Rajaraja and Rajendra: empire and the navy

Detail

Rajaraja I — the empire is built (from 985 CE)

• Rajaraja Chola came to the throne in 985 CE and ruled for about three decades. Britannica dates his reign 985–1012 CE [4].
• Land conquests: he took parts of present-day Karnataka and Andhra. This pushed the Chola border deep into the Deccan and brought him face to face with the Western Chalukyas.
• Sea conquests — the "islands of the sea": his inscriptions record the conquest of the 'islands of the sea'.
• Most historians identify these with the Maldives.
• He also took northern Sri Lanka, including Anuradhapura — the old Sinhala capital.
• This is the first clear sign that the Cholas were using a navy as a tool of empire, not just for trade protection.

The Thanjavur temple — Brihadishvara (Rajarajeshvaram)

• Rajaraja built the Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur, also called Rajarajeshvaram.
• Its inscriptions call it Dakshina Meru — "the Meru of the south" (Meru = the holy mountain of the gods) [2].
• Work was begun around his 19th regal year (1003–04 CE) and he consecrated it with his own hands in his 25th regal year (1009–10 CE) [2].
• The vimana (the tall tower over the sanctum) rises 59.82 metres above the ground, has 13 talas (storeys), and is topped by an eight-sided (octagonal) shikhara [2].
• The temple is part of the "Great Living Chola Temples", a UNESCO World Heritage property. "Living" means worship never stopped there [3].
• UNESCO groups it with two others: the temple at Gangaikondacholapuram and the Airavatesvara temple at Darasuram (built by Rajaraja II, vimana 24 m) [3].

Shaivite kings, but open to others

• The Cholas were predominantly Shaivite — Shiva was their chosen god. The Thanjavur temple is a Shiva temple.
• Yet Rajaraja helped a Buddhist vihara (monastery) come up at the port of Nagapattinam.
• It was built by the ruler of the Srivijaya Empire (in present-day Malaysia–Indonesia).
• Point for the exam: a Shaivite king letting a foreign Buddhist king build on his coast shows trade mattered more than sect.

Rajendra Chola I — the northern march and the Ganga title

• Rajendra I also ruled about 30 years; Britannica gives 1014–1044 CE [4].
• He conquered parts of Odisha and Bengal.
• In 1023 CE he sent an expedition that reached the Ganga, and Ganga water was carried back to the new capital [4].
• He took the title 'Gangaikondachola' — "the Chola who seized (brought) the Ganga".
• He built a new capital, Gangaikondacholapuram. Its temple, completed in 1035 CE, is a memorial to the northern victories [3].
• Its vimana is 53 m tall, with recessed (stepped-in) corners and a curving upward line — softer than the straight, severe Thanjavur tower [3].
• The temple stayed a centre of Shaiva worship and administration for over 250 years [4].

Sri Lanka — fifty years of Chola rule

• Northern Sri Lanka stayed an integral part of the Chola empire for about half a century.
• Vijayabahu I finally drove the Cholas out. He married a princess from Kalinga — a marriage alliance that linked Sri Lanka to eastern India.

The Srivijaya expedition — why a navy sailed east

• Root cause was the China trade, which was booming.
• Rajendra even sent a diplomatic mission to China.
• The Srivijaya king controlled the Strait of Malacca — the narrow sea gate every ship to China had to pass.

• Britannica adds the trigger: Srivijaya was interfering with Indian shipping and merchants who wanted a direct trading link with southern China [4].

• The campaign: the naval expedition sailed in 1025 CE [4]. Rajendra's navy defeated Srivijaya and captured its capital.

• But he did not occupy it. It was a punitive expedition — a strike to punish and to reopen the sea route, not to annex land.
• It was backed by many Indian merchant guilds (trader associations who funded and gained from open sea lanes), and it achieved its objectives.
• Britannica records that parts of the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago were taken, and that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were used as a naval base for the campaign [4].

Note: the scaffold stresses that the Cholas did not occupy Srivijaya (punitive raid). Britannica's wording of "conquering parts of the Malay Peninsula" [4] should be read as temporary wartime control, not permanent rule — follow the NCERT version in answers.

Otherwise peaceful ties with Srivijaya

• Fighting was the exception, not the rule.
• A Srivijaya ruler donated to Nalanda and got land from the Pala king for another monastery there.
• This is recorded on a copper plate found at Nalanda — a metal sheet with the grant engraved on it, the standard legal record of a land gift.

Decline — how the empire ran down

• Constant wars drained the treasury. Three fronts kept bleeding it:
• the Western Chalukyas in the Deccan,
• the Pandyas in the far south,

• Sri Lanka, which kept revolting.

• By the 13th century the empire had shrunk and was absorbed by the Pandyas.

Prelims Hooks

• Rajaraja I ruled from 985 CE (985–1012 CE) for about three decades [4].
• The 'islands of the sea' in Rajaraja's inscriptions are identified by most historians with the Maldives.
• The Thanjavur temple is called Dakshina Meru in its inscriptions; vimana height 59.82 m, 13 talas, octagonal shikhara [2].
• Thanjavur temple: begun c. 1003–04 CE, consecrated by Rajaraja in 1009–10 CE [2].
• Rajendra I's Gangaikondacholapuram temple was completed in 1035 CE; vimana 53 m [3].
• 'Gangaikondachola' = "the Chola who seized/brought the Ganga"; Ganga expedition 1023 CE [4].
• The Srivijaya naval expedition took place in 1025 CE [4].
• The Great Living Chola Temples (UNESCO) = Thanjavur + Gangaikondacholapuram + Airavatesvara, Darasuram; Darasuram was built by Rajaraja II [3].
• Vijayabahu I expelled the Cholas from Sri Lanka after about 50 years and married a Kalinga princess.
• A copper plate found at Nalanda records a Srivijaya ruler's monastery and a Pala land grant.
• The Cholas were absorbed by the Pandyas in the 13th century.

Mains Points

• Sea power as state policy, not accident. Rajaraja's Maldives–Sri Lanka campaigns and Rajendra's 1025 CE Srivijaya strike [4] show a state that used the navy to keep sea lanes open. The limited, punitive nature of the Srivijaya raid — hit, win, leave — marks it as commercial strategy, not territorial greed. Useful for questions on early Indian maritime tradition.
• Merchants and monarchy worked together. Indian merchant guilds backed the expedition, and the king sent a diplomatic mission to China. Trade interest, diplomacy and military force acted as one package — an early example of what we would today call economic statecraft.
• Temple as political statement. Thanjavur's Dakshina Meru [2] and Gangaikondacholapuram's victory temple [3] turned conquest into stone. Temples were also economic hubs, tied to the Chola system of local self-government at village level — link this to the Uttaramerur-type village assembly material.
• Religion did not block trade. Shaivite Cholas supported a Buddhist vihara at Nagapattinam for the Srivijaya king, while a Srivijaya ruler funded Nalanda. Shows Indian Ocean links were cultural and religious as much as commercial, and that the 1025 CE war was one break in a mostly peaceful relationship.
• Overstretch as the cause of decline. Simultaneous wars against the Western Chalukyas, Pandyas and Sri Lanka exhausted revenue; empires built on continuous conquest struggle when conquest stops paying.