Raja Raja Chola I[1] | |
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Rājakesarī,[2][3] Mummudi Cholan | |
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Reign | 985–1014 |
Predecessor | Uttama Chola |
Successor | Rajendra Chola I |
Born | Arulmozhivarman 947 |
Died | 1014 |
Issue |
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Dynasty | Chola Dynasty |
Father | Sundara Chola |
Mother | Thiripuvānamādēviyār[4] |
Religion | Hinduism (Shaivism) |
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Raja Raja Chola I (or Rajaraja Chola I) was a renowned king who ruled over the Chola kingdom of southern India between 985 and 1014 CE. During his reign, the Cholas expanded beyond South India[5][6] with their domains stretching from Sri Lanka in the south to Kalinga in the north. Raja Raja Chola also launched several naval campaigns that resulted in the capture of the Malabar Coast as well as the Maldives and Sri Lanka.[7]
Raja Raja built the Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur, one of the largest Hindu temples.[8] During his reign, the texts of the Tamil poets Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar were collected and edited into one compilation called Thirumurai.[6][9] He initiated a massive project of land survey and assessment in 1000 which led to the reorganization of the country into individual units known as valanadus.[10][11]
Raja Raja Chola died in 1014 and was succeeded by his son Rajendra Chola.
Contents
Early life
Raja Raja was born in 947 in Aipassi month on the day of Sadhayam star.[12] He was the third child of Parantaka Sundara Chola and Vanavan Maha Devi of the Velir Malayaman dynasty and was named Arulmozhi Varman.[13][14] He had an elder brother Aditya Karikalan and an elder sister Kundavai.[15] Aditya Karikalan, the crown prince was assassinated in suspicious circumstances in 969.[16] After the death of Aditya, Sundara Chola announced that Uttama Chola will succeed him to the throne. Arulmozhivarman ascended the throne after the death of Uttama Chola in 985.[16][16] The Thiruvalangadu copper-plate inscriptions state that Raja Raja was elected through a democratic process followed by Cholas.[17]
Military conquests
Rajaraja created a powerful standing army and a considerable navy. A number of regiments are mentioned in the Thanjavur inscriptions.[18][19] These regiments were divided into elephant troops, cavalry and infantry and each of these regiments had its own autonomy and was free to endow benefactions or build temples.[18]
Early campaigns
Rajaraja began his first campaign in the eighth year of his reign.[20] The Pandyas, Cheras and the Sinhalas allied against the Cholas.[21] In 994, Rajaraja destroyed the fleet of the Chera king Bhaskara Ravi Varman Thiruvadi (c. 978–1036) in the Kandalur War.[20][22] Rajaraja defeated the Pandya king Amarabhujanga and captured the port of Virinam. To commemorate these conquests, Rajaraja assumed the title Mummudi Chola, a title used by Tamil kings who ruled the three kingdoms of Cholas, Pandyas and Cheras.[23][24] In 1008, Rajaraja captured Udagai from Cheras and Rajendra Chola I led the Chola army in this battle.[20][25]
Conquest of Sri Lanka
Mahinda V was the king of Sinhalese. In 991, Mahinda’s army mutinied with help from mercenaries from Kerala with Mahinda seeking refuge in the southern region of Ruhuna. Rajaraja invaded Ceylon in 993. The Thiruvalangadu copper-plate inscriptions mention that Rajaraja’s army crossed the ocean by ships and destroyed Anuradhapura, the 1400-year-old capital of Sinhalas. Cholas made the city of Polonnaruwa as the capital and renamed it Jananathamangalam. Rajaraja built a Siva temple in Pollonaruwa to commemorate the victory.[26] Raja Raja captured only the northern part of Sri Lanka while the southern part remained independent. His son Rajendra Chola captured the island in 1017 and the Chola reign in Sri Lanka was ended by Vijayabahu I in 1070.[27][28]
Chalukyan conflict
In 998, Rajaraja captured the regions of Gangapadi, Nolambapadi and Tadigaipadi (present day Karnataka).[29] Raja Chola extinguished the Nolambas, who were the feudatories of Ganga while conquering and annexing Nolambapadi.[30] The conquered provinces were originally feudatories of the Rashtrakutas.[31][32] In 973, the Rashtrakutas were defeated by the Western Chalukyas leading to direct conflict with Cholas.[33] An inscription of Irivabedanga Satyashraya from Dharwar describes him as a vassal of the Western Chalukyas and acknowledges the Chola onslaught.[34] In the same inscription, he accuses Rajendra of having arrived with a force of 955,000 and of having gone on rampage in Donuwara thereby blurring the moralities of war as laid out in the Dharmasastras.[35] Historians like James Heitzman and Wolfgang Schenkluhn conclude that this confrontation displayed the degree of animosity on a personal level between the rulers of the Chola and the Chalukya kingdoms drawing a parallel between the enmity between the Chalukyas of Badami and the Pallavas of Kanchi.[36][37]
