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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.
  • 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.
Economy -
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.
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.


The Pala Dynasty (750 AD – 1150 AD)
The Chola Empire (900-1200) || Short Notes || Medieval Indian History || Short Notes  
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