The Cholas were a South Indian Tamil dynasty of unknown antiquity, antedating the early Sangam literature (c. 150 C.E.). The dynasty originated in the rich Kaveri valley, Urayur (near Thiruchirapalli) being their oldest capital. Karikalan I and Sibi were ancient legendary Chola emperors, while Rajaraja Cholan and Kulothunga Cholan I were the famous emperors of the Later(Great) Cholas.

The Chola Empire was at its zenith during the tenth and eleventh century C.E. Under Rajaraja Cholan (Rajaraja The Great) and his son Rajendra Cholan, the Cholas rose as a notable military, economic and cultural power in Asia. The Chola Empire stretched from southern Maldives as far north as the Himalaya Mountains and West Bengal in North India. Rajaraja Cholan conquered peninsular South India, and annexed parts of Sri Lanka by defeating the Pandyas. Rajendra Cholan went beyond, occupying coastal Burma, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, conquered the kings of Srivijaya (Sumatra, Java and Malaya in South East Asia) and Pegu islands with his fleet of ships. He defeated Mahipala, the king of Bihar and Bengal, and to commemorate his victory he built a new capital called Gangaikonda Cholapuram. Tamil Chola armies exacted tribute from Thailand and the Khmer kingdom of Cambodia. The power of the Cholas declined around the 13th century.

Importance of the Cholas

In the age of Cholas, considered by many scholars as the most creative period of South Indian History, the whole of South India was for the first time brought under the sway of a single government, and a serious attempt was made to face and solve the problems of public administration. In local government, in art, religion and literature, the Tamil country reached heights of excellence never reached again in succeeding ages. In all these spheres as well as in that of foreign trade and maritime activity, the Chola period marked the culmination of movements that began in an earlier age, under the Pallavas. Monumental architecture in the form of majestic temples and sculpture both in stone and bronze reached a finesse never before achieved in India.

Sources

On the history of Cholas, as in many other subjects of Indian history, we have very little authentic written evidence. Historians during past 150 years have gleaned a great treasury of knowledge on the subject from a variety of sources such as ancient Tamil Sangam literature, oral traditions, religious texts, temple and copperplate inscriptions.

The main source for the available information of the early Cholas is the early Tamil literature of the Sangam Period. There are also brief notices on the Chola country and its towns, ports and commerce furnished by the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (Periplus Maris Erythraei). Periplus is a work by an anonymous Alexandrian merchant, written in the time of Domitian (81 – 96 CE) and contains precious little information of the Chola country. Writing half a century later, the geographer Ptolemy has more to tell us about the Chola country, its port and its inland cities.

Mahavamsa, a Buddhist text, also recounts a number of conflicts between the inhabitants of Ceylon and the Tamil immigrants.

While there is hardly any reliable information on the Cholas during the period between

Cholas also are mentioned in the Pillars of Ashoka (inscribed 273 - 232 BCE) inscriptions, where they are mentioned among the kingdoms which, though not subject to Ashoka, were on friendly terms with him.

The Chola Country

According to tradition, the old Chola country comprised of the region that include the modern day Tiruchirapalli, and the Thanjavur districts in Tamil Nadu state. The river Kaveri and its tributaries dominate this landscape of this generally flat country which gradually slopes towards the sea. There are no major hills or valleys to mar this monotony.

The river Kaveri, which was also known as Ponni (golden) river, had a special place in the culture of Cholas. It never failed them and the annual freshes in the Kaveri marked an occasion for celebration in which the whole nation from the king down to the lowest peasant took part.Kaverippattinam on the coast near the Kaveri delta was a major port town. Ptolemy knew of this and the other port town of Nagappattinam as the most important towns of Cholas. These two towns became seats of trade and commerce and acted as a cosmopolitan center attracting many religious faiths including Buddhism. Roman galleys also found their way in to these ports. Many Roman coins dating from the early centuries CE have been found near the Kaveri delta.

Thanjavur, Tiruchirapalli, Uraiyur and Kumbakonam were the other major towns.

The Name Chola

The names 'Chola' and their motherland 'SONaatu' come from the root word "Chozhi" meaning "a child"( "Saei" ), as they were a later offshoot from the much earlier Pandyas( meaning "the old clan" ). The most commonly held view is that this is, like Cheras and Pandyas, the name of the ruling family or clan of immemorial antiquity.

Attempts have been made to connect the word with the Sanskrit Kala (black) and with Kola which in the early days designated the dark colored pre-Aryan population of Southern India in general.

Other names in common use for the Cholas are Killi (கிள்ளி), Valavan (வளவன்) and Sembiyan (செம்பியன்). Killi perhaps comes from the Tamil 'kil' (கிள்) meaning dig or cleave and conveys the idea of a digger or a worker of the land. This word often forms an integral part of early Chola names like Nedungilli, Nalangilli and so on, but almost drops out of use in later times. Valavan is most probably connected with 'valam' (வளம்) – fertility and means owner or ruler of a fertile country. Sembiyan is generally taken to mean a descendant of Shibi – a legendary hero whose self-sacrifice in saving a dove from the pursuit of a falcon figures among the early Chola legends and forms the subject matter of the Sibi Jataka among the Jataka stories of Buddhism.

