THE PANDYAS OF MADURAI (6TH TO
14TH CENTURY)
The pandyas were one of the most ancient
dynasties to rule south India and are mentioned
in Kautilya’s Arhasastra and Megasthenes’
Indica. The Sangam age started from a Pandya
king and, as per Sangam literature, there were
at least twenty kings in this dynasty. The most
prominent among them was Nedunzalian, who
made Madurai his capital. Pandya rulers
exercised a clan-rule under several Lineages,
each bearing Tamil names ending with suffixes
such as Valuti and Celiyan. The Pandyas
acquired their resources in inter-tribal conflicts
with the cheras and Cholas, and luxury goods
from their maritime trade with countries further
west. The Pandyas founded a Tamil Literary
academy called the Sangam, at Madurai They
adopted the Vedic religion of sacrifice and
patronized Brahmin priests. Their power
declined with the invasion of a tribe called the
Kalabhras. After the Sangam Age, this dynasty
lost its significance for more than century, only
to rise once again at the end of the 6th century.
Their first significant ruler was Dundungan (590-
620) who defeated the Kalabars and brought the
pandyas back to the path of glory. The list known
Pandya king, Parakramadeva, was defeated by
Usaf Khan, (a viceroy of Muhmmad-bin-Tughlaq
when the Tughlaq dynasty was in process of
extending their kingdom up to Kanyakumari.
THE CHOLAS
(9TH TO 13TH CENTURY)
The Chola dynasty was one of the most
popular dynasties of south India which ruled
over Tamil Nadu and parts of Karnataka with
Tanjore as its capital. Rock edicts II and XII of
Ashoka rare the earliest historical documents to
refer to the Cholas. Early Chola rulers were the
karikala Cholas who ruled in the 2nd century.
After them, the Chola dynasty remained
insignificant for centuries before resurfacing
when, in 850, Vijayalaya captured Tanjore
during the Pandya-Pallava wars. To
commemorate his accession, he built a temple at
Tanjore,
The king was the central head who was
helped by a council of ministers. However, the
administration was democratic. Land revenue
and trade tax were the main sources of income.
Society was divided into Brahmins and non-
Brahmins. The temple was the cultural and social
centre, where art and literature flourished. The
giant statue of Gomateswara at Shravanbelagola
was also built during this period. Vijayalaya’s
son Aditya I (871-901) succeeded him to throne.
Aditya died in 907 leaving the throne to his son
Parantaka I (907-955) who was king for the next
48 years. But it was Rajaraj I (985-1014) who
was the founder of newly organized Chola
kingdom. He snatched back lost territories form
the Rashtrakutas and become the most powerful
of the Chola rulers. Rajendra Chola (1014-144),
son of Rajaraja I, was an important ruler of this
dynasty who conquered Orissa, Bengal, Burma
and the Andaman and Nicobar Island. The
Cholas dynasty was at its zenith during his reign.
The last ruler of the Chola Dynasty was Rajendra
III (1246-79). He was a weak ruler who
surrendered to the pandyas. Later, Malik Kafur
invaded this Tamil state in 1310 and
extinguished the Chola empire.
Rajaraja I (985-1014) who was known by a
variety of titles such as mummadi choladeva.
Jayandonada, and chola-martanda, began the
most glorious epoch of the Cholas. He used his
military powers to rebuild the Chola empire and
raise himself to a position of supremacy in the
south. One of the earliest exploits of Rajaraja I
was the subjugation of the Cheras, whose fleet
he destroyed at Kandalur. He then took Madurai
and captured the panday king, Amarabhujanga.
At this time the affairs of Srilanka were in a state
of disarray; hence, he invaded the island and
annexed its northern part which became a
Cholas province under the name Munnadi colamandalam.
Rajaraja I then overran the eastern
Chalukyan country of Vengi. The conquests of
Rajaraja I included Kalinga and “ the old islands
of the sea numbering 12,000”, which have been
generally identified with the Laccadives and the
Maldivas. Rajaraja’ is also famous for the
beautiful siva temple which he constructed at
Thanjavur. It is called Rajarajeswava after his
name and is specially admired for its huge
proportions, simple design, elegant sculpters,
and fine decorative motifs. On the walls of the
temple, is engraved an account of Rajaraja’s
ecploits.
Rajendra I gangaikonda (1014-44) secceeded
Rajaraja I. A few years after coming to the throne,
he annexed the whole of Sri Lanka's, northern
part having been previously conquered by
RajarajaI. The following year he reasserted the
Chola supermacy over the kings of Kerala and
the Pandyan country. Rajendra I also directed
his arms towards the North, and his armies
marched triumphantly as far as the Ganga and
the dominions of the Pala king Mahipala. It was
doubtless an audacious campaign and to
commemorate it he adopted the title of
gangaikonda, Rajendra I invited a number of
Hiavas form Bengal in to his kingdom. The chola
monarch’s achievements were not invited to
land. He possessed a fowerful fleet which gained
successes across the Bay of Bengal. It is said that
he vanquished Sangramavijayottungavarman
and conquered kataha or Kadaram (Sumatra).
Presumably, the expediton was undertaken to
further commercial intercourse between the
Malay peninsula and South India. Rajendra I
founded a new capital called after him-
Gangaiknoda-Cholapuram, indentified with
modern Gangakundapuram in the Tiruchiraplli
district of Tamil Nadu. It has magnificent place
and a temple adorned with exquisite granite
sculptures.
Kulottunga I (1070-1122) was another
significant Chola ruler. Kulottunga I united the
two kingdom of the eastern Chalukyas of Vengi
and the Cholas of Thanjavur. Kullottunga I
introduced certain reforms in the internal
administration of the kingdom. Of these, the
most important was that he got the land
resurveyed for taxation and revenue purposes.
Despite being a devout Shaiva by faith, he is
known to have made grants to the Buddhist
shrines at Megapatam. After a long reign of
about half a century, Kulottunga I passed away
sometime in 1122 and was succeeded by his son,
Vikrama Chola, surnamed Tyagasamudra, who
had earliar held the viceroyalty of Vengi.
Vikrama Chola (1118-33) and his immediate
successors, Kulottunga II (1133-47), Rajaraja II
(1147-62) and Rajadhiraja II (1162-78), were all
weak rulers under whom the power of the
cholas rapidly declined and their place was taken
by the Hoysalas of Dwarsamundra and Pandyas
of Madurai.
The Cholas (like the Pallavas) undertook vast
irrigational projects. Apart from sinking wells
and excavating tanks, they built mighty stone
dams across the Kaveri and other rivers, and cut
out channels to distribute water over large tracts
of land One of the most remarkable achievements
belongs to the time of Rajendra I. He dug
an artificial lake which was filled with water
form the Klerun and the Vellar rivers near his
new capital, Gangaikonda Chlapuram. The Cholas
also constructed grand trunk roads which
served as artorvals along important roads, and
public ferries were provided across rivers.
The Chola rulers were mainly worshippers
of Siva, but they were not intolerant of other
prevaints faiths. Rajaraja I, and ardent Saiva
himself, built and endowed temples of Vishnu
and made gifts of the Buddhist Vihara at
Negapatam. Kulottuga I, also a Shaiva, is
recorded to have granted a village to a Buddhist
vihar. The jains also appear to have pursued their
faith in peace and harmony.
