Saturday, December 10, 2016

#Wikidata - Sembiyan Mahadevi - is it a title or is she a queen?

Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi was the spouse of  Gandaraditya, her son was Uttama Chola. Many of the Chola queens who followed her used "Sembiyan Mahadevi" as a title. This is what the English article tells us.

To really accept that it was a title, a source would help. It would be cool to have a list of all the people who used the title and it would be good to separate the person from the title in separate articles. It seems that the Tamil article is more substantial but as I do not read Tamil and Google translate does not help me sufficiently to understand what it says. 

Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi matters not only because she is important in the Chola dynasty but also because of the relevance she has in Tamil culture. Her father was a Mazhavarayar chieftain but Wikipedia does not know about them. 

When Wikidata knows about Indian nobility, its dates and connections, it becomes a resource that is helpful. Once her father has a name and it is clear what is meant by a "Mazhavarayar chieftain", slowly but surely it becomes clear who ruled where and who were contemporaries. It would be cool when Wikidata allows for a query that shows a "monarch" and shows fellow monarchs in neighbouring countries. 
Thanks,
      GerardM

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