In 2022, Dynasties of India DLC of AOE 2 DE was released. The DLC added the Dravidian civilization with their unique naval unit, Thirisadai, a large and tanky ship that supposedly reflected Chola / Tamil naval history:
Seize control of the lucrative Indian Ocean trade routes and utilize advanced metallurgy as you build one of the wealthiest sea empires of medieval Asia. The Dravidian unique units are the Urumi Swordsman, a warrior wielding a scathing flexible sword, and the Thirisadai, a massive vessel that dominates the high seas. Thirisadai â Dravidian unique warship that fires multiple projectiles. Strong vs. warships.
Thirisadai were heaviest class known, comparable to modern-era Battleships. Large and heavily armoured, these ships had extensive war-fighting capabilities and endurance, with a dedicated marine force of around 400 Marines to board enemy vessels. They are reported to be able to engage three vessels of Dharani class, hence the name Thirisadai, which means, three braids (Braid was also the name for oil-fire during that period). Though all ships of the time employed a small Marine force for boarding enemy vessels, Thirisadais had separate cabins and training area for them.
Before the DLC was even released, the information and existence of this unit were suspected as a hoax by Reddit user LXT130J, who noted that it was derived from the claims made on the Chola Navy Wikipedia page, which he identified as:
A. The page used fake sources and misattributed sources
B. Lacking additional references for comparison
C. The image that has been used to support the claim is proven to be fraud, it is a copyright violation (taken from a website), what claimed in the caption is not the same as the original description.
Wikipedia editors then investigated this, and found that the page is full of fraudulent claims and sources. After gradual rechecking of the information, the majority of the pageâs content has been identified as hoax, even identified as one of the longest lasting hoax in Wikipediaâs internal history.
The story doesnât end here, of course. Dynasties of India DLC was released anyway without any changes or acknowledgment from the devâs side. The developer even made an attempt to cover or justify the existence of the unit: In 2023, Sam Levin, Forgotten Empiresâ Narrative and Level Design Lead, mentioned that the name Thirisadai came from âtrying to be a little cute with historical detailsâ; he mentioned that the ship is attested in a military manual: âwe tried to be a little too precise instead of focusing on authenticity - we could have just called the unit battleshipâ.
The rationalization seems to be deliberately vague, as the developers did not mention what military manual they were referring to. This seems to be done to avoid angering Indian players (there are some member here that even got upset when the unit was pointed out to be a hoax). Itâs suspicious, they seem to be trying to save their face rather than providing historical information. Historians did not acknowledge these claims, there are more reputable researches done by proper historians such as Hermann Kulke, Subbarayalu, et al. which explores confirmable Dravidian ships such as marakkalam, toni, kalavam, vedi, and padavu, these names come from inscriptions (which in historiography has a very strong position). A game developer has much lower credibility than a scholar (if there is any credibility at all), their claim is not a prophetâs word.
Finally, in early 2025, a new book was published. This is Lords of Earth and Sea: A History of the Chola Empire by Anirudh Kanisetti. The book explained Chola history in great detail and cleared up the myth associated with the Cholas. The Chola empire which is reflected by the in-game Dravidians, is more like a land-based empire with a focus on infantry and elephantry. The maritime aspect of the Cholas instead refers to the Tamil merchant activities and a narrow 50-year timeframe when the Cholas invaded SEA. This 50 years is a small window compared to the 1000 years of the supposed Chola dynastyâs existence. Original post by benithisrael, all thanks to him for letting us know the existence of the new book !
The critics of the current Chola/Dravidians overview are available on the internet and this forum, but theyâre mostly scattered. This one is by benithisrael:
Tamil country is the civilization Cholas represent. Tamils did achieve a great deal of weath by sea bourne trade of pearls, spices and other luxury items of the mideval world. The civ in the game however lacks all late game techs.
Cholas and tamil peninsular country were never a navy reliant power. So the arguement for keeping them lackluster on land does not hold. Their threats were from north. They dealt with them in a more defensive manner. the gameplay should reflect that
Anirudh Kanisetti pointed out that the debacle was a nationalist feel-good myth, and this is pointed out pretty consistently in his book. The Cholas did not have a navy but relied on / hired merchant ships to ferry their troops across the sea. Chola/Tamil inscription mentioned âarmy of the seaâ, but not naval units.
The Cholas, for most of its existence, relied on the army rather than the navy, and indeed even Kanisetti couldnât find any reference about the navy or naval units. In land however, some names of army units/regiments can be found, like Karnataka Strongheads and the Malayali Infantry. Elephant is also the Chola armyâs main strength, there is even a story of a leader who died when fighting on the back of an elephant. This is Prince Rama, who was immortalized as The Lord Who Died Atop an Elephant (Änai-merruñjina-devar).
Here is a YT interview with Anirudh Kanisetti about the Chola Navy hoax:
After the publication of this book and the interview with said historian, I hope that the devs acknowledge their mistake and make no further misinformation. The 13 years and 6 months existence of the hoax should not persist in the first place, let alone the 2 years misinformation from the devs.
