Rajaraja Chola: Interplay Between an Imperial Regime and Productive Forces of Society

The early Cholas had lost their pre-eminence during the Kalabhra32 period between the 3rd and 6th centuries and had literally been reduced to feudatories of the more powerful Pandya and Pallava kingdoms. It is from this desperate position that we come across their first attempts to establish an empire which expanded into the largest empire that the

Krishna Deva Raya.

During this period of roughly two and half centuries, the Cholas were constantly at war with their neighbours.

In this entire period, very few would contest the fact that it is with the accession of Rajaraja Chola that the land of Tamils entered upon centuries of grandeur.

Ashoka called himself devanampiya, the beloved of the Gods, while Rajaraja lent his name to the main deity, Rajarajeswara, of the Thanjavur temple, apt names for the union of the sacred with the secular.

On the whole, the Tamil people had a penchant for different types of aggression and war which kept them happily engaged with each other,

While his grants and gifts to temples have astounded many, it is a fact that during the reign of the Cholas, lands of the oppressed were systemically appropriated and the booty from war spoils were used to fund temple construction.

The emperor contributed to the growth of Tamil by popularising the Devaram61, the sacred Tamil hymns of the Saivite bhakti saints.

least before 3rd century BCE 235 BCE – Invasion of Lanka by the Chola king Ellalan (Sembiyan) mentioned in Mahavamsa 848 CE – Capture of