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Kaleidoscope of Indian civilization
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August 2008 renewed his struggle for the Vengi throne and Rajendra sent his son Rajadhiraja to
July 2008 the assistance of this nephew Rajaraja Narendra.
June 2008
Oversea expedition
May 2008
April 2008 Rajendra sent a large naval expedition against the kingdom of Sri Vijaya. Sri Vijaya
March 2008 was the powerful maritime state which ruled the Malayan peninsula, Sumatra, Java
February 2008 and the neighbouring islands and controlled the sea routes from India to China.
The relations between Sri Vijaya and the Chola Empire had been quite friendly in
the time of Rajaraja and in the early years of Rajendra’s reign. Whether Rajendra’s
war against Sri Vijaya (1025) was rendered necessary by an attempt on Sri
Vijaya’s part to obstruct the Chola intercourse with China or was simply the result
of Rajendra’s desire to win glory by extending his digvijaya to the countries across
the sea, we cannot say. Though Rajendra did not establish any permanent
occupation on Kadaram and Srivijaya and these defeated kingdoms soon
recovered the loss, it had great repercussions in international politics. Even the far-
off Kambujdesa became afraid and sought an assurance of safety from Rajendra
by sending him his own chariot as a present. To commemorate his victory against
the kingdom of Srivijaya, Rajendra constructed the ‘liquid pillar of victory’ (jalamaya
jayastambha), a tank known as Cholagangam which contained the waters of the
Ganges.
Adminstration
The Chola rulers were called Chakravartigal. The capital of the kingdom was
Tanjavur. Kanchi and Gangakondacholapuram were subsidiary capitals. The Chola
kingdom was divided into provinces called mandalam. Mandalas were divided into
valanadus and the latter into kurrams or kuttams.The lowest unit of administration
was village. The Chola records mention the existence of two types of villages, Ur
and the Brahmadeya villages. Ur had its own local assembly also called Ur and
consisted of all members of the villages exclusive of the untouchables. The
Brahmadeya villages were inhabited by learned Brahmanas and had assemblies
called Mahasabha.
The Cholas had set up an organized judicial system. There are references to
dharmasana in several inscriptions, probably signifying the king’s court of justice.
Learned Brahmins known as dharmasana-bhattas assisted the court. The village
assemblies exercised large powers in matters of local interests which they settled
with the help of small committees of nyayavattar. The Chinese writer, Chou-Ju-Kua
recording about the Chola system of justice in the 13th century mentions flogging
or giving blows to the culprit with a stick after tying him to a wooden frame, for
minor offences. Heinous crimes were punished with decapitation or being trampled
to death by an elephant.
The Chola military had a strength of 1,50,000 men and an elephant corps of
60,000. They imported costly Arabian horses for their cavalry. The army personnel
were trained in cantonments called kadagam or padaividu. They possessed an
excellent navy as evident from their expedition to Ceylon, Maldives and Kadaram
in Malaysia. They controlled the Coromandel and Malabar coasts and dominated
the Bay of Bengal.
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heights during the Chola rule. The famous bronze image of dancing Nataraja
shows the high level of creative urge, vigour and skill of the Chola sculptors.
During Rajendra’s rule public utility works like roads were built and to provide
irrigation facilities a very large reservoir near Gangaikondacholapuram was
constructed. He also made grants to charitable and educational institutions and
made arrangements to provide free medical aid to the sufferers. He sent two trade
missions to China, the first in 1033 A.D. and the second in 1077A.D. Rajendra
Chola had titles like Gangaikonda Chola, Virarajendra, Mudigonda Chola and
Pandita Chola. He was followed by his son Rajadhiraja I.
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The Cholas were one of the oldest ruling dynasties in South India. Along with the
Pandyas and Cheras their name are referred in the Ashokan Rock Edicts dated 3rd
century B.C. After a gap of several centuries the Chola power was once again
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revived in 850 A.D. by Vijayala who began his rule from Tanjore. He was followed
by successive rulers like Aditya I, Parantaka I, Gandaraditya and Parantaka II
Sundara Chola. The real greatness of the Chola Empire begins with the accession
of the son of Parantaka II Sundara Chola, Arumolivarman who crowned himself as
Rajaraja in 985 A.D.