Periods of Chola history

The history of Cholas falls naturally into four divisions: the early Cholas of the Sangam literature, the interregnum between the fall of the Sangam Cholas and the rise of the medieval Cholas under Vijayalaya (c. 848 C.E.), the dynasty of Vijayalaya, and finally the Chalukya Chola dynasty of Kulothunga Chola I from the third quarter of the eleventh century.

Early Cholas

The earliest

The Sangam literature is abound with the names of kings and prices, and of the poets who extolled them. The literature is also rich in its depiction of the life and work of these people. It is therefore a great pity that these cannot be worked into connected history.

The Sangam literature is also full of legends about the mythical Chola kings. The Cholas were looked upon as descended from the sun. These myths speak of the Chola king Kantaman, supposed contemporary of the sage Agastya, whose devotion brought the river Kavery into existence. There is also the story of the king Manu who sentenced his son to death for having accidentally killed a calf. King Shibi who rescued a dove from a hawk by giving his own flesh to the hungry hawk was also part of the early Chola legends. King Shibi was also called Sembiyan, a popular title assumed by a number of Chola kings.

These legends received enormous emphasis in the later Chola period in the long mythical genealogies incorporated into the copper-plate charters of the tenth and eleventh centuries. The earliest version of this is found in the Anbil Plates which gives fifteen names before Vijayalaya Cholan including the genuinely historical ones of Karikala, Perunarkilli and Kocengannan. The Thiruvalangadu Plate swells this list to forty-four, and the Kanyakumari Plate runs up to fifty-two. There are other lists gathered from literary works such as Kalingathuparani. No two of these lists agree, although some names and details are common to all.

Two names stand out prominently from among those the Chola kings known to the Sangam literature: Karikalan and Ko-Cenkannan. There is no sure means of settling the order of succession, of fixing their relations with one another and with many other princelings of about the same period.

In an attempt to separate myths from history, the following list consciously omits attributing any dates for these legendary kings.

• § - Dates are approximate.

See Also : Legendary Early Chola Kings.

From the Sangam Age to Vijayalaya

The transition period, from the end of the Sangam age (c. 300 C.E.) to that in which the Pandyas and Pallavas dominate the Tamil country, of around three centuries is completely hidden from our views. The same darkness surrounds the fate of Cholas for a further three centuries until the accession of Vijayala in the second quarter of the ninth century.

Epigraphy and literature provide a few faint glimpses of the transformations that came over this ancient line of kings in this long interval. What is certain however is that when the power of Cholas fell to the lowest ebb and that of the Pandyas and Pallavas rose the north and South of them, this ancient dynasty was compelled to seek refuge and patronage under their more successful rivals. The Pallavas and Pandyas seem to have left the Cholas alone for the most part, though, possible out of regard for their name, they accepted Chola princeses in marriage and employed in their service Chola princes who were willing to accept it.

The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, who spent several months in Kanchipuram during 639 – 640 C.E. writes about the 'kingdom of Culi-ya'.

Numerous inscriptions of Pallavas, Pandyas and Chlukyas of this period mention conquering ‘the Chola country’.

Despite this loss in influence and power, it is unlikely that the Cholas lost total grip of their ancient land around Uraiyur, their old capital. Vijayalaya when he rose to prominence hailed from this geographical area.

Around seventh century C.E., there flourished a Chola kingdom in the present day Andhra Pradesh, whose kings traced their descent to the early Sangam Cholas. Nothing definite is known however of their connection to the early Cholas. It is possible that a branch of the Tamil Cholas migrated north during the time of the Pallavas to establish a kingdom of their own, away from the dominating influences of the Pandyas and Pallavas.

So, the once mighty Cholas, waited, bending low before every storm that passed over them in their original abode and bided their time.

The Medieval Cholas

Around 850 C.E., out of obscurity rose Vijayalaya. Vijayalaya, who must have been a vassal of the Pallava king, made use of an opportunity arising out of a conflict between Pandyas and Pallavas, captured Thanjavur and eventually established the imperial line of the Medieval Cholas.

Vengi Cholas

Marital links between the Eastern Chalukya kings based around Vengi located on the south banks of the River Godavari began during the reign of Rajaraja subsequent to Rajaraja's invasion of Vengi. Rajaraja Cholan's daughter married prince Vimaladitan. Rajendra Cholan's daughter was also married to an Eastern Chalukya prince Rasanarendran.

Virarajendra Chola died without any issues c. 1070C.E. and Kulothunga Chola I ascended the Chola throne starting the Vengi Chola or the Chalukya Chola dynasty.

The Fall of the Chola Empire

The Chola Empire under Rajendra Chola IV was experiencing a period of continuous trouble. It coincides with an epoch of great changes in the political map of the south. The Cholas were exposed to assaults from within and without. The Pandyas in the south had risen to the rank of a great power. Hoysalas in the west threatened the existence of the Chola empire. Rajendra tried to survive by aligning with the two powers in turn. At the close of Rajendra’s reign, the Pandyan empire was at the height of prosperity and had taken the place of the Chola empire in the eyes of the foreign observers. There is no evidence that Rajendra was followed immediately by another Chola prince. The Chola empire was completely absorbed by the Pandyan empire.

Reference

• Venkata Ramanappa, M. N. (1987). Outlines of South Indian History. (Rev. edn.) New Delhi: Vikram.
• Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1935). The CōĻas, University of Madras, Madras (Reprinted 1984).
• Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1955). A History of South India, OUP, New Delhi (Reprinted 2002). Chola

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