THE CHOLA EMPIRE  

In Southern India, Cholas raised themselves to the political prominence in the ninth century and established an empire comprising the major portion of South India. Their main capital was Tanjore. They also extended their reign Sri Lanka and the Malay Peninsula. Therefore, they are called as the Imperial Cholas.

Major Kings

Parthiba Chola (7th century) is one the earliest rulers of dynasty. He accepted the Pallava suzerainty.

Vikrama Chola (late 7th century), son of Parthiba Chola, married a Pallava princess.

Vijayalaya- founder of the Chola Kingdom, captured Thanjavur in 848, making use of the chaotic struggle between Pandyas and Pallavas.

Aditya Chola (succesor of Vijayalya)- put an end to the Pallava kingdom, making Chola dynasty independent.

Parantaka I was one of the important early Chola rulers. He was a great builder of temples and took Chola rule to Sri Lanka.

Rajaraja I (985 – 1014 AD)-It was under Rajaraja I and his son Rajendra I that the Chola power reached its highest point of glory. He attacked and annexed entire Sri Lanka. Rajaraja’s last military achievement was a naval expedition against the Maldives Islands which were conquered. He completed the construction of the famous Rajarajeswara temple or Brihadeeswara temple at Tanjore in 1010 AD. He also helped in the construction of a Buddhist monastery at Nagapattinam.

Rajendra I (1014-1044 AD)- Rajendra had demonstrated his military ability by participating in his father’s campaigns. He continued his father’s policy of aggressive conquests and expansion. His most famous military enterprise was his expedition to north India. The Chola army crossed the Ganges by defeating a number of rulers on its way to commemorate this successful north-Indian campaign Rajendra founded the city of Gangaikondacholapuram and constructed the famous Rajesvaram temple in that city.

In 1025 he launched naval raids on ports of Srivijaya in maritime Southeast Asia which was a unique event in India's history and its otherwise peaceful relations with the states of Southeast Asia.

Several places in Malaysia and Indonesia were invaded by Rajendra Chola and the invasion furthered the expansion of Tamil merchant associations such as the Manigramam, Ayyavole and Ainnurruvar into Southeast Asia. The Chola invasion led to the fall of the Sailendra Dynasty of Srivijaya.

At the death of Rajendra I the extent of the Chola Empire was at its peak. The river Tungabadhra was the northern boundary. The Pandya, Kerala and Mysore regions and also Sri Lanka formed part of the empire.

Kulottunga I (1070-1120)- the grandson of Rajendra. He succeeded the Chola throne and thus united the Vengi kingdom of Eastern Chalukya with the Chola Empire. During his reign Sri Lanka became independent.

Kulottunga III (1178-1218) the central authority became weak. He had to fight recurring wars against Pandyas, Hoysalas, Telugu Chodas in Kanchi, Velanadu Chodas at Vengi and Kakatiyas, Eelam (Sri Lanka) and Cheras. In 1216, Pandyan King Maravarman Sundara, waged war on Cholas to avenge the defeat (in 1205) of his elder brother Jatavarman Kulasekhara. Kulothunga III was old and without the support of his feudatories and allies. Driven into exile, he could get the throne back only after the intervention of his Hoysala relative King Veer Ballala II.

Rajendra III (AD 1270-1280) After over 60 years of Pandyan dominance, during Rajendra III, Cholas were lost in the history and no mention of them is found after 1280, making Rajendra III, the last Chola ruler. 

The rise of the feudatories like the Hoysalas and the emergence of the Pandya power as a challenge to Chola supremacy contributed to the ultimate downfall of the Chola Empire. The Chola country was ultimately absorbed into the Pandya Empire.   

Conquests 

During the reign of Rajaraja Chola I and his successors Rajendra Chola I, Virarajendra Chola and Kulothunga Chola I the Chola armies invaded Eelam (Sri Lanka), the Maldives and parts of Southeast Asia like Malaysia, Indonesia and Southern Thailand of the Srivijaya Empire in the 11th century.