There were encounters between the Cholas and the Hoysalas, who were vassals of the Western Chalukyas. An inscription from the Gopalakrishna temple at Narasipur dated to 1006 records that Rajaraja's general Aprameya killed minister Naganna and other generals of the Hoysalas.[38] A similar inscription in Channapatna also describes Rajaraja defeating the Hoysalas.[39] Vengi kingdom was ruled by Jata Choda Bhima of the Eastern Chalukyas dynasty.[33] Jata Choda Bhima was defeated by Raja Raja and Saktivarman was placed on the throne of Vengi.[33] After the withdrawal of the Chola army, Bhima captured Kanchi in 1001. Raja Raja expelled and killed Bhima before re-establishing Saktivarman I on the throne of Vengi.[40]
Kalinga conquest
The invasion of the kingdom of Kalinga occurred after the conquest of Vengi.[41]
One of the last conquests of Raja Raja was the naval conquest of the islands of Maldives.[42] The realization of the importance of a good navy and the desire to neutralize the emerging Chera Naval power were probably the reasons for the Kandalur campaign in the early days of Rajaraja’s reign.[43] The Cholas controlled the area around of Bay of Bengal with Nagapattinam as the main port. The Chola Navy also had played a major role in the invasion of Sri Lanka.[44] The success of Raja Raja allowed his son Rajendra Chola to lead the Chola invasion of Srivijaya, carrying out naval raids in South-East Asia and briefly occupying Kadaram.[5][45]
Administration
Before the reign of Raja Raja I, parts of the Chola territory were ruled by hereditary lords and princes who were in a loose alliance with the Chola rulers.[49] Raja Raja initiated a project of land survey and assessment in 1000 which led to the reorganization of the empire into units known as valanadus.[10][11] From the reign of Raja Raja Chola I until the reign of Vikrama Chola in 1133, the hereditary lords and local princes were either replaced or turned into dependent officials.[49] This led to the king exercising a closer control over the different parts of the empire.[49] Rajaraja strengthened the local self-government and installed a system of audit and control by which the village assemblies and other public bodies were held to account while retaining their autonomy.[50][51][52] To promote trade, he sent the first Chola mission to China.[53]
Officials
Rajendra Chola I was made a co-regent during the last years of Rajaraja’s rule. He was the supreme commander of the northern and northwestern dominions. During the reign of Raja Chola, there was an expansion of the administrative structure leading to the increase in the number of offices and officials in the Chola records than during earlier periods.[10] Villavan Muvendavelan, one of the top officials of Raja Raja figures in many of his inscriptions.[54] The other names of officials found in the inscriptions are the Bana prince Narasimhavarman, a general Senapathi Krishnan Raman, the Samantha chief Vallavaraiyan Vandiyadevan, the revenue official Irayiravan Pallavarayan and Kuruvan Ulagalandan, who organised the country-wide land surveys.[55]
Religious policy
Rajaraja was a follower of Shaivism school of Hinduism. He was tolerant towards other faiths and had several temples for Vishnu constructed and encouraged the construction of the Buddhist Chudamani Vihara at the request of the Srivijaya king Sri Maravijayatungavarman. Rajaraja dedicated the proceeds of the revenue from the village of Anaimangalam towards the upkeep of this Vihara.[56]
Arts and architecture
Raja Raja Chola embarked on a mission to recover the hymns after hearing short excerpts of Thevaram in his court.[57] He sought the help of Nambi Andar Nambi.[58] It is believed that by divine intervention Nambi found the presence of scripts, in the form of cadijam leaves half eaten by white ants in a chamber inside the second precinct in Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram.[59][58] The brahmanas (Dikshitars) in the temple opposed the mission, but Rajaraja intervened by consecrating the images of the saint-poets through the streets of Chidambaram.[59][60] Rajaraja thus became to be known as Tirumurai Kanda Cholan meaning one who saved the Tirumurai.[60] Thus far Shiva temples only had images of god forms, but after the advent of Rajaraja, the images of the Nayanar saints were also placed inside the temple.[60] Nambi arranged the hymns of three saint poets Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar as the first seven books, Manickavasagar's Tirukovayar and Tiruvacakam as the 8th book, the 28 hymns of nine other saints as the 9th book, the Tirumandiram of Tirumular as the 10th book, 40 hymns by 12 other poets as the 10th book, Tirutotanar Tiruvanthathi - the sacred anthathi of the labours of the 63 nayanar saints and added his own hymns as the 11th book.[61] The first seven books were later called as Tevaram, and the whole Saiva canon, to which was added, as the 12th book, Sekkizhar's Periya Puranam (1135) is wholly known as Tirumurai, the holy book. Thus Saiva literature which covers about 600 years of religious, philosophical and literary development.[61]
