During the first few centuries, the main dynasties that ruled the region that was concentrated around the fertile valley of the Kaveri River were the Pallavas, Pandyas, Cheras and Cholas. We have to go back to a time when the ‘Lord of the Ocean’ invaded Kedah when Kedah was still Kadaram and found its place in history.”īriefly, from the oral tradition of storytelling, the region regarded as modern-day Kerala and Tamil Nadu in South India has had a history of continuous human habitation for more than 15,000 years. You will see that the politics of this region has been in a state of constant flux. I said, “Let me tell you a story about this place. I decided then to tell him what I’d learnt from the book mentioned above.

When he then demanded to know how I could remain so calm, I said, “It’s all happened before.” Perhaps I was simply fed up with my friend’s ‘pontificating’. Perhaps it was because I’d completed reading Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa: Reflections on the Chola Naval Expedition to Southeast Asia, based on a collection of papers and essays presented at an international conference called ‘Early Indian Influences in Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-cultural Movements’ held between 21 st and 23 rd of November 2007 in Singapore. Located on the summit of Gunung Jerai in the north of the Peninsular Malaysia, this mountain was unique because it was surrounded on three sides by absolutely flat paddy land, as well as the Straits of Malacca on the west.

We were at a resort built on what the locals fondly call ‘Kedah Peak’. Perhaps it was because I was frustrated that he couldn’t see beyond this ‘jungle’ and appreciate the beauty and purity of our picnic site. Here, we are still living in…” Waving his hands, he added, “this jungle.” Rubbing his day-old stubble, he said, “You know, they have roads with five lanes on each side. He’d gone so far as to make sure that his only child was already fluent in Mandarin and not her mother tongue, Tamil. To state otherwise would result in arguments that lasted days. Rumour had it that he believed that every country was doomed to inevitable failure unless it bowed down to the might of China. I didn’t say the words aloud, though, for this man’s convictions were delivered with such ferocity that any meaningful debate was impossible. “China is going to take over our world,” my friend declared.

Win2day lord of the ocean