Cholas: The King of The Southeast Asian Ocean

Not only in the southern part of India but also over the east of Asia, the Chola dynasty invaded, conquered, and widened. The Chola dynasty was one among the famous South Indian genealogies, Chera, Chola, Pandyas, and Pallavas. The period that the Chola dynasty made the world venerate them was during the reign of King Raja Raja Chola. There is a proverb in Tamil, “Thaai ettu adi paaindhal, pillai padhinaru adi paayum” saying that if the mother can bounce up to eight feet, then her son does it by sixteen feet. Raja Raja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola are the epitomai of this proverb.

The map of the Chola empire and its influence Source: Wikimedia commons

Trading by sea was started by Raja Raja Chola himself during the Chola reign. After the coronation of Rajendra as the king, the dynasty’s growth was tremendous. He conquered most of the Southern part of India, starting from Tanjore and his invasion expanded to the Northern part through Kalinga to Bengal. Representing his power over the northern regions, he was titled the Gangaikonda Chozhan meaning the one possessing the holy River Ganges.

His history did not stop there. In 1025CE, the Cholas' maritime adventures took a boom. Rajendra was one of the smartest and most well-planned kings. He established settlements at various ports to look after their trading like a trade representative was there in Chinese courts and ports in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. They got much manpower to build ships for long voyages and also as warriors and seamen. Though maritime was started for trading purposes, it eventually paved the way for invasion as how the British entered and invaded. Maybe here the Karma played for us.

Rajendra Chola was the first Indian to raid an overseas territory. Some historians said that it was a pre-planned invasion of Rajendra and some said it was all set up by fate. But the base story is that King Rajendra attacked the King of Srivijaya and became the Lord of the ocean. So why did the Chola attack the Srivijaya and how did it make them the King of oceans?

That was the time during the 10th century when the maritime among the Chinese, Indians, and Egyptians competed. There were only two sea routes: One was under the control of the Javanese and the other was under Srivijaya. These two were feudal in becoming and taking supreme over the seas as any country would likely to trade, had passed through, and had the only option of the sea route. So, if the sea routes were under their supremacy, obviously the other countries should seek their permission.

Javanese made the move in 987CE, attacking the Srivijaya. Srivijaya sought the help of the Song dynasty, the then-Chinese ruler. So to balance it, the Javanese King sent his war chariot to Rajendra. As per the Indic culture, such an unusual gift symbolizes great importance and woos the Indians teaming against the Sino-Sumatran(Srivijaya) alliance. But Srivijaya won in a battle and started to exact exorbitant tolls on the merchant ships. This was not liked by Rajendra as his ships also needed to be under Srivijaya and so as a warning he sent an expedition to Srivijaya in 1017 CE. But in 1025CE Rajendra appeared with a much larger sleet and Srivijaya and defeated the king. This gave Rajendra not only Srivijaya but all the ports and places under Srivijaya. Rajendra maintained soft terms with the Chinese and Srivijaya and also other countries.

This is how impressively the Chola dynasty had created reverence in the hearts of other countries. Everything was paid attention to right from art, culture, music, architecture, battles, weapons, and many more during the reign of the Cholas. Needed food and water would be carried in the ships. Land-based Birds helped them in finding the location by releasing it at times. If the bird returned to the ship itself, it means they were far from the shore. Stellar navigation also helped them in navigation. Cholas' territories expanded and many places were under their influence. The Chola dynasty ruled the longest on record for around three centuries.

King Rajendra Chola Source: times of india