Chola : natives of Cholā Mandalam, a Tamil kingdom (c.600BC–f1200 AD). Cholā Mandalam, the kingdom of Cholās, extended along the western coast of India from Nellore to Pudukottai, its people spoke Tamil & developed a rich literature crested by Tiruvallavur’s Thiru Kūral. Its king built a 100 mile long embankment along the Kāveri in the 1st century, & transferred the capital from Uraiyur to Kāveripatnam. In the 7th century the boundaries of Cholā Mandalam shrunk, due to the rise of the Pallavas in its north & the Pāṇdyās to its south, to just the district of Cuddapah & its king became a feudatory of the Pallava king Narasimhavarman. But it revived after the Chālukya king Vikramāditya defeated the Pallavas in 740 &, in mid-9th cent its king Parantaka I overthrew the Pallavas & captured its capital Madurai & invaded Shree Lanka founding the Cholā dynasty which ruled till the close of the 13th cent. Its king Raj raja I (985-1016) ruled of all of south India including Shree Lanka. He built the Brihadeshwar temple in his capital Thanjavur. His son Rajendra I (1016-44) maintained a strong navy by which he conquered Pegu & Martaban (Nicobar & Andaman) islands. In the north, he attacked the king of Bengal & Bihar & assumed the title of Gangaikonda. A new dynasty, the Chālukya Cholā arose with Rajendra Kulottunga I (1070-1122) whose father was a Chālukya prince & mother a Cholā princess who ruled for 40 years & regained Kalinga. All the Hindu kingdoms in South India were overrun in 1310 by Alā-ud-din Khilji’s general Malik Kāfur (from Kāfir for non-Muslim) – a Hindu warrior of Gujarat whom Khilji purchased, castrated & subsequently made him his Malik Naib (lieutenant). But by the end of the 14th century they were absorbed in the Kingdom of Vijayanagaram. Administration: Cholamandalam was divided into six largely autonomous mandalas (provinces), each of them was formed of a group of fairly autonomous nādus (districts), each of which was constituted by a certain number of kurrams or kottams (union of villages) each of which managed its local affairs through an assembly whose members were elected annually, & had its own local treasury. The land revenue was one-sixth (the Mogul & Marathas extracted one-fourth) of the produce & payable in kind or gold kasus (each weighing about 28 grams. Art & Architecture: Both were purely indigenous. The best known is the magnificent matchless Brihadeshwar, the massive temple to Lord Shiva built by Raj raja I (985-1016) in Thanjavur, his capital. The 14-storeyed temple rises to a height of 190 feet & is crowned by a single block of stone 25 ½ ft. square weighing 80 tons. From the base to the top endless sculptures & decorative mouldings form its outer sheath; the four sides of its vast courtyard is filled with small subsidiary temples & verandas; over 50 metres away from the temple, sitting on a high platform of its own with a vast ornate roof overhead, sits probably the largest Nandi in India facing its lord & master, the great Mahādev. The model for Brihadeshwar was built in Gangaikonda-Cholāpūram beside a vast artificial lake with a 15-mile long embankment, near a magnificent palace. Later examples of Cholā art came up in Madurai, Srirangapattinam, Rameshwaram & many other places on the coast. In the opinion of James Fergusson the Cholā artists & architects conceives as titans & finished as jewellers. [Internet] Jacob Koshy: The Dept. of Science & Technology (DST) is looking to send robotic vehicles into the sea near Dwārkā (q.v.) & Puhar, Tamil Nadu, to look for submerged structures that may, according to a person aware of the project [=not the official spokesperson], point to evidence of ancient cities. The programme...is expected to involve organisations such as the National Institute Ocean Technology, Chennai, & the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa. The former has indigenously built vehicles capable of plumbing 5,000 metres & the NIO has previous experience in marine archaeology. “Along with historical interest, this is also to test several technologies such as sophisticated imaging technology, being able to map the ocean floor with sonar & being able to date old stones & recoverable