Athirajendra Chola reigned for a very short period of few months as the Chola king succeeding his father Virarajendra Chola. His reign was marked by civil unrest, possibly religious in nature. Athirajendra Chola was last clan of Chola dynasty. He was killed in the religious chaos. Athirajindra and Virarajendra Chola interfered in the Vengi succession disputes after the Vengi king Rajaraja Narendra, who was closely related to the Chola clan through his mother Kundavai, a daughter of Rajaraja Chola, died in 1061 CE. The Vengi throne went to Saktivarman II in a palace coup. The Cholas wanted the Chola influence re-established in Vengi. Saktivarman II was killed, but Vijayaditya, Saktivarman's father assumed the throne and repulsed the Chola attempts at unseating him. Vijayaditya however accepted to serving as a Chola vassal.
The Later Chola dynasty ruled the Chola Empire from 1070 C.E. until the demise of the empire in 1279 C. E. This dynasty was the product of decades of alliances based on marriages between the Cholas and the Eastern Chalukyas based in Vengi, and produced some of the greatest Chola emperors such as Kulothunga Chola I. Even though the later Cholas are often referred to as Chalukya Cholas, there were two breaks in the line. Kulothunga Chola II and Rajadhiraja Chola II did not belong to the Chalukya Chola line. Kulottunga II was a grandson of Vikrama Chola and Rajadhiraja Chola II was not the son of Rajaraja Chola II.
Eastern Chalukyas, also known as the Chalukyas of Vengi, were a dynasty that ruled parts of South India between the 7th and 12th centuries. They started out as governors of the Chalukyas of Badami in the Deccan region. Subsequently, they became a sovereign power, and ruled the Vengi region of present-day Andhra Pradesh until c. 1130 CE. They continued ruling the region as feudatories of the Cholas until 1189 CE.
Rajaraja Narendra was the Eastern Chalukya king of the Vengi kingdom in South India. Rajaraja Narendra established the city Rajahmahendravaram. His period was famous for Social and Cultural heritage. During the time of Rajaraja Chola I, Rajahmahendravaram was sacked by Western Chalukya. The region witnessed the war between Western Chalukya and other neighbouring dynasties and political support from the Chola dynasty.
Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan, popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades. He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 films, including devotional, semi-classical, Carnatic, classical and light music songs. He gave classical concerts starting in 1943.
Paapanaasam Raamayya Sivan was an Indian composer of Carnatic music and a singer. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1971. He was also a film score composer in Kannada cinema as well as Tamil cinema in the 1930s and 1940s.
Thenkarai Ramakrishna Mahalingam born in Sholavandan Thenkarai was an Indian actor, singer and music composer of the 1940s and 1950s. He was known for his melodious songs mostly based on romantic or devotional themes.
Mayavaram Krishnasamy Thiyagaraja Bhagavathar, also known by his initials as M. K. T., was an Indian actor, producer and Carnatic singer. He is considered to be one of the most successful actors in Tamil cinema ever.
Sri Murugan is a 1946 Indian Tamil-language film produced by Jupiter Pictures and directed by M. Somasundaram and V. S. Narayanan. The film featured Honnappa Bhagavathar in the lead role. M. G. Ramachandran performed a dance number, Shiva Thandavam along with K. Malathi in the film.
Chintamani is a 1937 Indian Tamil-language film directed by Y. V. Rao starring M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, Serugulathur Sama and Aswathamma. It was the first Tamil film to run for a year in a single theatre.
Thiruneelakantar is a 1939 Indian Tamil-language film directed by Raja Sandow and starring M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. The film, based on the life of Tirunilakanta Nayanar, was a big hit and was known for Thyagaraja Bhagavathar's acting apart from his songs. The noted nadaswaram player T. N. Rajarathinam Pillai makes a guest appearance.
Ambikapathy is a 1937 Indian Tamil musical period film directed by American film director Ellis R. Dungan. It starred M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, M. R. Santhanalakshmi, Serugulathur Sama, T. S. Balaiya, N. S. Krishnan, T. A. Madhuram and P. G. Venkatesan. Ambikapathy is regarded as one of the greatest hits of pre-independence Tamil cinema. Ambikapathy, along with Chintamani were the greatest hits of 1937 and made critics regard him as the "first superstar of Tamil cinema". This was the first Tamil film to name a music director in its credits.
Krishnasamy Subramaniyam was an Indian film director of the 1930s and 1940s. Dancer Padma Subrahmanyam is his daughter.
Sarangadhara is a 1957 Indian Telugu-language historical drama film, produced by T. Namadeva Reddy, directed by V. S. Raghavan and K. S. Ramachandra Rao. It stars P. Bhanumathi and N. T. Rama Rao with music composed by Ghantasala. The film is based on the epic of the same name by Gurajada Apparao.
Gopalan Iyer Ramanathan was an Indian music composer for Tamil movies. He is also known as Isai Methai or Sangeetha Chakravarthy and is considered to be one of the influential Tamil music composers to take Carnatic music to the masses. Notable for his association with M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. G. Ramanathan also composed for films of Salem Modern Theatres and Coimbatore Central Studios. His career lasted until his death in 1963. During the 1950s G.Ramanathan's music dominated most of the box office hits of the then leading Tamil movie stars Shivaji Ganesan and M. G. Ramachandran.
Chowdasandra Honnappa Bhagavathar was an Indian theatre and film actor, producer, musician and singer. He was best known as a singer and as one of the pioneers of Kannada cinema. He was also active in Tamil cinema. His son Bharath was also an actor who worked in Kannada films and serials.
Sivagami is a 1960 Indian Tamil-language drama film produced by Muthiah Pictures and directed by Antony Mitradas. It featured M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar in his final film appearance alongside G. Varalakshmi playing the titular character. The film is a posthumous release for Bhagavathar.
Kothamangalam Seenu was a Tamil Stage, Cinema actor and a Carnatic music singer.
Naveena Sadaram is a 1935 Tamil language film directed and produced by Krishnaswami Subrahmanyam. The film featured S. D. Subbulakshmi in the lead role. The film is an adaptation of the Kannada stage play Sadarame. Papanasam Sivan was in charge of both the score and lyrics respectively.
Naveena Sarangadhara is a 1936 Tamil film directed by K. Subramaniam under Murugan Talkies. Naveena in Tamil means modern. The film was titled thus in order to distinguish itself from the earlier versions and also in order to highlight the slight modifications made to the original story. The cast includes M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and S. D. Subbulakshmi in the lead roles supported by S. S. Mani Bhagavathar, G. Pattu Iyer and Indubala. The music was composed by Papanasam Sivan.