Brihadisvara Temple
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20160128045211im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Brihadeeswarar_Kovil.jpg/200px-Brihadeeswarar_Kovil.jpg)
In 1010, Raja Raja built the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur dedicated to Lord Shiva. The temple and the capital acted as a center of both religious and economic activity.[62] It is also known as Periya Kovil, RajaRajeswara Temple and Rajarajeswaram.[63][64] It is one of the largest temples in India and is an example of Dravidian architecture during the Chola period.[65] The temple turned 1000 years old in 2010.[66] The temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Great Living Chola Temples", with the other two being the Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Airavatesvara temple.[67]
The vimanam (temple tower) is 216 ft (66 m) high and is the tallest in the world. The Kumbam (the apex or the bulbous structure on the top) of the temple is carved out of a single rock and weighs around 80 tons.[68] There is a big statue of Nandi (sacred bull), carved out of a single rock measuring about 16 feet long and 13 feet high at the entrance. The entire temple structure is made out of granite, the nearest sources of which are about 60 km to the west of temple. The temple is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Tamil Nadu.[69]
Coins
Before the reign of Raja Raja Chola the Chola coins had on the obverse the tiger emblem and the fish and bow emblems of the Pandya and Chera Dynasties and on the reverse the name of the King. But during the reign of Raja Raja Chola appeared a new type of coins. The new coins had on the obverse the figure of the standing king and on the reverse the seated goddess.[70] The coins spread over a great part of South India and were also copied by the kings of Sri Lanka.[71]
Inscriptions
Due to Rajaraja's desire to record his military achievements, he recorded the important events of his life in stones. An inscription in Tamil from Mulbagal in Karnataka shows his accomplishments as early as the 19th year. An excerpt from such a Meikeerthi, an inscription recording great accomplishments, follows:[72]
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Rajaraja recorded all the grants made to the Thanjavur temple and his achievements. He also preserved the records of his predecessors. An inscription of his reign found at Tirumalavadi records an order of the king to the effect that the central shrine of the Vaidyanatha temple at the place should be rebuilt and that, before pulling down the walls, the inscriptions engraved on them should be copied in a book. The records were subsequently re-engraved on the walls from the book after the rebuilding was finished.[74]
Personal life
Raja raja was born as Arulmozhivarman and his adopted name Raja Raja literally means King of Kings. He was also known as Rajaraja Sivapada Sekhara (he who had the feet of Lord Shiva as his crown).[75] His elder sister Kundavai Pirāttiyār assisted Raja Raja in administration and management of temples.[76] Raja Raja had at least four queens including Ōlōkamādēviyār and Thiripuvānamādēviyār[77][78][79] and at least three daughters. He had a son Rajendra with Thiripuvānamādēviyār.[80][81][82] His first daughter Kundavai married Chalukya prince Vimaladithan. He had two other daughters named Mathevalzagal[citation needed] and Ģangamādevī.[79] Raja Raja died in 1014 in the Tamil month of Maka and was succeeded by Rajendra Chola I.[83]
In popular culture
- Rajaraja Cholan, a 1973 Tamil film starring Sivaji Ganesan
- Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki revolves around the life of Raja Raja Chola, the mysteries surrounding the assassination of Aditya Karikalan and the subsequent accession of Uttama to the Chola throne
- Nandipurathu Nayagi by Vembu Vikiraman revolves around the ascension of Uttama Chola to the throne and Raja Raja's naval expedition
- Rajaraja Cholan by Kathal Ramanathan
- Udaiyar by Balakumaran
- Kandalur Vasantha Kumaran Kathai by Sujatha which deal with the situations leading Raja raja to invade Kandalur
- Rajakesari and Cherar Kottai by Gokul Seshadri deal with the Kandalur invasion and its after-effects
- Kaviri Mainthan, a 2007 novel by Anusha Venkatesh
See also
Notes
- ^ "Four Chola inscriptions found near Kancheepuram". The Hindu. 10 May 2010.
- ^ Charles Hubert Biddulph (1964). Coins of the Cholas. Numismatic Society of India. p. 34.
