- 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.
- with the later Chalukyas of Kalyani (who had succeeded the Rashtrakutas) for Vengi, Tungabhadra doab, and the Ganga country (Karnatak).
- 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'.
There were two types of administrative systems - 1) Direct/Central administration, and 2) Indirect/local administration.
- Direct/Central Administration -
- King at the centre.
- assisted by council of ministers.
- Indirect/Local Administration
- Local self government -
- smallest unit - village
- several villages grouped into nadu
- several nadus grouped into valanadu.
- kingdom was divided into four mandalas (provinces)
- sometimes, princes was appointed to administer mandalas.
- officials were paid by giving them assignment of revenue-bearing lands.
- 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 -
- trade and commerce flourished.
- to facilitate trade and commerce, they built roads.
Revenue came from the following sources -
- Agriculture -
- Irrigation from the water of river Kaveri and other rivers.
- tax -
- 1/3rd of the produce.
- land tax
- tolls on trade
- tax on profession
- Plundering of neighboring countries.
Cultural Life of the Cholas
- Multi-story houses:-
- They built large houses - seven or five story houses for their chiefs.
- Grandeur temple architecture:-
- Dravida style of temples -
- 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.
- Nataraj - the dancing figure of Shiva. This masterpiece is made of bronze.
- 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.
Comments
Post a Comment