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Rajaraja II (Chola)

Chola king from 1146, son of Kulottunga II, in whose reign the Chola hold on the Telugu country became nominal. Telugu inscriptions at Bapatla, Appikatla and Draksharama are still dated in his regnal years, but they were set up by the Velanandu chiefs Gonka II and Kulottunga-Rajendra-Choda and other local rulers.

Rajaraja II followed Kulottunga II as Chola king.12 Robert Sewell’s chronology gives him the years 1146 to 1163.2 In his reign the Chola hold on the Telugu country became a matter of name only.34 See the Cholas of Tanjore.

Family

Rajaraja II was the son of Kulottunga II in Hultzsch’s pedigree of 1903.1 Hultzsch took the relationship from V. Venkayya’s copy of the Tamil poem Rajarajan-Ula.1

The Telugu country in his reign

Sewell wrote that from 1146 the Chola power began to weaken seriously, and the chiefs of the Telugu country grew stronger.3 Inscriptions on the coast were still dated in Rajaraja’s regnal years.56

  • At Bapatla, a record of his sixth year (Saka 1073; Saka is an Indian way of counting years) records the gift of a lamp by the Pandit Ananta.5
  • At Appikatla nearby, a record of the Velanandu chief Kulottunga-Rajendra-Choda is dated in the 26th year of a Rajaraja.5
  • At Draksharama, Sewell listed records of his reign between 1150 and 1169.67

In 1172 the grants of Kulottunga-Rajendra-Choda claim that his father Gonka II had ruled from Kalahasti to Ganjam.7 Sewell thought this probably an exaggeration.7 See the Velanandu Chodas.

How much power did he have?

The Imperial Gazetteer of Madras (1908) says that the Eastern Chalukya and Chola kingdoms “were united till the middle of the twelfth century”.8 The Godavari District Gazetteer (1907) held that the Cholas “had little, if any, real influence in Vengi after the death of Vikrama Chola”.4 The 1942 Nellore gazetteer dates the start of the Chola decline in Andhra to Rajaraja II’s reign.9

Footnotes

  1. E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. III, pt. II (1903), p. 196, “Pedigree of the Chola Dynasty” and note 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), pp. 341–342, table of the Chola kings and notes (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  3. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 106 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  4. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (1907), p. 23 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1919), p. 746, Guntur Nos. 1 and 3 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 108 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  7. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), pp. 117–118 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 271 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  9. Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938 (1942), p. 43 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

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 (6)
  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. 196. [Public domain]
  2. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency (collected till 1915), with Notes and References, Vol. II (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1919, pp. 746. [Public domain]
  3. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1908, pp. 271. [Public domain]
  4. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 23. [Public domain]
  5. W. E. Johns, Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938, Vol. A (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1942, pp. 43. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  6. 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. 106, 108, 117–118, 341. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]

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