Rajaraja Chola I launched several naval campaigns that resulted in the capture of Sri Lanka, Maldives and the Malabar Coast. In 1025, Rajendra Chola launched naval raids on ports of Srivijaya and against the Burmese kingdom of Pegu. A Chola inscription states that he captured or plundered 14 places, which have been identified with Palembang, Tambralinga and Kedah among others.

A second invasion was led by Virarajendra Chola, who conquered Kedah in Malaysia of Srivijaya in the late 11th century.

Military

The Chola navy was formidable one in South India. With the help of their navy the Cholas controlled Coromandal and Malabar coasts. Bay of Bengal became the Chola Lake.

The Chola army and navy together had 1,50,000 trained soldiers. The armies of the tributary chiefs also joined Chola army at crucial times.

The basis of Cholan Army was elephants. The Chola army had about 60,000 elephants.

Polity

Central Government

The Chola system practiced a monarchical government. Uraiyur, Thanjavur and later Gangaikonda Cholapuram served as the imperial capitals, while both Kanchipuram and Madurai constituted regional capitals where courts occasionally convened.   

The Central Government was under the headship of the King. The higher officials were called Peruntaram and the lower officials were called Siruntaram.

Provincial division

The Chola Empire was divided into nine provinces, called Mandalams. The head of the province was called viceroy, generally a close relative of kings.

Each mandalam was divided into number of Kottams or Valanadus.

Each kottam/valanadu was sub divided into Nadu or Kurrams. Large townships formed a separate kurram by themelves, known as taniyur or tankurram.

Each nadu was further divided into Ur (villages) which form part of the last unit of the administration.

Land revenue and trade tax were the main source of income.

The Chola rulers issued their coins in gold, silver and copper, however, some punch marked coins are also discovered.

Kaverippattinam on the coast near the Kaveri delta constituted a major port town. Nagappattinam as the most important centres of Cholas. The two towns were the hubs of trade and commerce. Thanjavur, Urayur and Kudanthai, now known as Kumbakonam, Mamallapuram represent the other major towns.

Local Self Government

“The most striking feature of the Chola period was the unusual vigour and efficiency that characterized the functioning of the autonomous rural institutions”- Nilkantha Shastri

There was continuity in growth and development at the local level, reasonably free of the effects of the political changes at the upper level. This is also the reason behind the general cultural continuity that is a characteristic of the Tamil country as compared with other regions of India. Every village made a self-governing unit as the villages were remarkably autonomous for their times.

In the larger villages with a number of rural organizations, there were a number of assemblies and a villager could be a member of any number of these subject to the conditions of membership.

The general assemblies were of three types - 

• Ur- comprising of the tax-paying residents of an ordinary village. The larger villages had two urs.
• Sabha- membership was open only to the Brahmans of the village or else was found exclusively in villages gifted to brahmans. The ur and the sabha were found together in some villages while.
• Nagaram- generally found in centres of trade and commerce, since it was devoted entirely to serving the interests of the mercantile community.

All adult males of a village were eligible to become members of the Ur, but in effect only elder residents took active interest, some of them forming a committee to look after routine matters.

The sabha worked in the same manner and had the power to constitute subsidiary committees for works of a specialized nature.

A village would be further divided into wards, each ward having an assembly of its members some of whom could also be members of a professional body such as smiths or carpenters or part of a group looking after other village functions like the maintenance of the local temple.

A tenth century inscription on a temple wall of the brahman village, called Uttaramerur inscription, gives the details of how the local Sabha worked. Inscriptions found elsewhere also describe similar procedures with a different set of requirements and qualifications for the candidates.

• “There shall be thirty wards. In these thirty wards those that live in each ward shall assemble and shall elect each person possessing the following qualifications for inclusion for selection by lot. He must own more than one-quarter of the tax- paying land. His age must be between 35 and 70. He must know the mantras and brahamanas. There follows a list of the relations who cannot contest and then the five sins debarring candidature: killing a Brahman, drinking alcohol, theft, adultery and associating with criminals. The debarred list also includes fools, one who has taken forbidden dishes, etc.”
• "Of the thirty men thus chosen, those who had been previously on the Garden Committee, and on the Tank Committee, those who are advanced in learning and those who are advanced in age shall be chosen for the Annual Committee. The great men of these three committees shall hold office for full 360 days and then retire.”

