Kocengannan

Kocengannan (Kochengat Cholan) is the early Chola king counted among the sixty-three — the ruler remembered for rebuilding the Shiva temples in brick and for the legend that he honored the spider’s service.

Life/Legend

The hagiography and the temple traditions relate that Kocengannan, seeing the shrines of his realm in timber and clay, rebuilt them in fired brick — the “Kocengannan temples” forming a recognized class in the Kaveri delta. The tale of his birth — as the spider reborn? — the Puranic frame tells of the spider that sheltered the linga with its web, reborn as the king who rebuilt with the devotion it had shown.

Legacy

The brick temples of the early Kaveri delta are associated with his name; his image stands in the Nayanar processions — the canon’s one sovereign builder.

Verification notes

• Narrative is hagiographic; the king’s historicity is asserted by tradition, with epigraphic support debated.
• Audited against Wikipedia (September 2026).