Tag: the pallavas of kanchi (350 a.d. to 895 a.d.)

Rajendra I was the successor of Rajaraja I. He made his naval bigger and stronger. His naval expeditions to South-East -Asia was the first to be undertaken by an Indian king.  After defeated Palas of Bengal, he conquered the islands of Andaman and Nicobar. He completed the conquest of Sri Lanka that his father had started. He conquered Maldives, Malaya, Myanmar, Sumatra, and Java.

Rajendra I raided the Ganga Valley and defeated Mahipal the Pala king of Bengal. To commemorate his victory, he founded a city and named it Gangaikonda Cholapuram. The meaning of this name was the town of the Chola who took over Ganga. He himself got the title of Gangaiknodachola which means conqueror of Ganga. He conquered different countries of South-East-Asia.

The holy place of Chola temples were both in a circular and square shape. Special vimanas were built on the upper side of the shrine room where the idol of deity was placed. Dome-shaped shikhara and Kalash were placed on the top of the Gopuram. Pillared mandapas like arthamandapa, mahamandapa and nandimandapa were also found in some temples.

Nataraja image sculpted by Chola rulers is a depiction of the Hindu god Shiva as the cosmic ecstatic dancer. The dance of Shiva in Thillai, the traditional name for Chidambaram, forms the motif for all the depictions of Shiva as Nataraja.

 The Chola empire was divided into mandalams or provinces, further subdivided into valanadus, nadus and ur.

The Chola dynasty was founded by Vijayala. The capital of Cholas was Tanjor now Thanjavur. Rajaraja- I was the greatest ruler of Chola dynasty. He defeated Cheras at Thiruvananthapuram to control the trade with Arabs. He defeated Pandyas of Madurai and controlled the Malabar Coast and Cholamandalam coast.  He defeated Chalukyas in Deccan. He built the temple of Brihadeshwara in Thanjavur in Tamilnadu which is considered one of the finest specimens of the Dravidian style of architecture.

Inscriptions from Uttaramerur in Chingleput district of Tamilnadu provides details regarding the village administration under the Cholas. It provides information about how two assemblies Ur and Sabha of the village worked and elected.

He was one of the greatest and bravest warriors in the Chola dynasty and sadly perished alone in the Battle of Koppam. From the manner of his death, Rajadhiraja came to be known as the king who died on the back of an elephant.

Kulottunga Chola (1070 – 1122 CE) was one of the greatest kings of the Chola Empire who ruled in the late 11th century and early 12th century. He was one of the sovereigns who bore the title Kulottunga, literally meaning the exalter of his race. During his early reign he carried out a land survey and settlement as the basis of taxation.