Chola Dynasty

  Introduction

 This Tamil Dynasty ruled over TamilNadu and parts of Karnataka with Tanjore as their capital. The early Chola rulers were Karikala Cholas who ruled in the second century AD. But after them, the Chola Dynasty remained in the dark corners of the South Indian political scene for centuries before surfacing again when, in AD 850, Vijayalaya captured Tanjore during the Pandya-Pallava wars. To commorate his accession, he built a temple at Tanjore. The King was the central head who was helped by a  council of ministers, but the administration was democratic. Land revenue and trade tax were the main source of income. The society was divided into Brahmins and non-Brahmins. The temple was the cultural and social centre, where art and literature flourished. The Brihadeswara (Shiva) temple at Tanjore was built by Rajaraja I. The giant statue of Gomateswara at Shravanabelagola was built during this period. His son Aditya I (AD 871-901) succeeded him to the throne. Aditya died in ad 907 leaving the throne to his son Parantaka I (AD 907-955) who was the king for the next 48 years. But it was Rajaraja I (AD 985-1014) who was the founder of the newly organised Chola kingdom. He snatched back the lost territories from the Rashtrakutas to become the most powerful of theChola rulers.

Administration

The king was the head of the administration of the Cholas and all powers were concentrated in his hands. The form of the Chola government was hereditary monarchy. The rule of primogeniture generally prevailed. The king generally appointed his Yuvaraja (heir) during his reign.

The Chola rulers took high- sounding titles as Gangaikondacholapuram. The royal household also runs on an elaborate scale. The royal priest Rajguru became the close confidant of the royal family. The king had council of ministers to aid and assists him.

The king gave verbal orders (tiruvakya-kelvi) which were drafted by the private secretary and confirmed by the Olainayamak (Chief Secretary) and a Perundaram before its despatch by the Vidaiyadhikari (despatch clerk). They often advised him on important matters. An elaborate and complicated bureaucracy ran the government.

The officials tended to form a separate class in society. Perundaram were higher officials while sirutaram were lower officials. Peruvalis (trunk roads) helped in royal tours. The general tendency was to make the officers hereditary. The officials were paid by assignments of land called jivitas according to their status.

Revenue Administration

A well-organised department of land revenue, known as the puravu-varitinaik – katam was in existence. Land revenue was collected in cash or kind. Land was possessed by individuals and communities. The state under Rajaraja demanded 1/3rd of the gross produce. Kadamai or Kudimai, according to N.K. Sastri was the land revenue. There were taxes on profession, mines, forests, salt­pans, etc. Kulottung I abolished tolls. Unpaid labour was frequently employed.

Military Administration

The army consisted of infantry, cavalry and elephants which formed the three limbs of the great army – Mun-rukai-Mahasenai. The Kaikkolas were soldiers armed with strong arms and the Sengundar were armed with spears.

The Velaikkarars were the most dependable troops in the royal service and were the bodyguards of the monarch, who defended him with their lives and were ready to immolate themselves on the king’s funeral. Attention was given to the training of the army and cantonments, called Kadagams or padaividu, existed. The Cholas paid special attention to their navy.

The whole empire was divided into mandalams or provinces. Sometimes princes of the royal family were appointed governors of the provinces. Further they were divided into valanadus (divisions), nadus (districts) and kurrams (villages). Village was the basic unit of administration.

The villages were mainly of three types. The first type constituted of an intercaste population where the land was held by all classes of people and paid taxes to the king in the form of land revenue. It was the most frequent type. The second was the Brahmadeya or agrahara villages which was granted to the Brahmins and was entirely inhabited by them.

They were exempted from tax and were prosperous. The third type of village was the Devadana, which were villages granted to god. The revenues from these villages were donated to a temple. During Cholas the Devadana type of villages gained more popularity as the temples became the centres of life.

There was remarkable autonomy at the village level. Chola officials partici­pated in village administration more as observers than as administrators. The Cholas are best known for their local self government at the village level.

We hear of three assemblies called the ur, sabha or mahasabha and nagaram. The ur was a general assembly of the village. The ur consisted of all the tax-paying residents of an ordinary village. The Alunganattar was the executive committee and the ruling group of the ur.

The ur open to all male adults but was dominated by the older members. The sabha was apparently an exclusively Brahmin assembly of the brahmadeya villages. The sabha had more complex machinery, which functioned largely through its committees called the variyams.

Elec­tion to the executive body and other committees of the ur and sabha appears to have been conducted by draw of lots from among those who were eligible. The nagaram was an assembly of merchants and were found more commonly in the trading centers.

