Short notes on the Cholas dynasty

Six hundered years after the Sangam age came to a close, the Cholas came back again on the stage of Tamil history as a determining factor.

The successors of Karikala of whom Cholan Senganan was the most illustrious at the end of the Sangam period never wholly died out as a political force but survived in a minor capacity in the neighbourhood of Uraiyur their ancient capital.

After the partial destruction of Puhar the Chola rulers chose Kanchipuram for their temporary capital; they could do so because one of their feudatories, the Ilantiraiyan was ruling there as their viceroy.

A certain branch of this illustrious family migrated to beyond Venkatam and set up the nucleus of the dynasty which later came to be called the Telugu Cholas. The Cholas themselves after a short stay left Kanchipuram for Uraiyur again.

Then it looks as if they had to share the common fate of the Tamil monarchies at the hands of the Kalabhras. Even then they were holding at least minor positions of chieftaincies in the neibourhood of their ancient capital but subject to the new conquerors.

The Pandyas who were also defeated by the Kalabhras made a come back by c. AD 600 while the Tondaimandalam became an autonomous political unit under Simhavishnu who also contributed to the destruction of the Kalabhras.

The Cholas ruling a diminished territory with reduced powers in a minor capacity were wavering between loyalty to the Pandyas and subordination to the Pallavas, as we have seen above.

The Periya puranam mentions how the Pandyan king Ninrasirnedumaran married a Chola princess. This indicates at least that the Cholas were occupying a position sufficiently important to merit matrimonial alliance with the revived Pandyas.

In the days of the Kalabhras too, the Cholas were held in esteem by their traditionally loyal subjects. The story of how the priests in the Chidambaram temple refused to crown in the precincts of the temple as their ruler anyone not belonging to the Chola family shows that they (Cholas) had continued to enjoy the support of their old subjects.

When mighty monarchs like Narasimhavarman or Rajasimha or Parantakanedunjadaiyan were ruling the neighbouring kingdoms, the Cholas counted for nothing. Their opportunity could arise only out of the conflicts between the Pandyas and the Pallavas. Such conflicts were luckily for them frequent and increasing in intensity. Vijayalaya

In the middle of the ninth century a Chola chieftain called Vijayalaya (the abode of victory) was ruling a small territory to the north of the Kaviri from a humble capital called Palaiyarai.

There was a dynasty of rulers called the Muttaraiyar who ruled the territory around Tanjavur and Pudukkottai. Vijayalaya, emboldened by the prevailing political confusion quietly seized Tanjavur and made it his capital.

There he built a temple for Kali (Nisumbasudani). Another temple he is known to have built was called Vijayalaya Cholesvaram and he set up a Brahmin colony which was called Vijayalaya Chaturvedimangalam.

Some of his inscriptions are found as far North as the North Arcot district. This does not necessarily mean his sovereignty over all the territory lying in between. The privilige of setting up inscriptions in any part of the royal domains was granted to any of the more loyal chieftains. Thus this means neither a conflict between the Cholas and the Pallavas nor a subordination of the latter to the former.

In the Pallava-Pandya struggles of those times the Muttaraiyar sided the Pandyas and so provoked the Chola, a good ally of the Pallavas to attack and capture Tanjavur. It is difficult to determine whether the grow weakness of the Pandyas encouraged the rising Chola or whether Vijayalaya’s success adventure weakened the Pandya.

It is possible that both happened. Anyway, soon after Vijayalaya’s success, the Pandyan King Varaguna II wished to force the issue and test the full strength of the Pallava and his allies.

So the Pandya undertook a move to balance the political power structure which had been upset by Vijayalaya. He really succeeded inso far as he was able to reach Idavai the north bank of the Kaviri without encountering serio ^J opposition; but Aparajita, the contemporary Pallava collected all possible allies and got ready for the decisive struggle. His chief ally was Prithvipathi (Ganga).

The Ganga Pallav versus Pandya military engagement took place in c. AD 880 at Tiruppurambiyam near Kumbakonam. We know of the details of this battle from the account found in the Udayendram plates of Ganga Prithvipathi II. Aditya I

It is possible that Aditya I, son of Vijayalaya who had now succeeded to the Cho throne at Tanjavur, also took part in this battle as an ally of the Pallava. In this epod making battle, the Pandya was defeated and the Ganga was killed.