implements using the latest techniques”, a person at the DST [=not the official spokesperson] told me. “A proposal has been cleared but funding should be clear in three months.” ― “Along with historical interest, this is also to test several technologies such as sophisticated imaging technology, being able to map the ocean floor with sonar & being able to date old stones & recoverable implements using the latest techniques”, a person at the DST [=not the official spokesperson] told me. “A proposal has been cleared but funding should be clear in three months.” – “Last year divers, geologists & archaeologists of National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, working off the coast of Tamil Nadu, found stone-remains suggestive of an ancient port & temples, which were reportedly buried about 30 feet into the sea. Tamil & Buddhist literature have references to Poompuhar, or Puhar (see Cauvery), as being the port capital of the Cholā dynasty.” [The Hindu$ of July 1, 2017, p.9]
... earlier visitor." Barua 5 shows, by considering another testimony of Hiuen-Tsang, the lack of corroboration to be still more significant: "Chola and Dravida, where too the pilgrim saw the stupas of Aśoka, cannot be included in Aśoka's empire. The pilgrim's Chola and Drāvida constituted together the territory of the Cholas, better the Cholas and Pāndyas, which lay, according to R.E. II and R.E. XIII ...
... from India to China." There was considerable trade between China and India. 1 1 "A Chola embassy of 72 merchants reached China in 1077 and received Page 116 Times changed. Kings changed. Rajaraja's great-grandson, Kulottunga I (1070-1122), who started the Chalukya-Chola dynasty, became king. He was one of the great kings of eastern Deccan, and ruled from Tanjore. Commerce... side. Persecuted peoples from other lands, like the Parsi, the Jew, or Syrian Christians, sought refuge on Indian shores. The world knew that Hindus had a taste for cultural diversity. Raja-raja Chola, encouraged Sri Mara Vijayottungavarman, the ruler of Sri Vijaya (Sumatra) to build a Buddhist vihara at Naga-pattinam. The monastery was called Chudamani vihara after the father of the ruler of Sri ...
... lieutenants." The kings were splendid promoters of culture and arts. The Chola king, Rajaraja I (985-1014 AD) constructed the great Brihadeshwara temple of Thanjavur. His son, Rajendra I (1014-44), created its replica in the wilds of Trichinopoly district and founded a new city around it, Gangaikondacholapuram. The Chola sculptors have incarnated beauty that takes our breath away. Fifty kilometres... according to season. It seems obvious that India was studded with a large number of towns which really had attained a high level of wealth and prosperity. Later history is fairly well known. The Chola power was at its meridian in the eleventh century under Rajaraja I and his son, Rajendra I. "These two great monarchs," says Nilakanta Sastri, "gave political unity to the whole of Southern India for ...
... theory a little dubiously. Thus Raychaudhuri 1 not only says: "Geiger's date... is not explicitly recognised by tradition." He 2 also comments on "certain Chinese and Chola synchronisms" adduced by Geiger to prop up his theory: "The Chola synchronisms referred to... are not free from difficulties, and it has been pointed out by Geiger himself that the account in Chinese annals of an embassy which Mahānāman ...
... Buddhist Kingdoms (II, p. 230) "where the country of Malayakūta, i.e. the South Indian Tambapamnī, is placed opposite Simhala and below Drāvida or Southern Chola. In explanation of "Drāvida", we may quote Barua 5 saying: "The pilgrim's Chola and Drāvida constitute together the territory of the Cholas, better the Cholas and Pāndyas..." If Drāvida can include the Pāndyas, as it should if the Cholas ...
... eastward journey, while Saint-Louis went exploring the Coromandel 1 coast. She visited Pondicherry, and Pentopoli 1 Le Gentil tells us that 'Coromandel' is derived from 'Chola-mandalam,' (a Chola province), a word corrupted by the Portuguese who pronounced cho as ko. Page 144 (Nizampatnam), up to Masulipatnam. The French sailors and merchants were charmed by the Indians ...