The Uttaramerur inscriptions of the Chola monarch Parantaka I of 919 A.D. and 921 A.D may be said to constitute a great landmark in the history of the Chola village assemblies. It gives details about the functioning and constitution of the local sabha.

The 919 A.D. inscriptions framed the rules for election and 921 A.D. incriptions amended them.

There were 30 wards (kudumbus) each nominatin members for selections of people with the prescribed qualifications. Elections from each ward was by lot (kudavolai, literally means pot-ticket) for a period of one year.

Of the thirty so selected, twelve members who had earlier served in the garden and tank committee and were advanced in age, were assigned to the samvatsarvariyam or annual committee, twelve to the Tottavariyam or the garden committee and 6 members to the Eri-variyam or tank committee Pancha-variyam (a standing committee) and Pon-variyam (gold committee) were the other two committees.

Variyapparumakal were the members of the committee, Perunguri were the members of the Mahasabha; Nyayaffarwas the Judicial committee and Madhyasthas, a small staff of paid servants in the village assisted the committees and maintained village records. The Assembly generally met in the temple, or under a tree or near a tank

The sabha possessed proprietary rights over communal lands. It also controlled private lands of the villages. It reclaimed forest and waste land. It aided in the assessment of the produce and land revenue. It collected land revenue and had the power to sell the land in question, in cases of default. I also had the powers of taxation for purposes connected with the village and of remission of taxation for specific reasons.

Provincial  Administration

 The Chola empire was divided into 9 provinces called mandalam, each under a governor called Mandala mudalis who were paid salary in the form of lands. They were required to maintain an army out of the resources and maintain peace in their respective territories.

District Administration

 The provinces were in turn divided into divided districts called Nadus which were about 500 in number and were run by an autonomous assembly called Nattar.

Local Administration

There were two types of villages at the local in the Chola empire. One type of village consisted of people from different caste and the assembly which ran this type of village was called ‘ur’. The second type of village was ‘agrahara’ types of village which were settled by Brahmins in which most of the land was rent-free. The assembly of this agrahara type of village was a gathering of the adult men in brahmana villages called ‘Sabha’ or ‘mahasabha’. These villages enjoyed a large measure of autonomy. The affairs of the village were managed by an executive committees to which educated person owning property were elected by drawing lots or by rotation. These members had to retire every three years. These members had to retire every three years. There were other committees for helping in the assessment and collection of land revenue for the maintenance of law and order, justice etc. One of the important Committee was the tank committee which looked after the distribution of water to the fields. The mahasabha could settle new lands and exercise ownership rights over them. It could also raise loans for the village and levy taxes. The self-government enjoyed by the Chola villages was a very fine system. However, the growth of feudalism tended to restrict their autonomy.

Economic Life

Land tax constituted the single largest source of income of the Chola state. It was generally assessed at one-third of the produce. The village assembly took land tax and local levies. Cattle rearing were a subsidiary occupation.

Trade with foreign countries was an important feature of the Cholas mercantile activities. The rulers built a network of royal roads that were useful for trade as well as for the movement of the army. There were gigantic trade guilds that traded with Java and Sumatra.

South India exported textiles, spices, drugs, jewels, ivory, horn, ebony and camphor to China. Trade brought considerable prestige and affluence to the Cholas. Kalanju was the currency prevalent in the Chola kingdom.

Trade and Commerce

Trade and commerce flourished under the patronage of Chola emperors. The Cholas developed links all over south India. They then brought Srilanka, South- East Asia and even China under the network of trade. There are references to 72 nagarams and many trade guilds. Most important of these were manigramam, Ayyavolu-500 (Five hundred Lords of Aihole) also called as Ainnuruvar, Nanadesi, Vira Valanjiyar, Vira Balanju and Anjuvannan. Mahablipuram were also known as nagarattars. Trading organisations formed fortified settlements called Erivirpattinams on trunk roads and were protected by army cantonments called Nilaippadai.

Mostly barter system was employed in trade and commerce where even paddy was used as a unit of exchanges of gold coins such as pon, kasu, kalanju were used. Also, silver coins were used.

Some Chola emperors sent embassies to Indonesia, Cambodia and China. The temples in Chola period, apart from religious activity were also centers of development of arts and crafts. Many stone cutters, weavers, potters, oil makers, bronze workers lived in temple complexes. Temples became centers of exchange of commodities. Temples also collected taxes from craftsmen, traders and peasants. Temple received land donations from kings and offerings from religious followers.

Social Life

The caste system was the basis of the social organization under the Cholas. Society was divided into a number of social groups or castes. Each caste was hereditary and constituted an occupational group. Bramhanas occupied a privilege position in the society. They combined both religious authority and economic power. They were exempted from taxes, owned and enjoyed land with full royal support.

