“Lord Ram isn’t a historical figure, but only a mythological hero constructed and imposed upon the people to highlight a particular narrative of history,” DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Transport Minister SS Sivasankar said here on Friday.

“Though it is claimed that Rama lived 3000 years ago, there is no historical evidence to substantiate it. Even those who speak high of him maintain that he is an avatar. An avatar can’t be born and if born as god, he can’t be an avatar,” the minister said participating in the birth anniversary of emperor Rajendra Chola (11th century CE) at the Brahadeeswara temple in Gangaikonda Cholapuram, 273 km south of Chennai.

The birth anniversary of the great emperor, who expanded the Chola empire up to Indonesia, is celebrated on the occasion of ‘Aadi Thiruvaathirai’ (Thiruvathirai star in the Tamil Month of Aadi). The temple, he built at Gangaikonda Cholapuram (to mark his expedition up to the Ganges), is a replica of the Big temple at Thanjavur, a marvel in granite and a UNESCO heritage monument, erected by his father Raja Raja Chola.

Gangaikonda Cholapuram was the new capital of Rajendra Chola and the temple and the tank were built to commemorate his victory in the north.

He was responding to his party legislator of Ariyalur, K Chinnappa, who said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had built the Ram temple in Ayodhya and Ram had lived 3000 years ago. Refuting his party colleague’s claim, the minister said, “It is not true that Ram had ever lived. Such narratives are constructed and forced upon us in order to obscure and erase our history.”

Only last month, another DMK minister, S Regupathy, said Ram was the pioneer of the Dravidian model of governance. “The Dravidian model of Chief Minister Stalin was akin to that of Ram Rajya,” he said while participating in the conclusion of the Kamban vizha (festival of Kambar, a pre-eminent Tamil poet who composed the epic Ramavatar).

“We have abundant historical evidence for Rajendra Chola from copper plates, stone inscriptions, the temple and lakes he had built. It is necessary to celebrate the anniversary of such a great emperor so that we pass on our history to posterity. It is like commemorating the elders of our family who had left us. If we fail to do so, myths will be forced upon us,” he explained.