- ^ John Man (1999). Atlas of the year 1000. Harvard University Press. p. 104.
- ^ The Body Adorned: Sacred and Profane in Indian Art by Vidya Dehejia p.42
- ^ a b Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. pp. 46–49. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.
- ^ a b A Journey through India's Past by Chandra Mauli Mani p.51
- ^ Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture by John Bowman p.264
- ^ The Hindus: An Alternative History by Wendy Doniger p.347
- ^ Indian Thought: A Critical Survey by K. Damodaran p.246
- ^ a b c A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th century by Upinder Singh p.590
- ^ a b Administrative System in India: Vedic Age to 1947 by U. B. Singh p.76
- ^ Tamil Civilization: Quarterly Research Journal of the Tamil University, Volume 3. Tamil university. 1985. p. 40.
- ^ The Body Adorned: Sacred and Profane in Indian Art by Vidya Dehejia p.42
- ^ God & King, the Devarāja Cult in South Asian Art and Architecture. Regency Publications. 2005.
The Chola King Arulmozhivarman, after the Makuda abhiseka was called Rajaraja cholan...
- ^ "Unearthed stone ends debate". The Hindu.
- ^ a b c KAN Sastri, A History of South India, p163
- ^ Sri Brihadisvara: The Great Temple of Thānjavūr by A.K. Seshadri p.16, 32
- ^ a b Seshachandrika: a compendium of Dr. M. Seshadri's works p.265
- ^ Literary Genetics with Comparative Perspectives by Katir Makātēvan̲ p.25
- ^ a b c KAN Sastri, The Colas
- ^ "Rajaraja began his conquests by attacking the confederation between the rulers of the Pandya and Krala kingdoms and of Ceylon" – KAN Sastri, History of South India p 164
- ^ Chakravarti, Prithwis Chandra (December 1930). "Naval Warfare in ancient India". The Indian Historical Quarterly 4 (4): 645–664.
Rajadhiraja, as stated above, not only defeated and destroyed the Chera fleet at Kandalur but sent out his squadrons on an expedition against Ceylon
- ^ Art of the Imperial Cholas by Vidya Dehejia p.51
- ^ Indian jewellery: dance of the peacock by Usha Ramamrutham Bala Krishnan, Meera Sushil Kumar p.87
- ^ Diplomacy in ancient India by Gandhi Jee Roy p.129
- ^ South India heritage: an introduction by Prema Kasturi, Chithra Madhavan p.292
- ^ Indian History with Objective Questions and Historical Maps Twenty-Sixth Edition 2010, South India page 59
- ^ Codrington, H.W (1926). A Short History of Ceylon. London: Macmillan & Co. ISBN 978-0-8369-5596-5. OCLC 2154168.
- ^ Tamilian Antiquary (1907 - 1914) - 12 Vols. by Pandit. D. Savariroyan p.30
- ^ Seminar on Social and Cultural History of Dharmapuri district p.46
- ^ Mohan Lal Nigam (1975). Sculptural Heritage of Andhradesa. Sculptural Heritage of Andhradesa. p. 17.
- ^ M. S. Krishna Murthy (1980). The Noḷambas: a political and cultural study, c750 to 1050 A.D. University of Mysore. p. 98.
- ^ a b c Ancient Indian History and Civilization by Sailendra Nath Sen p.398
- ^ Epigraphia Indica, Volume 16, page 74
- ^ Studying early India: archaeology, texts and historical issues, page 198
- ^ The world in the year 1000, page 311
- ^ History of India: a new approach by Kittu Reddy p.146
- ^ Epigraphia Indica, Volume 30, page 248
- ^ Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Volume 21, page 200
- ^ Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (1951). The History and Culture of the Indian People: The age of imperial Kanauj. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar. p. 154.
- ^ Smith, Vincent Arthur (1904). The Early History of India. The Clarendon press. pp. 336–358.
- ^ 'Rajaraja is supposed to have conquered twelve thousand old isands... a phrase meant to indicate the Maldives – Keay p215
- ^ KAN Sastri, the Cholas
- ^ Kearney, p70
- ^ Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa: Reflections on the Chola Naval Expeditions to Southeast Asia by Hermann Kulke,K Kesavapany,Vijay Sakhuja p.230
- ^ Edith Tömöry (1982). A History of Fine Arts in India and the West. Orient Longman. p. 246.
- ^ Rakesh Kumar (2007). Encyclopaedia of Indian paintings. Anmol Publications. p. 4.
- ^ V V Subba Reddy (2009). Temples of South India. Gyan Publishing House. p. 124.