Their main duties included learning and teaching of the Vedas and performing rituals and ceremonies. Some of them served as chief priests of the temple. Some of them were more adventurous and engaged themselves in trade.

They were given lighter punishments in case of offences committed. The almost total absence of Kshatriya institutions necessitated an alliance between sections of brahmanas and the dominant peasantry. The Nattar was the dominant peasant community, and the cultivators were the subordinate client group of the nattars. The newly assimilated castes from marginal tracts were often combined in mass groupings of Idangai (left handed castes) and Valangai (right handed castes.

Rudimentary hierarchy of social groups from classical times according to the Silapadikaram were vellalar-cultivator, kovalar-cowherds and shepherds, vedar-hunters, Padaiyacciar- artisan groups and armed men and valaiyar-fishermen. Worship of deceased rulers and construction of temples as tributes to dead kings was a special feature of the Chola period.

• Vijayalaya

The Chola Empire was founded by Vijayalaya. He took over the Tanjore kingdom in the 8th century and led to the rise of the mighty Cholas by defeating the Pallavas. Tanjore was hence made the first capital of the eminent Chola Empire.

• Aditya I

Aditya I succeeded Vijayalaya to become the ruler of the empire. He defeated king Aparajita and the empire gained massive power under his reign. He conquered the Pandya Kings along with the Vadumbas and establishes control over the Pallavas power in the region.

• Rajendra Chola

He succeeded the mighty Rajaraja Chola. Rajendra I was the first to venture to the banks of Ganges. He was popularly called the Victor of the Ganges. His new empire capital was called the Gangaikondacholapuram where he received the title of ‘Gangaikonda’. This period is referred to as the golden age of the Cholas. After his rule, the kingdom witnessed a widespread downfall.

Chola society

There is little information on the size and the density of the population during the Chola reign. The overwhelming stability in the core Chola region enabled the people to lead a very productive and contented life. There is only one recorded instance of civil disturbance during the entire period of Chola reign. However, there were reports of widespread famine caused by natural calamities.

The quality of the inscriptions of the regime indicates a presence of high level of literacy and education in the society. The text in these inscriptions was written by court poets and engraved by talented artisans. Education in the contemporary sense was not considered important; there is circumstantial evidence to suggest that some village councils organised schools to teach the basics of reading and writing to children, although there is no evidence of systematic educational system for the masses. Vocational education was through hereditary training in which the father passed on his skills to his sons. Tamil  was the medium of education for the masses; Sanskrit education was restricted to the Brahmins. Religious monasteries (matha or gatika) were centres of learning, which were supported by the government.

Cultural contribution

Under the Cholas, the Tamil country reached new heights of excellence in art, religion and literature. In all of these spheres, the Chola period marked the culmination of movements that had begun in an earlier age under the Pallavas. Monumental architecture in the form of majestic temples and sculpture in stone and bronze reached a finesse never before achieved in India.

The Cholas excelled in maritime activity in both military and the mercantile fields. Their conquest of Kadaram ( Kedah) and the Srivijaya, and their continued commercial contacts with the Chinese Empire, enabled them to influence the local cultures. Many of the surviving examples of the Hindu cultural influence found today throughout the Southeast Asia owe much to the legacy of the Cholas.

Art

The Cholas continued the temple-building traditions of the Pallava dynasty and contributed significantly to the Dravidian temple design. They built numerous temples throughout their kingdom such as the Brihadeshvara Temple. Aditya I built a number of Siva temples along the banks of the river Kaveri. These temples were not on a large scale until the end of the 10th century.

Temple building received great impetus from the conquests and the genius of Rajaraja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola I. The maturity and grandeur to which the Chola architecture had evolved found expression in the two temples of Tanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram. The magnificent Siva temple of Thanjavur, completed around 1009, is a fitting memorial to the material achievements of the time of Rajaraja. The largest and tallest of all Indian temples of its time, it is at the apex of South Indian architecture.

The temple of Gangaikondcholapuram, the creation of Rajendra Chola, was intended to exceed its predecessor in every way. Completed around 1030, only two decades after the temple at Thanjavur and in much the same style, the greater elaboration in its appearance attests the more affluent state of the Chola Empire under Rajendra.

The Chola period is also remarkable for its sculptures and bronzes. Among the existing specimens in museums around the world and in the temples of South India may be seen many fine figures of Siva in various forms, such as Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi, and the Siva saints. Though conforming generally to the iconographic conventions established by long tradition, the sculptors worked with great freedom in the 11^th and the 12^th centuries to achieve a classic grace and grandeur. The best example of this can be seen in the form of Nataraja the Divine Dancer.

