Rajendra Chola I

Rajendra led campaigns from 1002 CE; these include the conquest of the Rashtrakutas and the campaigns against the Western Chalukyas. He conquered the Chalukyan territories of Yedatore – a large part of Raichur district between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra rivers – Banavasi in north-western Mysore and the capital Manyakheta. Rajendra erected a Siva temple at Bhatkal. He also conquered Kollipakkai, located north of Hyderabad in present-day Telangana. An excerpt from an inscription in Tamil from Kolar states:

In the eighth year of the reign of Kopparakesarivanmar sri Rajendra Sola Deva, who, while the goddess of Fortune, having become constant, increased, and while the goddess of the great Earth, the goddess of victory in battle and the matchless goddess of Fame, having become his great queens, rejoiced-that in his extended lifetime, conquered with his great war-like army Idaiturai-nadu, Vanavasi shut in by a fence of continuous forests; Kollipakkai, whose walls were surrounded by sulli trees; Mannaikkadakkam whose fortification was unapproachable.[25]

In 1018 and 1019 CE, Rajendra invaded and conquered the Pandya and Chera Perumal kingdoms.[26] He appointed one of his sons as viceroy with the title Jatavarman Sundara Chola-Pandya with Madurai as the headquarters in charge of both Pandya and Chera/Kerala.

Rajendra in Battle, Kolaramma Temple, Kolar[27]

Rajendra Chola I fought several battles with Western Chalukyas. From 992 CE to 1008 CE, during the reign of Rajaraja I, Rajendra raided and annexed several towns, such as Rattepadi, Banavasi and Toanur.

In 1015, Jayasimha II became the king of Western Chalukyas. He tried to recover the losses suffered by his predecessor Satyashraya, who fled his capital and was later restored to the throne by Raja Raja I as a tribute-paying subordinate. Initially, Jayasimha II was successful because Rajendra was busy with his campaigns in Sri Lanka.[28] In 1021, after the demise of the Eastern Chalukyan king Vimaladitya of Vengi, Jayasimha supported Vijayaditya VII's claim to the throne against the claims of Rajaraja Narendra, the son of Vimaladitya and Chola princess Kundavai.[28] Rajendra helped his nephew Rajaraja defeat Vijayaditya.[29]

Rajendra fought Jayasimha in the Battle of Maski.[28] Rajendra led a 900,000-strong army and defeated Jayasimha II at the Battle of Maski in 1019 and 1020. On the eastern front, Rajendra led Rajaraja Chola I's army in Vengi and routed the rulers in battle. Vengi was later the site of the coronation of Rajendra's nephew following his victories in the Chola expedition to North India.

11-12 years after the conquest of Rohana, Prince Kassapa, son of Mahinda, hid in Rohana, where Chola forces unsuccessfully searched for him. Soon after the death of Mahinda, Kassapa assumed the Sinhalese monarchy as Kassapa VI – also known as Vikramabahu – and reigned in Rohana from 1029 to 1040 while attempting to organise a campaign of liberation and unification. Taking advantage of uprisings in the Pandya and Chera kingdoms,which seems to have no effect in this conflict, 2 Sinhala dandanayakas by the names of Budha and Kiththi massacred the Chola garrisons (on behalf of Kassapa IV) in a 6 month long battle at Palatupana in Rohana. Leftover soldiers of the 95,000-strong Chola army escaped to Pulatthinagara across dhakkina principality. Prince Kassapa IV launched an unsuccessful raid into Pulattinagara but died because of a disease before he could consolidate his power to a second raid into Pulattinagara. A series of non-sinhalese ephemeral aspirants to the throne subsequently appeared and disappeared in Rohana without dislodging the Cholas from the north.[36] Kassapa VI's mysterious death in 1040, however, brought an end to the war until the rise of Vijayabahu. His successor Mahalana-Kitti (1040–1042) tried to lead an revolt against the Cholas but failed.

