraja, it was customary to appoint brothers or cousins as governors of the conquered territory. So the three brothers mentioned above may after all be Cholas who were appointed to also govern the conquered Chera and Pandya territory. There are also records which shows that when the Cholas conquered Pandya kingdom, Chola princes ruled the land as Chola-Pandyas.

The Malay Annals then mentions that Raja Suran intended to conquer China. To do this, he needs to first go through Southeast Asia. He attacked Sri Vijaya and their vassal kingdoms. This refers to areas in Indonesia and Malaysia. Raja Suran attacked Gangga Negara which is ancient Perak. 

The last to be attacked was the city of Glang Kiu near Johor. Glang Kiu is a corruption of Thai word Ghlong-Keow which means "Box of Emeralds". This refers to the lost city of Kota Gelanggi which is nearby the Linggiu reservoir. Both Kota Gelanggi and Linggiu are words which morphed from Glang Kiu. 

In Glang Kiu, the ruler and warriors were Thai. this shows that the southern part of peninsular Malaysia were under the Thais. The king was known as Raja Chulan. This is probably a corruption of Thai name such as Chulalangkon (just guessing). 

Raja Suran then marched to Tamsak which is Temasek (Singapore). News about the Chola plunder of Sri Vijaya reached China. China then sent a vessel full of old toothless people to Temasek. Raja Suran meets the people in the vessel and notice that they are old and toothless. 

According to Malay Annals, this was a trick by China. The people in the Chinese vessel told the Cholas that they set sail from China when they were 12 years old but only reached Temasek when they are very old. This gave Cholas an impression that China is too far away and not worth to be conquered. So the Cholas dropped the idea of attacking China.

The Chola raid of Sri Vijaya is a real historical event. However, Cholas did not intend to conquer China. What happened was a trade dispute between Sri Vijaya and Chola. The Sri Vijayans gave false information regarding the Cholas to China. 

They wanted to create an impression that Chola was under them so that they can get more preference from China. This angered the Cholas as it affected their trade with China. The Cholas had commercial motive to attack Sri Vijaya. 

This is based on historical research. You can download the research work entitled The Military Campaigns of Rajendra Chola and the Chola-SriVijaya-China Triangle by Tansen Sen. (click)

The Raja Suran mentioned in the Malay Annals is none other than Rajendra Chola 1, son of Rajaraja Chola. We don't know if he personaly participated in the battles. He could have even sent his commanders to fight on his behalf. But the Chola raid of Sri Vijaya under Rajendra Chola really happened.

He had many consorts and it was customary for the Cholas to marry princess from conquered territories. The children of Raja Suran mentioned in the Malay Annals could be a result of such marriage and they are not necessarily the children of the main queen who lives in India. 

The Malay Annals states that Raja Suran married the princess of Glang-Kiu, Putri Onang Kiu. He had a princess through her and she was named Chanduwani Wasias. 

Raja Suran also married the princess of Gangga Negara, Putri Gangga. They had 3 sons. Bichitram Shah, Palidutani and Nilamanam.

Scroll up, these three sons of Raja Suran and Putri Gangga are none other than Sang Sapurba and his brothers, the ancestors of Malay royalty as mentioned in Malay Annals. 

Bichitram Shah (Sang Sapurba) then goes to Palembang. Proves his royal lineage and becomes king. It is this Bichitram Shah who brought the Chola sword, Choraman Dakini.

This sword is now in the possession of the Perak sultanate. Perak was formerly Gangga Negara and it is also the maternal home of Bichitram Shah because his mother, Putri Gangga, was the princess of Gangga Negara. 

Information in the Malay Annals is a mix of truth and mythology. It may not be accurate however certain information can still be studied as it points to certain historical event which really happened. 

This is the story of the royal Chola sword of Perak!

The Malay Annals can be downloaded here

The Sultan of Perak kissing the royal sword.