... mo (Sirimeghavanna), 33, 36, 41, 43, 227 China, 548; Great Wall of, 510-11 Chinese chronology, 361-2 Chintāmani, 49 Chitaldrug district, 210 Chodas.265, 283 Chola and Drāvida, 211 Cholas, 530 Cholas and Pāndyas, 211 I Chronicles I: 5, 7;258 Chulavamsa, 273 Chulikas, 530 Chullaniddesa, 242, 401 Chullavagga, 254 Cirrhadae ...
... 30. Early Pandyan Paintings (7th to 9th century A.D.) 31. Early Chera Paintings (8th to 9th century A.D.) Page 257 32. Rashtrakuta Paintings (8th to 10th century A.D.) 33. Chola School of Paintings (9th to 13th century A.D.)* 34. Hoysala Paintings (llth to 13th century A.D.) 35. Kakatiya Paintings (11th to 13th century A.D.) 36. Vijayanagara Paintings (14th ...
... I Remember (55) O nce we went to Darasuram near Kumbakonam. Darasuram is a tiny village on the outskirts of the town and the site of an ancient Chola temple. Perhaps not more than thirty or forty families live here. I have noted a strange thing that wherever I may go I attract young boys round me. Here too among such a crowd I found a clever, smart ...
... दाक्षिणात्याः शृणुतान्घ्रचोला वसन्ति ये पञ्चनदेषु शूराः ॥२३॥ You and you, O peoples of Avanti and Magadha, Vanga, Anga and Kalinga, O Kurus and men of Sind; hear me! O southerners, you of Andhra and the Chola country, you are heroes of the land of the five rivers. ये के त्रिमूर्तिं भजथैकमीशं ये चैकमूर्तिं यवना मदीयाः। माताह्वये वस्तनयान् हि सर्वान् निद्रां विमुञ्चध्वमये शृणुध्वम् ॥२४॥ You who adore ...
... (Benares school, 19 th century) Rama and Sugreeva Mewar Hanuman, bronze, Madras Museum, Chola, Circa 1020 Hanuman showing Sita,s ornaments to Rama (Guler, Pahari, circa 1780-90, Nation Museum, Delhi) ...
... beautiful language, mentioning the lotus pond, the green fields around the temple and the thick forests surrounding Irumbai village, which are today non-existent. The temple was renovated under the Cholas and the Pandyas, whose kings donated hundreds of acres of land to the temple, and it had at one point perhaps as many as seven outer walls. A large statue of the god Ganesh, once part of the temple ...
... at the sacrifice of all else, belonged to that period; the second best came afterwards in larger, but still comparatively small nations and kingdoms like those of the Pallavas, Chalukyas, Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras. In comparison she received little from the greater empires that rose and fell within her borders, the Moghul, the Gupta or the Maurya—little indeed except political and administrative ...
... modern district. The second best period of India, according to Sri Aurobindo, came afterwards in larger, but still comparatively small, nations and kingdoms like those of Pallavas, Chalukyas, Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras. Again, Sri Aurobindo finds that even when there developed the organisation of nations, kingdoms and empires, it was groupments of smaller nations which have had the most intense life ...
... in the Dravidian land, whose reign spanned centuries. The Cholas ruled from 400 B.C. to A.D. 1400. During the reign of Rajendra (1012-44), the Cholas with their formidable naval flotilla extended their empire over Sri Lanka and the Nicobar Islands, as well as many Page 28 parts of modern Indonesia and Malaysia. The Cholas established the administrative system of elected representatives ...
... Hebrew tribes, the Greek city states, the small medieval Italian cities, the modest-sized kingdoms of the Indian Heroic Age, the later (and not much bigger) kingdoms of the Pallavas, Chalukyas, Pandyas, Cholas, Cheras - that have given to humanity its most cherished glories. A monstrously forbidding concentration of humanity in capital cities like London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, New Delhi raises its own ...
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