The Pallava was the surviving victor and he was pleased with the new found ally Aditya I. He confirmed not only the Chola occupation of Tanjavur but also granted him more territory.

The Chola was more shrewd than loyal and he knew that a well-timed and powerful blow aimed at Aparajita could bring the Pallava edifice down and he could easily succeed to the ruin. He carried out his plan successfully and Aparajita lost in a battle against Aditya, his kingdom and his life. It is stated that the Chola ‘pounced upon and slew the Pallava king who was seated on the back of a tall elephant’.

It is also possible that the Ganga Prithvipathi II, successor and grandson of the ruler who died in Tiruppurambiyam, helped the Cholas in his campaign. Aditya at a stroke extended his territory to include the Cholamandalam as well as the Tondaimandalam.

In c. AD 890 the latter was annexed to the Chola kingdom. This single act made the Chola at once the most important political power in Tamilnad then. The Ganga accepted the Chola domination.

The kingdom of the Cholas extended from the Kaviri to the southern boundary of the Rashtrakuta kingdom in the north. It must be remembered that even as the Kalabhra victory did not exterminate the Cholas, the Chola victory did not destroy the Pallavas altogether.

This is proved by the fact that even after I Aditya’s successes Parantaka I his son is also credited with the overthrow of the Pallavas and that we hear of the powerful Kadavas even in the days of the decline of the Cholas;! These also show that like most other ancient dynasties of South India the Pallavas also had enormous vitality and capacity for survival.

Aditya was a careful diplomat and he tried to assuage Pallava feeling by marrying a princess from their family. Aditya’s senior queen was Ilangonipichchi, a Rashtrakuta princess (daughter of Krishna II). This was also a diplomatic marriage intended to bring about peaceful relations between the Cholas and the Rashtrakutas.

Having consolidated his position in the traditional Chola country he turned his attention to the Kongu land. He got the support of Vikki Annan a general of the Chera king Stann Ravi in his attack on the Kongu country. He captured Talakkad from the Gangas and made their subordination to the Cholas a necessity. Parantaka I

Aditya countinued the family tradition of patronage of Saivism. His son Parantaka erected a temple over his remains-he died near Kalahasti-and set up a Linga on it. The temple was callled Kodandaramesvaram as also Adityesvara.

For the first time in the history of the Tamils we hear of remples being built on the mortal remains of deceased rulers. At the death of Aditya the Chola power had become well established and warranted the warlike activities of his son Parantaka I.

Parantaka I (AD 907-AD 955) succeeded to a vast kingdom and secure throne. The Pandya was not in a position to avenge Tiruppurambiyam. Sri Parantaka Viranarayana, the contemporary Pandya had his hands full of local rebellions.

There was, however, one small difficulty for Parantaka which soon assumed dangerous proportions. The Rashtrakuta, who expected Aditya’s son by the Kannada princess to ascend the throne, after his father, was disappointed to find Parantaka on the Chola throne.

He was waiting for an opportune moment to interfere in the affairs of the Chola kingdom. In the meantime Parantaka conquered the Pandya country and assumed the title Madurai Kotida. The Pandyan who suffered at his hands was Rajasimha who tried to resist Chola power with Ceylonese help.

The Cholas claim that Parantaka’s victory over the combined army of the Pandya and the Ceylonese was gained at Parantaka’s victory over the combined army of the Pandya and the Ceylonese was gained at Vellur (c. AD 915); but the Maliavamasa says that the Ceylonese general died and the troop suffered from plague so that they had to withdraw to the island.

Howsoever it be the Pandya suffered complete defeat at the hands of the Chola who assumed, in view of the Ceylonese unsuccessfull intervention; the titles Sangrama Raghava and Maduraiyum Ilamum Konda. Rajasimhma Pandya fled to Ceylon, left his crown and other jewels there and thence went to Kerala. Parantaka Chola wished to crown himself in Madurai after he had settled the conquest of the Pandyan country.

But since the traditional crown jewels were not available and since the Chola’s attempt to recover them from Ceylon was futile he had to content himself with sending an army into Ceylon though that army achieved pretty little. Parantaka was assisted in his southern campaigns by the Kodumbalur chieftains who had earlier quarrelled with the Pandyas.

Consequently Arikulakesari, one of the sons of Parantaka I married a Kodumbar princess, Budhi Adichcha Pidari. Parantaka extended his arms successfully in the northern and north-western parts of the Chola kingdom by subjugating the Banas and the Vaidumbas.