At a time when Ghazni was raiding, looting and plundering North India, Rajendra Chola I in the the South was creating one of the largest and most powerful thalassocracies (sea based empire) in subcontinent history. Two game changing events were unfolding simultaneously. (1/n)
He first took care of regional rivals in the south- Pandyas, Cheras, Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas. In 1017 CE, he invaded & conquered whole of Sri Lanka. By the end of this decade, entire southern part of the subcontinent was under the Cholas. But the Chola was just starting. 2/n
Rajendra Chola was an ambitious king & a strategic genius. His enemies simply played into his hands. A massive Shiv bhakt, he managed to take on several dozens of entrenched empires by dynamic planning & ruthless attacks.
In 1019, he launched the North Indian expedition! 3/n
In 1019, he launched the North Indian expedition! 3/n
Starting from TamilNadu down south, he conquered Vengi(Andhra),Kalinga&Odda (Odisha),Bastar(CH),Chitrakut(MP) from where he proceeded into Bengal(Pala dynasty),East Bengal(Chandra dynasty)&then he reached his goal-the holy waters of Ma Ganga.
All these now came under Chola rule.
All these now came under Chola rule.
The North Indian campaign being a huge success, Chola constructed a new capital at Gangaikondacholapuram and built the Brihadeeswarar Temple similar to the Brihadeeswarar Temple at Thanjavur. The well was filled with water of Ganges collected from North India.
6/n Gangaikondacholapuram literally means "The town of the chola who took over Ganga (water from Ganga) or who defeated (the kings near) Ganga"
7/n Having a secure homefront, lots of tributes from new terrories, an ambitious leader and lots of ports on the east coast (&in Lanka) meant only one thing-the Cholas were going international!
Rajendra started his South East Asian naval campaign in 1025.
Rajendra started his South East Asian naval campaign in 1025.
8/n The Khmer empire(Cambodia) asked for Chola help against Tambralinga kingdom (supported by Srivijayan empire- Indonesia). That is one theory about how the conflict started.
If you are supprised seeing the Sanskrit names- dont be, whole of SE Asia was heavily Indianized.
If you are supprised seeing the Sanskrit names- dont be, whole of SE Asia was heavily Indianized.
9/n Both Khmer and Cholas were Hindu Shaivites while their Srivijaya and Tambralinga were Mahayana Buddhists.
The Cholas invaded and plundered- Srivijaya became history. They moved onto the other Indonesian kingdoms and took down every single one who fought.
The Cholas invaded and plundered- Srivijaya became history. They moved onto the other Indonesian kingdoms and took down every single one who fought.
10/n Next they went after the Malay peninsula (Thailand and Malaysia) which was easily conquered. Even the influential port city of Tumasik (Singapore) was captured.
11/n These conquests meant that the essential trade centers between China and the West came under Tamil merchants for a very long period of time. Cholas had a 1300 yr old history with the Chinese at that time, Rajendra too sent political/commercial diplomats to the Song dynasty.
12/n Other than vassals in the East of Aryavarta (Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia), islands like Andaman, Lakshdweep, Lanka, whole of South India, Eastern Gangetic plains and the Indian ocean itself were under one glorious flag - 
13/n Another thing to note is that the Chola dynasty is one the longest running ones- 300BCE to 1300 CE (thats a conservative estimate). It peaked under Rajendra I (as I wrote above) who became the overlord of all maritime trading in the region with diplomacy(china)&war(others)
14/n Other than military/territorial conquests, our art, sciences, architecture and culture peaked under the Cholas and spread to far away lands. Memories of these are preserved in the living Chola temples, Gangaikondcholapuram being one of them
15/n Such a period wont be seen until the Vijayanagaram empire 300 yrs later, and political connections with overseas Hindu colonies would be lost over the years, cultural ones live on to this day.
16/n The most interesting thing is that all this took place just at the time when NorthIndia was suffering under a brutal Ghaznavid onslaught-1000s were killed,captured and sold, 100s of cultural centres (temples,universities) were lost forever.But history is full of such twists.
17/n Finally, its foolish to think that we never invaded anyone and were peaceful non violent folks. No civilization however advanced,spiritual or cultured can survive unless it masters the art of constructive violence.All our gods carry weapons.Blood is the ink of history.
18/18 शं नो वरुणः
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