Sembiyan Mahadevi

Sembiyan Mahadevi
Sembiyan Mahadevi
	Sembiyan Mahadevi as Queen with her crown
Queen consort of the Thanjavur and Empress of Chola empire
Reign	949 CE – 957 CE
Predecessor	KoIravi Nili Solamadeviyar
Successor	Viranarayaniyar
Queen dowager of Thanjavur
Reign	957 CE – till death; (After a queen's husband dies, she becomes the widow of the empire)
Born	Sembiyan Selvi; Thanjavur, Chola Empire ; (modern day Tamil Nadu, India)
Died	Thanjavur, Chola Empire ; (modern-day Tamil Nadu, India)
Spouse	Gandaraditya Chola
Issue	Uttama Chola
Dynasty	Chola (by marriage)
Religion	Hinduism

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Sembiyan Mahadevi was Queen consort and empress of the Chola Empire from 949 CE – 957 CE as the wife of Gandaraditya Chola. She is the mother of Uttama Chola.^[1] She was one of the most powerful empresses of the Chola empire who over a period of sixty years constructed numerous temples and gave generous gifts to many temples in South India. She figures as early as, if not before, Saka 901 during the reign of her son. According to an inscription dated 941, Sembiyan Mahadevi is said to have made an endowment so that a lamp may be kept permanently lit in front of the Shiva deity (perhaps not long after the crystallization of the Chidambaram Nataraja (Natarāja) cult).^[2]^[3]^[4]

After her husband Gandaraditya Chola's death, she immediately lost her title as Queen and Empress and was later known as the Queen dowager of Thanjavur (Queen Dowager and mother of the king). She lost all of her power as queen and empress and only wore white which was known as the grief color, setting her self into mourning for the rest of her life.^[5]

^ The Problem of Portraiture in South India, Circa 970–1000 A.D. by Padma Kaimal in Artibus Asiae, Vol. 60, No. 1 (2000), pp. 139–179
^ A History of India by Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund (1998) p.134
^ A History of India by Hermann Kulke (2004) p.145
^ Siva in the Forest of Pines: An Essay on Sorcery and Self-Knowledge by Don Handelman and David Shulman (2004) p.88
^ Sembiyan Mahadevi losses Queen and Empress title, after death of his majesty maharaja Gandaraditya

[1] The Problem of Portraiture in South India, Circa 970–1000 A.D. by Padma Kaimal in Artibus Asiae, Vol. 60, No. 1 (2000), pp. 139–179

[2] A History of India by Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund (1998) p.134

[3] A History of India by Hermann Kulke (2004) p.145

[4] Siva in the Forest of Pines: An Essay on Sorcery and Self-Knowledge by Don Handelman and David Shulman (2004) p.88

[5] Sembiyan Mahadevi losses Queen and Empress title, after death of his majesty maharaja Gandaraditya

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