Kannara Thevan

Kannara Thevan is the Chakravarthy of Rettai Mandalam and the principal northern ruler against whom Rajadithyar’s planned campaign is directed. His decision to march south while the Chozha forces waited for a campaign in Ilankai reverses the expected direction of the conflict: an intended invasion of his realm becomes a massive assault on Chozha territory, culminating in the Battle of Thakkolam.

Identity and Political Position

Kannara Thevan is identified as the ruler of Rettai Mandalam, whose famed capital is Manyakhedam. In the account of the campaign, he is not merely the object of Rajadithyar’s ambition: he is himself gathering armies in his own territories and acting as a commander in the struggle between the northern and southern powers. His presence in the narrative is primarily political and military; the evidence does not describe his personal appearance, private life, or conduct beyond the campaign.

The Chozha Campaign Against Rettai Mandalam

Rajadithyar’s long-term design was to lead a great army north, annihilate Kannara Thevan, and raze Manyakhedam. The ambition is compared with the earlier march of Pallava Chakravarthy Maamallar to Vathapi, whose destruction had inspired Rajadithyar to imagine a comparable conquest. The forces were assembled in the region between the Kedilam River and the Then Pennai River, where armies could be gathered and trained on a vast scale.

The campaign did not proceed on Rajadithyar’s original timetable. When hostilities broke out in Ilankai, some regiments were sent there, and Paranthaka Chakravarthy halted the northward expedition until news of victory arrived. Rajadithyar waited, but Kannara Thevan was making preparations of his own. Rather than remain on the defensive, the ruler of Rettai Mandalam judged the moment opportune and began moving south, supported by his ally Boodhugan.

Invasion and the Battle of Thakkolam

Kannara Thevan’s forces and the Ganga troops advanced together in numbers that the Chozha spies described as an immense, overwhelming host. Paranthaka Chakravarthy chose to let the invaders approach Chozha territory: in his assessment, fighting near home would spare his troops a difficult march into enemy lands and allow them to use their local knowledge to surround and trap the advancing army. The enemy reached Vada Venkatam before the Chozha forces received permission to march.

Rajadithyar then led a formidable army north. Three days into the march, two kaadhams north of Kanchi, the opposing forces met at Thakkolam. The account estimates Kannara Thevan’s side at roughly five lakh soldiers and thirty thousand elephants—twice the size of the Chozha force. The disparity in numbers does not settle the contest in advance: the narration stresses Rajadithyar’s command and the confidence his presence inspired in his own troops. It does not, in the available account, establish Kannara Thevan’s personal role at the battlefield or describe the battle’s eventual result.

Alliance and Narrative Significance

Boodhugan is named as Kannara Thevan’s ally and as a king who joined the southward invasion. During the battle, Boodhugan is also identified as the architect and executor of a heinous plot against Rajadithyar, a scheme whose full significance was understood only later. The account assigns responsibility for that plot to Boodhugan; it does not say that Kannara Thevan devised or directed it.

Kannara Thevan’s significance lies in the reversal his advance produces. Rajadithyar’s planned conquest of Manyakhedam gives way to a defensive campaign on Chozha ground, and the two kingdoms’ preparations converge at Thakkolam. Through the contrast between the invaders’ numerical superiority and Rajadithyar’s celebrated battlefield presence, the narrative presents the confrontation as a collision of scale and leadership, while leaving Kannara Thevan himself largely defined by his kingship, alliance, and military initiative.