Chola
Chola (or Cola) was one of three prominent medieval kingdoms in southern India, the others being Chera and Pandya. The realm of the Cholas (Cholamandalam in the Tamil language) centered on the Coromandel coast, the east coast of the modern state of Tamil Nadu, and the lower valley of the Kaveri River. Already in the emperor Asoka's time (c. 265–238 BCE) Chola was mentioned in an inscription as an independent kingdom to which Buddhist missionaries were sent. The earliest historically known king was Karikkal (ruled c. 100 CE), who laid the foundations of the great coastal emporium of Puhar (Kaveripattinam), fought a protracted war with Sri Lanka, and used Ceylonese laborers to build a 160-kilometer embankment along the Kaveri.
When the Chinese traveler Xien Qang visited the area in the seventh century, the dynasty had faded into obscurity, and the kingdom had shrunken. A powerful Chola dynasty reemerged, however, in the reign of Rajaditya I (947–949). Earlier in the tenth century several Chola kings had defeated the Pallava dynasty as well as the combined Pandyan and Sinhalese armies at Vellore. Later Chola rulers incorporated northern Sri Lanka into the kingdom; in 1025 King Rajendra's navy conquered the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Although toward the end of Kulottunga I's reign (1070–1120) the Hoysalas took some Chola territory, the king maintained trade contacts overseas with Srivijaya, perhaps even with China and the Khmers. The resurgence of the Pandyan dynasty threatened the Cholas, however, and Kulottunga III (reigned 1178–1218) found himself in a complex struggle with the Pandyas, Cheras, and Sri Lankans. At the end of his reign the Pandyas gained a notable victory. In 1279 during the reign of the last Chola ruler, Rajendra IV (reigned 1246–1279), the Pandyas' defeat of both the Cholas and the Hoysalas marked the end of the Chola kingdom. In 1310 Malik Kafur—a eunuch slave who had become the most trusted general of Sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji—overran these former Chola territories, which were absorbed into the Vijayanagar empire.
Further Reading
Nilakanta Sastri, K. A. (1955) The Colas. 2d rev. ed. Madras, India: University of Madras.
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