The Chola Dynasty :-
The another great dynasty of India was Chola’s. When in the Golden Age of India, Gupta’s were ruling northern part of India, the Chola’s were well-settled in South.
They ruled in the southern part of India mostly.This Tamil dynasty are in inscriptions from the 3rd century BC left by Asoka, of Maurya Empire; as one of the Three Crowned Kings, the dynasty continued to govern over varying territory until the 13th century AD.
The main land of Chola was fertile valley of Kaveri but they ruled a significantly larger area at the height of their power from the later half of the 9th century till the beginning of the 13th century under the kings like “Rajaraja Chola” and his son “Raja Rajendra Chola”…
They became a military, economic and cultural power in South Asia and South-East-Asia,
and also ruled cities like Srivijaya which is now in the Indonesia, island like Maldives and of course The Srilanka…
Rajendra Chola sent a victorious expedition to North India that touched the river Ganga and defeated the Pala ruler of Pataliputra, Mahipala.
In the begining of 13th century Chola dynasty started to decline, the new dynasty started to rise, they were Pandyas…, and who ultimately became reason for the downfall of Chola’s Dynasty.
But every Indian dynasty has famouse for their contribution in literature and monuments. The Chola kings were avid builders and envisioned the temples in their kingdoms not only as places of worship but also as centres of economic activity. They had been built various Dravidian Styled Shiva temples along the banks of Kaveri, the great examples still in the presence are the temples of Thanjavur,built in 1009 AD & temple of Gangaikondacholisvaram at Gangaikondacholapuram,built in 1030 AD.
The Chola’s pioneered a centralised form of government and established a disciplined bureaucracy.
That was really a Golden Age of Indian History, The Chola’s…Great Warriors,Art Lovers and totally different Architects!!!
Note : For the victory over the Srivijaya, Raja Rajendra Planted his elephants on his ships and made a glorious success over Srivijaya, then immediately he did attack on Bengal and also made victory over it…And these victories made Chola’s The biggest empire after the Gupta’s…!
- Courtesy –
- 1. The Story Of India by Michael Wood
Discriptions Of the Images –
- Map of the Chola Dynasty
- Flag of Chola’s
- Temple ofThanjavur,built in 1009 AD
- Portrait of Raja Rajendra
- Portrait of Rajaraja and his Guru Karuvurar.
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