Rajaraja began his conquests by attacking the confederation of the rulers of the
Pandya, Chera and Ceylon. His earliest military achievement was against the
Cheras from whom he captured Kandalur Salai and Udagai. He also conquered
Kollam or Quilon on the Malabar Coast. He undertook two campaigns against the
Pandyas of Madhura and defeated their king Amarabhujanga. Rajaraja then
undertook a naval expedition against Mahinda V, the king of Ceylon. The capital of
Ceylon, Anuradhapura was sacked and Polonnaruva was made the new capital of
the Chola colony. Later he also annexed the island of Maldives.
Rajaraja Chola invaded Karnataka in 992 A.D. and had annexed places like
Gangavadi, Nolambavadi and Tadigaipadi. This incident led to a prolonged warfare
between these two dynasties as some of the rulers of the above mentioned places
were the vassals of the Chalukyas. Another reason for this dynastic feud was due
to the Chola domination over the kingdom of Vengi. The Eastern Chalukyan
kingdom of Vengi was founded by Kubja Vishnuvardhana, brother of the famous
Badami Chalukyan ruler Pulakeshin II. When the Rashtrakutas established their
rule in Karnataka, the rulers of Vengi accepted their suzerainty and also entered
into matrimonial alliance with them. Hence since its establishment Vengi was under
the influence of Karnataka rulers. But things changed when the ruler of Vengi,
Dhanarnava was slain in a battle in 973 A.D. by the Telugu Choda chief, Jata
Choda Bhima who ruled Vengi from 973 to 1000 A.D. He invaded
Tondaimandalam, the area under Rajaraja Chola rule as the latter had given
shelter to the children of Dhanarnava; Shaktivarman I and Vimaladitya. (Rajaraja
had also given his daughter Kundavi in marriage to Vimaladitya). Rajaraja defeated
Bhima, took him as a prisoner and appointed Shaktivarman I to the Vengi throne
under his tutelage. The Chalukyas could not tolerate Vengi coming under the
influence of the Cholas and in 1006 A.D., Sathyashraya, the Chalukyan ruler
invaded Vengi. Rajaraja sent his son Rajendra who made a counter-attack on the
Chalukyan territories and captured Banavasi, parts of Raichur Doab and sacked
Manyakheta, the capital of the Chalukyas. Sathyashraya was thus compelled to
withdraw his forces from Vengi and only with difficulty succeeded in freeing his
country of the Chola army which retired behind the Tungabhadra with much booty.
As an Administrator
A devoted Shaiva
The Chola monarchs were staunch Shaivas and had rajagurus as their initiators
and advisers. Two Shaiva scholars, Isana Siva and Sarva Siva were the spiritual
guides of Rajaraja as well as his son Rajendra. Rajaraja built a magnificent temple
dedicated to Shiva at Tanjore known as Brihadeshvara or Rajarajesvara temple at
an enormous expense. The construction of this temple began in 1003 A.D. and
was completed in 1010 A.D. The temple occupies a quadrangle space measuring
500×250 feet. The shikara of this temple with 13 tiers is about 200 feet in height
and is crowned by a massive dome 25 feet in height and weighing 80 tons. In the
garbhagudi is a colossal Linga more than 10 feet in height. The inner wall of the
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pradakshinapatha was profusely painted. This temple building is covered from the
base to the top with sculptures and decorating mouldings. Rajaraja is credited for
creating endowments for the maintenance of persons reciting the tiruppadiyam.
Tiruppadiyam were devotional songs composed by the Nayanmars, the Shaiva
saints of Tamilnadu and was sung before the deity. The worship of the images of
muvar mudalis, i.e. the Nayanmars were also introduced during his reign. For his
devotion to God Shiva he was called Sivapadasekhara. Though a devout Shaiva
he was tolerant towards all the religions. Rajaraja gave valuable gifts to the
Chidambaram temple in Tamilnadu, made an endowment to a Vishnu temple at
Tadimalingi near Talakad in Karnataka and renovated the Kolaramma temple in
Kolar also in Karnataka. He gave permission to the king of Srivijaya, Sri
Maravijayattungavarman to erect the Chudamani vihara at Nagapatanam.
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