Chief features of Chola architecture are

(i) Dravidian feature initiated by the Pallavas acquired the classical forms and features under the Cholas such as gopurams, mandapams and  Vimanas.

(ii) In the beginning, gopuram features was subdued and vimana features dominated but in the later stages, gopurams overshadowed the Vimanas.

(iii) In the beginning, Vimanas were constructed in the cellular mode as in the Raja Rajeshwar temple (Brihadeewarar temple) at Tanjore where in the Vimana, various storeys were constructed in a graded manner. It had 13 storeys. In the later phase, vimanas began to be constructed in circular concept as in the Nataraj temple at Chidambaram.

(iv) The Brihadeeswarar temple at Tanjore is surrounded by a rectangular wall protected by 8 vimanas which hosed the 8 keepers of directions called Ashtadikpalas. The temple is dedicate to lord Shiva and is known as Dakshimeruvitankar. An enormous Nandi which is the second largest in India, carved out of a single block of granite guards the entrance of the sanctuary. The Brihadeeswarar temple at Tanjore is the Tallest of all the temples in India in the medieval period.

(v) Various public works as cities, roads, irrigation works and artificial tanks were constructed. Rajendra Chola I constructed a city, a water tank and a temple with the same name of Gangaikondacholapuram temple.

Literature

The age of the Imperial Cholas ( 850– 1200) was the golden age of Tamil culture, marked by the importance of literature. Chola inscriptions cite many works, and it is a tragedy that most of them have been lost to us,

The revival of Hinduism from its nadir during the Kalabhras spurred the construction of numerous temples and these in turn generated Saiva and Viashnava devotional literature. Jain and Buddhist authors flourished as well, although in fewer numbers than in previous centuries. Jivaka-chintamani by Tirutakkadevar and Sulamani by Tolamoli are among notable by non-Hindu authors. The art of Tirutakkadevar is marked by all the qualities of great poetry. It is considered as the model for Kamban for his masterpiece Ramavatharam.

Kamban flourished during the reign of Kulothunga Chola III. His Ramavatharam is the greatest epic in Tamil Literature, and although the author states that he followed Valmiki, his work is no mere translation or simple adaptation of the Sanskrit epic: Kamban imports into his narration the colour and landscape of his own time; his description of Kosala is an idealised account of the features of the Chola country.

Jayamkondar’s masterpiece Kalingattuparani is an example of narrative poetry that draws a clear boundary between history and fictitious conventions. This describes the events during Kulothunga Chola I’s war in Kalinga and depicts not only the pomp and circumstance of war, but the gruesome details of the field. The famous Tamil poet Ottakuttan was a contemporary of Kulothunga Chola I. Ottakuttan wrote Kulothunga Solan Ula a poem extolling the virtues of the Chola king. He served at the courts of three of his successors.

The impulse to produce devotional religious literature continued into the Chola period and the arrangement of the Saiva canon into 11 books was the work of Nambi Andar Nambi, who lived close to the end of 10^th century. However, relatively few works on Vaishnavite religion were composed during the Chola period, possibly because of the apparent animosity towards the Vaishnavites by the Chaluka Chola monarchs.

Religion

In general, Cholas were the adherents of Saivism and Hinduism. Throughout their history, they were not swayed by the rise of Budhusm and Jainism as were the kings, Pallava and Pandya. Even the early Cholas followed a version of the classical Hindu faith. There is evidence in Purananuru for Karikala Chola’s faith in the then embryonic Vedic Hinduism in the Tamil country. Kocengannan, another early Chola, was celebrated in both Sangam literature and in the Saiva canon as a saint.

Later Cholas were also staunch Saivites, although there was a sense of toleration towards other sects and religions. Parantaka I and Sundara Chola endowed and built temples for both Siva and Vishnu. Rajaraja Chola I even patronised Buddhist, and built the Chudamani Vihara (a Buddhist monastery) in Nagapattinam at the request of the Srivijaya Sailendra king.

During the period of Chalukya Cholas, there were instances of intolerance towards Vaishnavites—especially towards Ramanuja, the leader of the Vaishnavites. This intolerance led to persecution and Ramanuja went into exile in the Chalukya country. He led a popular upraising that resulted in the assassination of Athirajendra Chola. Kulothunga Chola II is reported to have removed a statue of Vishnu from the Siva temple at Chidambaram. There is ample evidence, from the inscriptions, that Kulothunga II was a religious fanatic who wanted to upset the camaraderie between Hindu faiths in the Chola country.