He was succeeded by his son Adhirajendra, a Parakesari. This king ruled only for a I few weeks. It seems he died the victim of a popular riot, a somewhat unusual event in our history.

The causes and nature of this riot are not clearly known. It is not safe either to be categorical about the king’s death being a consequence of a popular uprising.

After his demise the Chola throne passed to the Eastern Chalukya prince Rajendra II who had married Madurantaki, daughter of Rajendra II (Chola). He ascended the throne assuming I the Imperial title, Kulottunga I.

The transition from Adhirajendra to Kulottunga raises two | issues: (1) under what circumstances did Adhirajendra die? (2) How did the Eastern | Chalukya prince become the Chola emperor?

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Adhirajendra was the last Chola in the direct line. His successor was a Chalukya-1 Chola. In a certain sense with him the Chola dynasty came to an end. Though traditionally Kulottunga I and his successors are also called Cholas they were really more Chalukya’ than Chola.

In the Divya Suri Charita of the Vaishnavas it is said that due to the sin of persecuting Ramanuja, the founder of Sri Vaishnavism, the Chola line came to an end with the persecutor.

Depending on this some historians believe that Adhirajendra was the persecutor of Ramanuja and so he got cancer in the throat and died and so his death should have been caused by reasons connected with religious persecution. The suggestion here is that the persecuted Vaishnavas started a rebellion in the course of which Adhirajendra died.

There is, however, no evidence to show that the ‘Krimakantha’ of the Vaishnavas was Adhirajendra. But it is supposed that he could have been the Chola referred to because the Chola dynasty came to an end with him. S. Krishnaswami Iyengar says that the Chola who persecuted Ramanuja was none other than Kulottunga. I.N. Jagadeesan agrees with this.

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K.V. Rangaswami Iyengar mentions Vikrama Chola, son of Kulottunga I in this context. Nilakanta Sastri supposes that the persecuting Chola was either Virarajendra or Adhirajendra. Since so many different opinions are and can be held on this and since there is no evidence to clinch the issue it would be difficult to be positive about the circumstances under which Adhirajendra died.