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Rajadhiraja I (Chola)

Chola king, eldest son of Rajendra I and his co-regent from 1018, who fought the Western Chalukya Somesvara I. His Manimangalam inscription claims that he burnt the centre of Kollippakkai (Kolanupaka), a Western Chalukya city on the edge of Telangana, and counts the Andhra king among those who paid him tribute. An inscription of his 28th year is at Kalahasti. He fell in battle against Somesvara at Koppam in 1052.

Rajadhiraja I was a Chola king who fought the Western Chalukyas for the Deccan in the middle of the 11th century.12 He burnt Kollippakkai, which scholars identify with Kolanupaka in Telangana.13 He died in battle in 1052.4 See the Cholas of Tanjore.

Family and coming to the throne

Rajadhiraja I was the eldest of the three sons of Rajendra I in Hultzsch’s pedigree of 1903.56 His younger brothers were Rajendradeva and, if Hultzsch was right, Virarajendra.6 F. Kielhorn placed the start of his reign in 1018.7 Hultzsch thought that Rajadhiraja “appears to have been the co-regent” of his father.8

Kollippakkai

His wars with the Western Chalukya king Somesvara I reached the edge of the Telugu country.1 His inscription at Manimangalam says that Somesvara’s sons “retreated like cowards”.1 It adds that the Chola king “caused the centre of Kollippakkai, (a city) of the enemies, to be consumed by fire”.1

E. Hultzsch noted that Kollippakkai, Kollipake in Kanarese, was a Western Chalukya town.9 H. Krishna Sastri, after Lewis Rice, identified it with Kulpak, the modern Kolanupaka.3 Robert Sewell put the campaign in 1044–45.2

The same inscription names the kings who paid Rajadhiraja tribute.10 The list ends with the Simhala, the Pangala and the “Andirar (Andhra)”.10

Kalahasti

At Kalahasti, an inscription of his 28th year in the Kalahastisvara temple records a gift of two lamps.11 V. Rangacharya noted that it mentions the king’s conquest of Vira-Pandya, the Chera king and Ceylon.11 Sewell took it as evidence of conquests made by 1045.12

Koppam

Rajadhiraja died fighting Somesvara I at Koppam.4 Sewell dated his death to 28 May 1052 and noted that both sides claimed the victory.4 In his account the younger brother Rajendradeva was crowned on the battlefield.4 S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (1911) gave the date of the battle as 23 May 1053.13

Where the sources disagree

  • The date of Koppam. 28 May 1052 (Sewell) or 23 May 1053 (Aiyangar).413 Fleet (1896) recorded a Western Chalukya victory over the Cholas shortly before January 1060.14
  • Where Koppam was. Near Khidrapur on the Krishna (Sewell, after Fleet’s later view), or on the Tunga in Mysore (Fleet in 1896).414

Footnotes

  1. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions III, pt. I (1899), p. 56, translation of No. 28, l. 3 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 70 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  3. H. Krishna Sastri, “The Tiruvalangadu Copper-plates of the Sixth Year of Rajendra-Chola I”, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. III, pt. III (1920), p. 390 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  4. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), pp. 72–73 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  5. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions III, pt. II (1903), p. 196, “Pedigree of the Chola Dynasty” (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  6. E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. III, pt. II (1903), p. 195 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  7. F. Kielhorn, “Dates of Chola Kings”, Epigraphia Indica IX (1907–08), p. 218 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. III, pt. I (1899), p. 52 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  9. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions III, pt. I (1899), p. 52, introduction to No. 28 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  10. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions III, pt. I (1899), p. 57, translation of No. 28, l. 6 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  11. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. I (1919), p. 482, Chittoor No. 79 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  12. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 71 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  13. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ancient India (1911), p. 112 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  14. J. F. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts”, Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency I, pt. II (1896), p. 441 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

Dynasties

Cholas of Tanjore

c. 985–1268 CE

The imperial Chola dynasty of Tanjore (Thanjavur) and Gangaikondacholapuram in the Tamil country, overlords of much of the Telugu country from about 1000 to the 12th century. Rajaraja I restored the Eastern Chalukya Saktivarman I in Vengi about 999 and married his daughter to Saktivarman's brother Vimaladitya. Rajendra I waited on the Godavari while his general marched to the Ganges, and Virarajendra fought the Western Chalukyas at Bezwada. In 1070 the Eastern Chalukya heir became the Chola emperor Kulottunga I, whose sons governed Vengi until 1118. After a Western Chalukya occupation, Vikrama-Chola recovered the coast, but by the mid-12th century Chola rule north of the Krishna was nominal. In the south, the Telugu Choda chiefs of Nellore and Pottappi acknowledged the Chola king until the dynasty ended in the 1260s.

References

Sources (7)
  1. E. Hultzsch (ed. and tr.); introduction to the volume by H. Krishna Sastri (1929), South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. III, Parts I and II: Miscellaneous Inscriptions from the Tamil Country (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras (scan of the Archaeological Survey of India facsimile reprint, 1987), 1903, pp. 52, 56–57, 195–196. E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions III, pts. I and II. [Public domain]
  2. H. Krishna Sastri (ed. and tr.), South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. III, Part III: Inscriptions of Aditya I, Parantaka I ... and the Tiruvalangadu Plates of Rajendra-Chola I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras (Archaeological Survey of India, New Imperial Series, Vol. XXIX), 1920, pp. 390. [Public domain]
  3. E. Hultzsch and Sten Konow (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IX (1907–08) (opens in a new tab), Government of India, Calcutta, 1908, pp. 218, 230. [Public domain]
  4. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency (collected till 1915), with Notes and References, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1919, pp. 482. [Public domain]
  5. J. F. Fleet, R. G. Bhandarkar and others (Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency), Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part II: History of the Konkan, Dakhan and Southern Maratha Country (opens in a new tab), Government Central Press, Bombay, 1896, pp. 441. [Public domain]
  6. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ancient India (opens in a new tab), Luzac & Co., London; S.P.C.K. Depository, Madras, 1911, pp. 111–112. [Public domain]
  7. Robert Sewell (ed. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar), The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (Collected till 1923) and Outlines of Political History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1932, pp. 70–73. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]

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