- ^ a b c Precolonial India in Practice : Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra by Austin Cynthia Talbot Assistant Professor of History and Asian Studies University of Texas p.172
- ^ Life/Death Rhythms of Ancient Empires - Climatic Cycles Influence Rule of Dynasties by Will Slatyer p.236
- ^ The First Spring: The Golden Age of India by Abraham Eraly p.68
- ^ Vasudevan, pp62-63
- ^ Tamil Nadu, a real history by K. Rajayyan p.112
- ^ South Indian inscriptions, India. Archaeological Survey, India. Dept. of Archaeology p.477
- ^ South India heritage: an introduction by Prema Kasturi, Chithra Madhavan p.96
- ^ Tamilian Antiquary (1907 - 1914) - 12 Vols. by Pandit. D. Savariroyan p.33
- ^ S. V. S. (1985). Raja Raja Chola, the high point of history. Authors Guild of India Madras Chapter. p. 54.
- ^ a b Cort 1998, p. 178
- ^ a b Culter 1987, p. 50
- ^ a b c Vasudevan 2003, pp. 109-110
- ^ a b Zvelebil 1974, p. 191
- ^ Vasudevan, p46
- ^ "Tamil Nadu – Thanjavur Periya Kovil – 1000 Years, Six Earthquakes, Still Standing Strong". Tamilnadu.com. 27 January 2014.
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions – Vol II, Part I & II
- ^ Keay, John (2000). India, a History. New York, United States: Harper Collins Publishers. p. xix. ISBN 0-00-638784-5.
- ^ "Endowments to the Temple". Archaeological Survey of India.
- ^ "Tanjavur Periya Kovil Tamil Nadu". Tamilnadu.com. 5 December 2012.
- ^ "About Chola temples". The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Retrieved 6 December 2015.
- ^ Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam, ed. India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 185.
- ^ Antiquities of India: An Account of the History and Culture of Ancient Hindustan by Lionel D. Barnett p.216
- ^ Coins of India by C. J. Brown p.63
- ^ "Raja Raja inscriptions". varalaaru.com.
- ^ Epigraphia Carnatica, Volume 10, Part 1, page 107
- ^ South-Indian inscriptions by Eugen Hultzsch p.8
- ^ "A Journey through India's past: Great Hindu kings after Harshavardhana (ISBN 81-7211-256-4)". Chandra Mauli Mani. Northern Book Center, New Delhi. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
- ^ Ancient system of oriental medicine, page 96
- ^ Documentation on Women, Children, and Human Rights. Sandarbhini, Library and Documentation Centre. 1994.
- ^ Studies in Indian place names. Place Names Society of India. 1954. p. 58.
- ^ a b Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy. Archaeological Survey of India. 1995. p. 7.
- ^ P. V. Jagadisa Ayyar (1982). South Indian Shrines: Illustrated. Asian Educational Services. p. 264.
- ^ Early Chola art, page 183
- ^ A Topographical List of Inscriptions in the Tamil Nadu and Kerala States: Thanjavur District, page 180
- ^ Rāja Rāja, the great. Ananthacharya Indological Research Institute. 1987. p. 28.
References
- Cort, John E. (1998). Open boundaries: Jain communities and culture in Indian history. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 9780791437865.
- Cutler, Norman (1987). Songs of experience: the poetics of Tamil devotion. USA: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data. ISBN 0-253-35334-3.
- Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (2000). A History of South India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195606868.
- Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1984). The Cholas. Madras: University of Madras.
- Keay, John (2000). India, a History. London: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-638784-5.
- Vasudevan, Geeta (2003). Royal Temple of Rajaraja: An Instrument of Imperial Chola Power. Abhinav Publications. ISBN 0-00-638784-5.
- Kearney, Milo (2003). The Indian Ocean in World History. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-31277-9.
- Epigraphia Carnatica, Volume 10, Part 1, Mysore archaeological series By Benjamin Lewis Rice, Mysore (India : State). Archaeological Dept, Mysore Archaeological Survey, Mangalore, Basel Mission Press, 1905
- The political structure of early medieval South India By Kesavan Veluthat
- South Indian inscriptions: Volume 2, Parts 1–2 By E. Hultzsch, India. Archaeological Survey, India. Dept. of Archaeology
- Zvelebil, Kamil (1974). A History of Indian literature Vol.10 (Tamil Literature). Otto Harrasowitz. ISBN 3-447-01582-9.
External links
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Preceded by Uttama Chola |
Raja Raja Chola I 985–1014 |
Succeeded by Rajendra Chola I |