Seal of the Rajendra I

Vijayabahu I of Polonnaruwa I (1055–1110) descended from or claimed to be descended from the Sinhalese royal house, the House of Lambakanna II. By the age of seventeen, he had defeated his most-potent rivals in Rohana and was anxious to take on the Cholas.[36] The crisis in the country left a few scattered, turbulent chiefs and intractable rebels whose allegiance, if any, was at best opportunistic, which proved a problem to both sides in the conflict, frustrating both the Sinhalese kings and the Cholas. Vijayabahu, from his base in Rohana, faced a similar difficulty; he had to contend with the hostility of local chiefs who regarded him as a more-significant threat than the Cholas to their independence. For that reason, the Cholas recruited nominal support from rebel chiefs in Rohana. Vijayabahu needed help consolidating a firm territorial base from which to launch a decisive campaign against the Cholas. On another front, the Cholas needed to eliminate similar opposition in the north. Gradually the wider conflict developed into a prolonged, back-and-forth struggle of raids and counter-raids; the forces of Vijayabahu advanced upon Polonnaruva, and then fell back to fortresses in Dakkhinadesa and Rohana to withstand retaliatory Chola attacks and sieges.[36] Vijayabahu eventually defeated the Cholas and drove them out of the island restoring Sinhalese sovereignty.

In 1019 CE, Rajendra's forces marched through Kalinga towards the Ganges river. In Kalinga, the Chola forces defeated Indraratha, ruler of the Somavamsi dynasty.[37] Rajendra accepted the help of the Paramaras and the Kalachuris, with whom Indraratha had a bitter enmity, and Rajendra took advantage of this situation. The combined armies defeated Indraprastha, who was probably killed. The Chola army eventually reached the Pala kingdom of Bengal, where they defeated Mahipala. The Chola army also defeated the last ruler of the Kamboja Pala dynasty, Dharmapala of Dandabhukti.[38][39] The Chola army went on to raid eastern Bengal – modern-day Bangladesh – defeated Govindachandra of the Chandra dynasty, and invaded the Bastar region.[40][41]

The Tamil praśasti of Rajendra I reads:

(He seized) Śakkarakkōţţam, whose warriors were brave; Madura-maṇḍalam destroyed in a trice, the prosperous city of Nāmaṇaik-kōṇam with its dense groves. Pañcap-paḷḷi whose warriors (bore) cruel bows, Māśunideśa with its green fields; a large heap of family-treasures with many (other) treasures (which he carried away), after having conquered Indraratha of the ancient race of the moon, together with (his) family, in a fight which took place at Ādinagar, (a city) whose fame knew no decline; Oḍḍa-viṣaya which was difficult of approach on account of its dense forest defence; the good Kōśalai-nāḍu where Brahmins assembled; Taṇḍabutti in whose gardens bees abounded, (land which he acquired) after having destroyed Dharmapāla (in) a hot battle; Takkaṇalāḍam, whose fame reached (all) directions, (and which he occupied) after having forcibly attacked Raṇaśura; Vangāḷa-deśā, where the rain water never stopped, (and from which) Gōvindacandra fled, having descended (from his) male elephant; elephants of rare strength, women and treasure, (which he seized) after having been pleased to put to flight in a hot battlefield the strong Mahipāla by the sound of a conch from the deep sea; Uttiralāḍam (on the shore of) the expansive ocean (producing) pearls; and the Gangā whose waters bearing flagrant flowers dashed against the bathing places (tirtha)[42]

To celebrate his victory in the Ganges, Rajendra constructed a new capital at Gangaikondacholapuram and built Gangaikonda Choleeswarar Temple, which is similar to the Brihadeeswarar Temple at Thanjavur. There has been general disagreement among historians on the nature of the expedition. Early scholars such as V. Venkayya interpreted Rajendra's campaign to "bring the waters of the Ganges into Chola territory" as a pilgrimage to the Ganges river.[43] This theory has been refuted by later historians, the most notable being K. A. Nilakanta Sastri.[22] The military nature of the campaign is suggested by the last line of the Thiruvalangadu plates, which state the king erected the Cholaganga tank as a Ganga-jalamayam jayasthambham ("liquid pillar of victory).[22]