Tax for the government was collected by the assembly from its members, in some instances it was the tax for the entire village taken as a whole.

The assembly also had the power to impose a tax for a particular purpose say, for the construction of a water tank. Such collections were kept separate from the amount obtained for the state.

Records, particularly of taxes and charities, were maintained by the assemblies and they intervened and mediated in matters relating to agricultural land holdings, disputes over irrigation rights, etc.

Feudatories like the Pallava chiefs and other minor rulers were there in the Chola kingdom, but the assemblies were not involved in any manner in the relationship between the king and his feudatories.

The assemblies were independent to such an extent that the changes in the relationships at higher levels had no effect on the life of the village, perhaps because of the economic and political self-sufficiency of the village.

Economy

The Chola economy was based on three tiers - 

• At local level, largely autonomous agricultural settlements formed the foundation of Economy
• Nagaram (commercial towns), acted as redistribution centres
• Samayam (elite merchant groups) who organised and dominated the regions international maritime trade.

Towards the end of the ninth century, southern India had developed extensive maritime and commercial activity. The Cholas were at the fore front of this foreign trade and maritime activity, extending their influence overseas to China and Southeast Asia. They excelled in maritime activity in both military and the mercantile fields.

The Tang dynasty of China, the Srivijaya empire in the Malayan archipelago under the Sailendras and the Abbasid Caliphate at Baghdad were the main trading partners.

Cotton cloth was the main article of export to foreign countries. Uraiyur, the capital of the early Chola rulers, was a famous centre for cotton textiles which were praised by Tamil poets.

During this period the weavers started to organise themselves into guilds. Saliyar and Kaikolar were the important weaving communities during this time.

Trade was also carried on by merchant guilds. These guilds described sometimes by the terms Nanadesis, a powerful autonomous corporation of merchants which visited different countries in the course of their trade. They had their own mercenary army for the protection of their merchandise.

There existed a brisk internal trade in several articles carried on by the organised mercantile corporations in various parts of the country.

Since Pallavas, Silk weaving activity was on rise, which became a vibrant activity during this time and Kanchipuram became one of the main centres for silk. The silk of Kanchipuram was exported out of Chola country by nearby port of Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram).

The manufacture of sea salt was carried on under government supervision and control.  

Society

Under the Cholas, Southern India reached new heights of excellence in art, religion and literature.

Religious monasteries/Temples, supported by the government, emerged as centres of learning. Many of the surviving examples of the Hindu cultural influence found today throughout the Southeast Asia owe much to the legacy of the Cholas.

In all of those spheres, the Chola period marked the culmination of movements that had begun in an earlier age under the Pallavas.

During the Chola age (10th to 13th century) there were major changes in the temple administration and land ownership. There was more involvement of non-Brahmin elements in the temple administration. This can be attributed to the shift in money power.

Texts mention different forms of martial traditions but the ultimate expression of the loyalty of the warrior to his commander was a form of martial suicide called Navakandam (Nine Cuts). A heroic soldier ritually cuts himself in nine places and dies in front of Goddess Durga also known as Kotravai just before a war. He does it for the welfare and success of the king and kingdom.

Skilled classes like the weavers, traders, merchant class etc had gained prosperity, due to the emergence of towns, ports and links with the other parts of South east Asia.

Agrarian Expansion

There was a great agrarian expansion during the rule of the imperial Chola Dynasty, all over Tamil Nadu and particularly in the Kaveri Basin. To a large extent, it was the result of the facilities provided for irrigation by state.

There was a well-developed and highly efficient system of water management from the village level upwards.

The increase in the royal patronage and also in the the number of devadana and bramadeya lands which increased the role of the temples and village assemblies in the field.

Most of the Vayakkal (canals) of the Kaveri River belongs to this period e.g., Uyyakondan canal, Rajendran vaykkal, Sembian Mahadegvi vaykkal.

Committees like eri-variyam (tank-committee) and totta-variam (garden committees) were active as also the temples with their vast resources in land, men and money.

The tank irrigation that came up in large numbers during this period. They were of varied size, ie from small tanks to dam or canal size.

