Queen and Heir
Gandaraditya's queen was Madevadigalar alias Sembiyan Madeviyar who bore him a son called Madhurantaka Uttama Chola. This must have been very late in his life. At the time of Gandaraditya’s death (c. 956 CE), Uttama Chola must have been a young boy, as he was set aside in the order of succession and Arinjaya took over the Chola crown. Sembiyan Madeviyar survived her husband for a long time. She seems to have been a pious lady as she figures in several inscriptions, making donations to various temples. She died c. 1001 CE during Rajaraja’s reign. She seems to have come from the Chera country.
Gandaraditya was also known as "Merkey elundarulina devar" - the king who was pleased to go west. The meaning of this phrase is not clearly understood but could possibly mean the King who went west to Kerala. There are claims that Gandaraditya in his later life adapted the Jain faith and went to the Kannada land in the west of the Chola country with a Jain ascetic named Loka-pala acharya. This claim does not have many supporters amongst historians especially because of his Saivaite background and his wife's and son's continued persuasion of this faith.
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