The Chola expedition to the Ganges had a long-lasting influence. According to R. D. Banerji, a Kannadiga chief who accompanied Araiyan Rajarajan on his campaign settled in Bengal and founded the Sena Dynasty.[22] It is believed the Karnata people of Mithila might have descended from soldiers of the Chola army.[22] According to the Siddhantasaravali of Trilocana Sivacharya, many Shaivite Brahmins from Bengal were taken to Chola country, where Rajendra granted them lands. They eventually settled in Kanchipuram and the Cauvery Delta, forming the Sivacharya community.[22]

Srivijaya was a kingdom centred in Palembang, Sumatra, and was ruled by the Sailendra dynasty. During the reign of Mara Vijayatungavarman, Srivijaya had cordial relations with the Chola Empire during the reign of Rajaraja Chola I, leading to Mara Vijayatungavarman building the Chudamani Vihara in Nagapattinam. Sangrama Vijayatunggavarman succeeded Mara.

Khmer Emperor Suryavarman I started a war against the kingdom of Tambralinga on the Malay peninsula, and requested aid from Rajendra.[44][45] After learning of Suryavarman's alliance with Rajendra, Tambralinga requested aid from Srivijaya, which Sangrama granted.[44][46] This led to the Chola invasion of the Srivijiya Empire. This belligerence were partly influenced by religion; the Chola and Khmer Empire were Hindu Shaivistes, while Tambralinga and Srivijaya Empires were Mahayana Buddhists.[47] [21]

The Cholas are known to have benefitted from both piracy and foreign trade. Sometimes, Chola naval expeditions led to plunder and conquest as far as South-east Asia.[48] While Srivijaya controlled two major naval choke points the Malacca and Sunda Straits, the Malacca Strait's north-west opening was controlled from Kedah on the Malay peninsula side and from Pannai on the Sumatran side.

In 1025 CE, Rajendra's Chola forces crossed the Indian Ocean and invaded Srivijaya, attacking several places in modern-day Malaysia and Indonesia.[49] The Cholas sacked the capital Kadaram and Pannai on Sumatra, and Malaiyur on the Malay peninsula. Rajendra also invaded Tambralinga and the Gangga Nagara Kingdom in modern-day Malaysia and southern Thailand.[50][51][52] Chola forces captured the last ruler of the Sailendra Dynasty Sangrama Vijayatunggavarman.[20] The Chola invasion was the end of Srivijaya.[53][54] Srivijaya's maritime power declined under the Chola attack.[55] Chola forces conquered large portions of Srivijaya, including its ports Ligor, Kedah and Tumasik (now Singapore).[55][56] The Chola invasion furthered the expansion of Tamil merchant associations such as the Manigramam, Ayyavole and Ainnurruvar into South-East Asia,[57][58][59][60] and for the next century, Tamil trading companies from southern India dominated the region.[53][54] Rajendra's expedition is mentioned in corrupted form as Raja Chulan in the medieval Malay chronicle Sejarah Melaya, and Malay princes have names ending with Cholan or Chulan, such as Raja Chulan of Perak.[61][62][63][64][65] One record of Rajendra describes him as the King of Lamuri in north Sumatra.[66] The Chola invasion led to the fall of the Sailendra Dynasty of Srivijaya also coincided with the return voyage of the Buddhist scholar Atiśa from Sumatra to India in 1025.[67]

