page_title: Ravivarman Kulaśēkhara
section_title: Inscriptions
hierarchical_section_title: Ravivarman Kulaśēkhara / Inscriptions
caption_attribution_description: English: Dawn in Madurai city
context_page_description: Ravivarman, styled Maharaja Ravivarman, Kulasekhara verma, was the ruler of Venatu, with capital at port Kolambam, southern India between 1299 – 1316/7. He – in all likelihood – was a descendant of the ancient Cheras through his father Jayasimhadeva and was the son-in-law of the Pandya ruler of Maravarman Kulasekhara. Ravivarman raided large parts of southern India in a short period by skilfully taking advantage of the weakening of the Pandya kingdom and the confusion prevailed after the Khalji raids.
  Coins issued by Ravivarman with Tamil legend "Kulasekhara" were discovered by archaeologists. Probably to commemorate his conquest of the Pandya realm, he issued the coin with his crest elephant on the obverse and the name Kulasekhara over the Pandya crest on the reverse.
  In a Telugu record of the Kakatiya ruler Prataparudra II, he is called "Malayala Tiruvadi Kulasekhara".
  Ravivarman was an ardent devotee of Patmanabha at Trivandrum, Kerala. The term "Padmanabhapadadasa" was apparently first used by Ravivarman Kulasekhara.
context_section_description: The Sanskrit – Tamil inscriptions of Ravivarman, and those assumed to be engraved by him, can be found at:
  Kanchipuram (Varadarajaswami Temple, on giving donations to Arulala Perumal Vishnu Temple) - dated to 4th regnal year (Sanskrit)
  Srirangam (Ranganatha Temple) (Sanskrit) - dated to 4th regnal year
  Tiruvati (Virattaneswaram Temple, Tiruvadigai, South Arcot) - dated to 4th regnal year - December 29, 1313 (Sanskrit)
  Valavur Temple - dated to 5th regnal year
  Poonamallee (Puvirundavalliperumal Temple, Puntamalli) near Chennai (Sanskrit). Ravivarman's insignia in the Poonamallee Inscription has the Chera Elephant Goad above the Pandya emblem Two Fishes and the Chola emblem Tiger.
  Chidambaram Inscription of Maravarma Tribhuvana Chaktravartin Vira Kerala alias Kulasekharadeva, "the Pandya king" - dated to 4th regnal year
  Salaigramam (Siva Temple, Chalai Village) at Trivandrum (Sanskrit)
  Perunagar Inscription of Ravi Varma Vira Pandya
  Thiruppankili (Tiruppangili in Trichinopoly district) (Sanskrit) - dated to 4th regnal year
  In the epigraphs, he describes himself as the Samgramadhira i.e. the one firm in battle, the descendant from the Chandra Kula and the Yadava line, the overlord of Kerala, the Kupaka, the Lord of the Kolamba city, the Bhoja of the South, the Devotee of Sri Padmanabha, the son of Jayasimha and the Kulasekhara monarch. In some inscriptions, such as the one in Trivandrum, he describes himself as "Dharma Maharaja". The Pandya royal title "Maravarman" was also adopted by Ravivarman in some epigraphs.
  Historians are of the opinion that the last 18 verses of the Srirangam Inscription forms a separate poem composed by Kavi Bhushana as indicated at the end of the inscription. While comparing Ravivarman with Krishna, Kavibhusana writes that the king was attached to no other women than his own wife.
caption: Madurai in central Tamil Nadu. Ravivarman Kulasekhara raided Madurai in 1312 AD
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D200", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "ACD Systems Digital Imaging", "Image DateTime": "2011:02:02 03:01:35", "Image WhitePoint": "[313/1000, 329/1000]", "Image PrimaryChromaticities": "[16/25, 33/100, 21/100, 71/100, 3/20, 3/50]", "Image YCbCrCoefficients": "[299/1000, 587/1000, 57/500]", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "363", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[9, 5401/100, 0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[78, 501/100, 0]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "216", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[0, 19, 12]", "GPS GPSSatellites": "05", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "", "GPS GPSDate": "2009:06:19", "Image GPSInfo": "26441", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "26722", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3849", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:06:19 05:51:43", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:06:19 05:51:43", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "1", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Cloudy weather", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "200", "EXIF SubSecTime": "171", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "57", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "57", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3872", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1289", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R03", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "26387", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 0, 2, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "300", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF Gamma": "11/5"}