RAJA RAJA CHOLA

One of the magnanimous ruler of the southern India - Raja Raja Chola was the son of Parantaka II and Vanavanmahadevi. His actual name was Arulmozhi Varman which means, 'the blessed tongue'. He had an elder sister, Kundavai - a very talented woman, who served as his military strategist.He also had an elder brother Aditya II. The history of his throne reveals that, he came to power after the death of his elder brother Aditya II. His timeline extended from 947 to 1014.

Before he came to throne, the Chola region extend from trichy to Thanjavur. During his rule, the Chola dynasty extended from Sri Lanka in the south to Kalinga (present day orissa) in the north. He first captured the of North of Sri Lanka during 993 .Then he captured Cheras and then pandyas during 998. Later he won the territories of the Chalukyas. At last he captured Maldives through his strong naval force.

Raja Raja Chola's important achievements include his efforts in the collection of the texts of Tamil saints 'Appar, Sundarar and Sambandar' and edited them into a collection called 'Thirumurai'. He had a massive army that had a strength of about 1 million. It was such a huge army, such that the buildings vibrated when the army approached. Though there were several achievements, Brihadeeswarar temple tops the list. It is a magnificent structure with delicate sculptures. This temple marks the supreme craftsmanship of the Chola dynasty.

It is recognised as one of the world's heritage site by UNESCO. The temple's tower stands at a height of 216 feet, which is the tallest temple tower in the world! The apex of the temple has it's own beauty and is carved from a single rock.

He wanted to maintain a strong history. Thus he preserved and recorded the history of his predecessors and sculpted them at the Brihadeeswarar temple's walls along with his history. Along with that, each and every worker's name was sculpted in it's walls.

The society under the rule of Raja Raja Chola had several neighbourhood (called as cheri). Each caste lived in it's own neighbourhood. Some of the neighbourhoods were kammana cheri - where the artisans lived, Teendacheri - where the untouchables. During his reign, Kammalars were given more privilege as they played an active role in the construction of temples. Kammalars were the carpenters, goldsmiths, sculptors, blacksmiths. Before his rule, the coins had the emblems of a tiger, a fish and a bow that represented the Cholas, Pandyas, and the Cheras dynasty respectively. But later during his period, the coin's emblem changed to a standing king and a seated goddess.

Though Raja Raja Chola's pride is well known all over the world, his death still remains as a mystery. Some say that it was a natural death, whereas some tell that it was a murder, by a woman from Sri Lanka sent by King Mahinda. Later Rajendra Chola - son of Raja Raja Chola went after Sri Lanka with vengence, conquired it and prisoned King Mahinda. In the later period, Rajendra Chola took control over the Chola dynasty and made the dynasty to flourish even more.

Thus, being in the lands of our ancient kings, let us take pride and stand for our nation, and develop it in the best way.