Despite the devastation, the Srivijaya mandala survived because the Chola attack was short and only meant to plunder so the invasion failed to install direct administration over Srivijaya. This invasion severely weakened the Srivijayan hegemony, and enabled the formation of regional kingdoms like Kahuripan and its successor Kediri, in Java, which were based on agriculture rather than coastal and long-distance trade. Sri Deva was enthroned as the new king and trading activities resumed. Deva sent an embassy to the court of China in 1028.[68] The invasion was not followed by direct Cholan occupation, and the region was unchanged geo-politically, trade had considerable consequences. Tamil traders encroached on the Srivijayan realm that was traditionally controlled by Malay traders, and the Tamil guilds' influence increased on the Malay peninsula and the north coast of Sumatra.[68]

With the growing presence of Tamil guilds in the region, relations between Srivijaya and the Cholas improved. Chola nobles were accepted in the Srivijaya court, and in 1067, a Chola prince named Divakara or Devakala was sent as a Srivijayan ambassador to the Imperial Court of China. The prince, who was the nephew of Rajendra Chola, was enthroned in 1070 as Kulothunga Chola I. During the Kedah rebellion, Srivijaya asked the Cholas for help. In 1068, Virarajendra Chola launched a naval raid to help Srivijaya reclaim Kedah.[69] Virarajendra reinstated the Kedah king at the request of the Srivijayan Maharaja, and Kedah accepted Srivijayan sovereignty.[70][69]

After his successful campaign for the Ganges river in North India, Rajendra gained the title Gangaikonda Chola (The Chola who took the Ganges river). After his successful South-East Asian campaign, he gained the title "Kadaram Kondan" (He who took Kedah).[74]

He inherited the title Mummudi Cholan (Chola with three crowns) from his father Mummudi, a title used by Tamil kings who ruled the three kingdoms of Cholas, Pandyas and Cheras.[75] Rajendra assumed other titles to commemorate his conquests, such as Mudigonda Cholan and Irattapadikonda Cholan.

Rajendra I bore the title Chalukya-Chudamani (Crest Jewel of the Chalukyas).[76]

Rajendra I had many queens; Tribhuvana or Vanavan Mahadevi, Mukkokilan, Panchavan Mahadevi, Puteri Onangki and Viramahadevi, the last of whom committed sati upon Rajendra's death.[9] He had seven sons; Rajarajan, Rajadhiraja, Manukula Kesari, Sanga Varman, Rajendra II, Rajamahendran and Virarajendra. Rajarajan was the eldest of the seven but died before reaching thirteen. Manukula Kesari died in 1021 during the war with the Western Chalukyas. Arulmoli Nangaiyar Piranar and Ammangadevi (queen of eastern Chalukya Rajaraja Narendra and the mother of Kulottunga I) are the known daughters of Rajendra.[9]

Brihadisvara Temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram was modeled after the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur.

Pathirakali Amman Temple

Rajendra Chola I built several sites.[77] Rajendra built Gangaikondacholapuram to commemorate his victory over the Pala Dynasty. The name of the city Gangaikonda Cholapuram means "The City of the Conqueror of Ganga River" or "the town of the one who defeated the kings near the Ganga". The city has an artificial lake, which is filled with water from the Kolerun and Vellar rivers. The outer fortification in the city is wider than the inner one. The remains of the outer fortification consists of a mound encircling the palace.

Rajendra established Gangaikonda Cholapuram as his capital from the mediaeval Chola capital Thanjavur, which became the capital for the next 250 years.[24] Rajendra I built several temples using plans and infrastructure recommended in Tamil Vastu and Agama sastra texts.[78] These included a Dharma Sasta, Vishnu and other temples. These temples were destroyed in the late 13th and 14th centuries, except the Brihadishvara temple. The other Chola landmarks are evidenced by soil-covered mounds and excavated, broken pillar stumps and brick walls found over several kilometres from the surviving temple.[78][79]

Rajendra states Dehejia must have involved the same artisans used by his father and transferred them from Thanjavur.[80] Most or all of the Chola kings from Rajendra I had their coronations at Gangaikonda Cholapuram. Archaeological excavations have revealed fort walls and palace remains a few kilometres from this temple.