Rajendra Chola built a huge tank named Cholagangam/Solagangam (described as the liquid pillar of victory) which was about 16 miles long and was provided with canals for irrigating the lands in the neighbouring areas. There were several such lakes in the time which irrigate the lands even today.

The Vellalars (landowner farmers) occupied one of the highest positions in society and were economically a powerful group. They provided the courtiers, most of the army officers, the lower ranks of the bureaucracy and the upper layer of the peasantry. These Vellalars were also sent to northern Sri Lanka by the Chola rulers as settlers.

The peasants were known as Kalamar, who must have seen dual effect of their status, ie rise for those who would have got the land ownership and fall for those who became the part of land grants and tied to the lands.

The vellan-vagai (peasant proprietorship) was the ordinary ryotwari village of modern times, having direct relations with the government and paying a land-tax liable to revision from time to time.

In almost all villages the distinction between persons paying the iraikudigal(land-tax) and those who did not was clearly established, depicting the importance of land tax and revenue for state. 

Art

• The Cholas continued the temple building traditions of the Pallava dynasty and contributed significantly to the Dravidian temple design.
• Temple building received great impetus from the conquests and the genius of Rajaraja Chola and his son Rajendra.
• The remarkable sculptures (especially in bronze) sets the Chola period apart.
• The age of the Imperial Cholas represented the golden age of Tamil culture, marked by the importance of literature.
• A martial art called Silambam was patronised by the Chola rulers.

Temples

All Chola kings-built temples and endowed great wealth to them. The temples acted not only as places of worship but as centres of economic activity, benefiting their entire community (see “Early Medieval India” for detail). According to some historians, Temples were also used by state as an instrument of political power.

• The Cholas continued the temple-building traditions of the Pallava dynasty and contributed significantly to the Dravidian temple design.
• They built a number of Shiva temples along the banks of the river Kaveri. Historian James Fergusson says that "the Chola artists conceived like giants and finished like jewellers".
• The temple was looked upon and functioned as a "superordinate" instrument of the political apparatus from the ninth century.
• Under the Cholas its role progressively increased and diversified, thereby forging institutional links for territorial sovereignty. This is well illustrated by the imperial temples such as those at Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram.
• In the redistribution of resources, the temple assumed a more direct role than even the brahmadeya.
• Its economic outreach became phenomenal with a widening orbit through huge temple endowments land and money grants. Gold deposits, merchant interaction through gifts and the luxury trade of larger merchant corporations.
• Its social function was the integration of various ethnic and professional groups through ritual ranking within the brahmana varna order.
• A new development in Chola art that characterised the Dravidian architecture in later times was the addition of a huge gateway called Gopuram to the enclosure of the temple, which had gradually taken its form and attained maturity under the Pandya Dynasty.
• The Chola School of art also spread to Southeast Asia and influenced the architecture and art of Southeast Asia.

Chola Bronze Sculpture

• Though Cholas were prolific builders of temples and generous patrons of arts, their art is identified with the magnificent bronzes.
• Chola inherited the art of Bronze sculpture from the Pallavas and took it to new heights. The latter half of the ninth century marks the transitional toward the Chola type of bronzes.
• These great pieces of workmanship were made primarily for processions on festive occasions in
• temples, though some were also made for private worship.
• Derived from earlier clay images, this form while deemed to be folk art incorporates all aspects of classical art. The early bold forms gradually change to slender rounded ones that are delicate and more refined with the contours of the figures being softer.  
• These bronzes are cast in lost wax process. The image is first made in wax, it is then given several coats of fine clay and then dried in the shade. The two holes are made on the top and the bottom, and next the whole is heated so that the wax melt away leaving a hollow mould into which molten metal is poured. The clay mould is broken off after the metals solidified. Final dressing is done by hand with a chisel and abrasive material.

Purpose of Bronze Statues

• Temple worship under the Cholas largely followed Shaiva Siddhanta ritual. A dual form of worship was practised, intimate communion with the pillar-like stone linga representing Shiva in the sanctum, and public worship of metal deities (utsava murtis), such as the dynamic dancing Shiva, outside the sanctum during festival processions.
• The Chola period saw elaborate festivals with music dance and processions. The bronze images are intended as manifestations of the main deity enshrined in the garbha-griha when taken out in procession were worshipped with adoration as changing religious concepts during the period around the 10th century demanded that the deities take part in a variety of public roles similar to those of the King himself.
• It should be noted that when in worship, these images are covered in silk costumes, garlands, and jewels, befitting the particular avatar and religious context.

