Kochchenganan or Śengaṇān was one of the kings of the Early Cholas mentioned in Sangam literature. The only surviving details about his reign come from the fragmentary poems of Sangam in the Purananuru poems. Today historical accounts of the life of Kochchenganan are often confused with more contemporary accounts.
The period covered by the extant literature of the Sangam is unfortunately not easy to determine with any measure of certainty. Except the longer epics Silappatikaram and Manimekalai, which by common consent belong to the age later than the Sangam age, the poems have reached us in the forms of systematic anthologies. Each individual poem has generally attached to it a colophon on the authorship and subject matter of the poem, the name of the king or chieftain to whom the poem relates and the occasion which called forth the eulogy are also found. It is from these colophons and rarely from the texts of the poems themselves, that we gather the names of many kings and chieftains and the poets patronised by them. The task of reducing these names to an orderedscheme in which the different generations of contemporaries can be marked off one another has not been easy. To add to the confusions, some historians have even denounced these colophons as later additions and untrustworthy as historical documents. Any attempt at extracting a systematic chronology and data from these poems should be aware of the casual nature of these poems and the wide difference between the purposes of the anthologist who collected these poems and the historian’s attempts are arriving at a continuous history.
Kalumalam Battle
Kalavazhi Narpathu is a poem giving a description of the battle of Kalumalam, near Karuvur in the Cheracountry, in which Kochchenganan defeated and made captive the Chera king Kanaikkal Irumporai. The poet Poygaiyar, a friend of the Chera king, placated Kochchenganan by singing his valour on the battle field in his poem and secured the release of his friend. The Chera king was suffering from thirst after being deprived of water by Kochchenganan and the poet Poigayar pleaded with the king to allow his friend a drink of water. The Chera felt disgraced by the Chola king and declined the water belatedly offered to him. The solitary poem from Purananuru supposedly composed by the Chera king while still in captivity, and forms a sad confession of his cowardice in surviving the disgrace that had befallen him.
Religious Persuasion
Although there is no contemporary evidence bearing on Kochchenganan's religious persuasion, there seems little reason to suspect the crux of the later legends on his devotion towards Siva. These legends maintain that the Chola king built 70 Siva temples in his realm.
As a Saiva Saint
The Periyapuranam detailing the stories of the 63 Nayanmars of Shaivism, gives the following story regarding Kochchenganan:
Thiruvanaikaval Temple
Thiruvanaikaval is a famousShiva temple in Tiruchirapalli. The temple was built by Kochchenganan. Also Kailayanathar temple in Nagapattinam was built by him.