Rajendra also built a royal palace of burnt brick. The ceilings were covered with small, flat tiles laid in several courses in a fine lime mortar. The pillars were probably made of polished wood and were supported on granite bases; a few pillar bases have survived. Iron nails and clamps have been recovered from this palace site. A tunnel links the palace and the temple's inner first prakaara to the north.

Rajendra also developed Koneswaram temple in Trincomalee. The temple to Bhadrakali, which is located further along the complex inland along Konesar Road, benefitted from Rajendra. [81] The Kali temple is mentioned in the book Birds of Prey (1997) by Wilbur Smith, which is set in the 1660s. The Thirukonasala Mahatyam, describing the origins of the world, Lanka and Koneswaram based on puranic legends, is lost. The historical literature Mattakallappu Manmiyam (Batticaloa Manmiyam) chronicles the Tamil settlement in Batticaloa; it follows the Dakshina Kailasa Puranam and Dakshina Kailasa Manmiam in its description of Koneswaram as one of the nine most-important and sacred sites in the world for Hindus.[82]

Rajendra also expanded the Pathirakali Amman Temple in Trincomalee. It attracted many pilgrims during his reign.

Rajendra developed an efficient water management system from the village level upwards. The increase in royal patronage, and the number of devadana and bramadeya lands increased the role of the temples and village assemblies. Committees like (tank committee) and totta-variam (garden committees) were active, and the temples had vast resources in land, men and money.

Rajendra built a large tank named Cholagangam in his capital city Gangaikonda Cholapuram, and it was described as the liquid pillar of victory.

Ottakoothar's Vikrama Cholan Ula mentions Rajendra's conquests:

The king Rajendra Chola, generous as Karpaga tree that gives whatever one wants, went with his army, conquered and ruled and protected the land, where Ganges flows and Kadaram. He belongs to the lineage of Vikrama [83]

— Ottakoothar, Vikrama Cholan Ula, verse 18

The Malay-language Hikayat Iskandar Zulkarnain was written about Alexander the Great as Dhul-Qarnayn, and from it, the ancestry of several South-East Asian royal families is traced to Iskandar Zulkarnain (Alexander the Great).[84] through Rajendra (Raja Chulan, Raja Cholan) in the Malay Annals such as the Sumatran Minangkabau royalty.[85][86]

Inscriptions dating to Rajendra's 18th regional year (c.1032 CE). Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India

Tamil Inscription at Chokkanathaswamy temple Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Several inscriptions of Rajendra commemorating his reign and conquests have been found. An inscription at Adhipuriswara temple in Chengalpattu district gives his natal star as Tiruvadarai. Donations were made to the temple to celebrate the king's birthday in Maargali.[87] An inscription at Umamahesvara temple in Konerirajapuram, Thanjavur district, refers to donations by Alvar Parantakan Kundavai-Pirattiyar during the third year of Rajendra's reign.[88]

The walls of Rajarajeswaramudaiya Mahadevar Temple, built by his father and later developed by Rajendra, include inscriptions describing many donations to the temple made by Rajendra.[89]

Rajendra appointed his son Rajadhiraja as heir apparent to the Chola throne in 1018.[15] Large military expeditions, like the Pandya and Chalukya wars, were carried out by Rajadhiraja.[90] The prominent officials of the time were:

• Vallavaraiyar Vandyadevar[90]
• Yadava Bhima "Uttama Chola" Miladudaiyar[90]
• Gangaikonda Chola Miladudaiyar[90]
• Dandanayakan Narakkan Krishnan Raman[90]
• Marayan Arumoli "Uttama Chola" Brahmamarayan[90]
• Talaigrama Indaladeva[90]

• Vengayin Maindhan by Akilan covers the life and achievements of Rajendra
• Gangapuri Kavalan by Vembu Vikiraman in which Rajendra's the protagonist
• Mannan Magal by Sandilyan set in the period of Rajendra
• Gangai Konda Cholan by Balakumaran
• Ulagam Vendra Cholan by Bharathika which covers the war history and lifetime achievements