Style

• The forms of Chola bronzes are very plastic. They are devoid of intricate ornaments and designs in comparison with the subsequent bronzes of the Vijayanagar and Nayaka period.
• By means of the facial expressions, the gestures or mudras the overall body posture and other accompanying bronzes we can imagine the surroundings and the religious context of the figure of the god or goddess, what instrument or weapon they are holding, what they are leaning on and what they are doing or about to do.
• Though conforming generally to the iconographic conventions established by long tradition, the sculptor could also exercise the imagination within the boundaries of the canonical Hindu iconography and worked in greater freedom during the eleventh and the twelfth centuries. As a result, the sculptures and bronzes show classic grace, grandeur and perfect taste.
• Besides Hindu icons, Buddhist and Jain images were also cast in bronze during the period.
• The Chola bronze tradition continued to inspire artists well into the medieval period as is attested by Vijayanagar bronzes.

Nataraja Specimen

• The most famous of all the bronze icons is that of Nataraja or Adavallar.
• The symbolism presents Shiva as lord of the cosmic dance of creation and destruction.
• Surrounding Shiva, a circle of flames represents the universe, whose fire is held in Shiva's left rear palm.
• His left front arm crosses his chest, the hand pointing in "elephant trunk" position (gaja hasta) to his upraised left foot, which signifies liberation.
• His right foot tramples the dwarf Apasmara, who represents ignorance.
• Shiva as Nataraja or Adavallar is also accompanied by his consort Sivakami.
• In Shaiva Siddhanta tradition, Shiva as Nataraja is considered the supreme lord of dance. Tandava is the divine dance performed by Nataraja and is the theme of majority of Chola bronze statues. Tandava symbolizes the cosmic cycles of creation and destruction, as well as the daily rhythm of birth and death. 
• Austrian-born American physicist, Fritjof Capra noted that “Modern physics has shown that the rhythm of creation and destruction is not only manifest in the turn of the seasons and in the birth and death of all living creatures, but is also the very essence of inorganic matter, therefore, for the modern physicists, then, Shiva’s dance is the dance of subatomic matter.” On June 18, 2004 at the European Center for Research in Particle Physics in Geneva (CERN), a 2m tall statue of Nataraja was unveiled to acknowledge the connection.

Literature

• The construction of numerous temples generated Shaiva and Vaishnava devotional literature.
• Jain and Buddhist authors flourished as well, although in fewer numbers than in previous centuries.
• The grammarian Buddhamitra wrote a text on Tamil grammar called Virasoliyam.
• Commentaries were written on the great text Tolkappiyam which deals with grammar but which also mentions ethics of warfare.
• Periapuranam is considered today as national epic of the Tamil people because it treats of the lives of the saints who lived in all parts of Tamil Nadu and belonged to all classes of society, men and women, high and low, educated and uneducated.
• Kamban’s Ramavataram (also referred to as Kambaramayanam) is an epic of Tamil literature, and although the author states that he followed Valmiki's Ramayana, it is generally accepted that his work is not a simple translation or adaptation of the Sanskrit epic. He imports into his narration the colour and landscape of his own time as his description of Kosala is an idealised account of the features of the Chola country.
• Jayamkondar's masterpiece, Kalingattuparani (describes the events during Kulothunga Chola I's war in Kalinga) is an example of narrative poetry that draws a clear boundary between history and fictitious conventions. This and depicts not only the pomp and circumstance of war, but the gruesome details of the field.
• Ottakuttan wrote Kulothunga Cholan Ula, a poem extolling the virtues of the Chola king.
• Nannul is a Chola era work on Tamil grammar. It discusses all five branches of grammar.
• The arrangement of the Shaivite canon into eleven books was the work of Nambi Andar Nambi, who lived close to the end of the 10th century.
• Relatively less Vaishnavite works were composed during the Later Chola period, possibly because of the rulers' apparent animosity towards them. 

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