The Chola Empire (900-1200) || Short Notes || Medieval Indian History || Short Notes

Founder - Vijayalaya.
He captured Tanjore in 850.
The greatest Chola ruler was Rajaraja (985-1014) and his son Rajendra-I (1014-1044)
Rajaraja destroyed Chera navy and Trivandrum, and attacked Quilon. He also -

conquered Madurai and captured the Pandyan king.
invaded Sri Lanka and annexed its southern part to its empire.
annexed northern part of Ganga kingdom of Karnataka, and overran Vengi.
conquered Maldives.

Rajendra-I carried forward the annexation policy of his father, Rajaraj. He -

overran the Pandeya and Chera countries and included in his empire.
captured Sri Lanka which could not free himself from Chola control for next 50 years.
marched across Kalinga and Bengal and crossed the river Ganga in 1022 and defeated the two local kings. To commemorate this occasion, Rajendra-I assumed the title of Gangaikondachola (Chola who conquered the Ganga).
built the new capital near the mouth of the Kaveri river and called it Gangaikondacholapuram.
had navel expeditions against the Sri Vijay empire that was extended over the Maley peninsula, Sumatra, Java and the neighboring islands.

Foreign Affairs -

Cordial relations with Sailendra, the ruler of Sri Vijaya empire.
Trade relations with China
They sent numerous embassies to China.
Merchandise included - glass-ware, camphor brocades, rhinoceros horn, ivory, etc.

Battles -

with the later Chalukyas of Kalyani (who had succeeded the Rashtrakutas) for Vengi, Tungabhadra doab, and the Ganga country (Karnatak).

Blots in the history of the Chola empire -

The Cholas destroyed and plundered Chalukyan and Pandyan cities, massacred people and settled armies in those areas.
They destroyed Anuradhapura, the ancient capital of the rulers of Sri Lanka.
Relations with Sri Vijaya dynasty turn sour due to Chola's ambitious move to remove obstacles to Indian trade with China. Cholas attacked various provinces of Sri Vijaya dynasty.

Military Strength -

Large army - elephants, cavalry and infantry - called the three-limbs of army.
Strong navy dominating the Malabar and Coromandal coast, and for sometime also Bay of Bengal.
Bay of Bengal was, for sometimes, converted into 'Chola lake'.

Administration -

There were two types of administrative systems - 1) Direct/Central administration, and 2) Indirect/local administration.

Two types of assemblies -
ur - a general assembly of the village.
sabha or mahasabha - a gathering of adult men in the Brahman villages, which were called agraharams.

Mahasabha distributed land ownership to the agraharams, raised loans, for village and levy taxes.

Bhraman villages were rent free lands, and had autonomy.
This autonomy was gradually restricted by increase of feudalism in coming days.

Trade and Commerce -

Economy -

Revenue came from the following sources -

Cultural Life of the Cholas

multiple-storey (5-7 stories) temples above garbhagriha (where statue of god was installed).
vimana-style of temples.
pillered hall called mandapa where people gathered for various purposes - prayer, ceremonies, dances of devadasies, etc.

Examples of Dravida-style of temples - Kailashnath at Kanchipuram, Brihadeshwar temple at Tanjore, Temple at Gangaikondacholpuram, etc.

Image-making-

Nataraj - the dancing figure of Shiva. This masterpiece is made of bronze.

Literature -

While language of scholars, kings, queens and upper class people was Sanskrit, many poet wrote in Tamil during the Chola period.
Popular saints such as Nayanars (devotees of lord Shiva) and Alvars (devotees of lord Vishnu) in the Tamil kingdoms composed their works in Tamil.
Tarumurai -writing of Saivite saints.
Kamban lived in the court of Cholas.
Kannada became literary langue.