At a time when the history of Bharat is changing for the good, it is necessary to understand the history of the Cholas-Pride of India
Since the independence of India, our history textbooks have taught generations of Indians about the Delhi Sultanate, Mughals and the British.
The result was that millions of Bharatiyas grew up without an iota of knowledge about the indigenous or the real history of our country.
This article is dedicated to an empire that established Bharat as the master of the sea but was subtly omitted by the Nehruvian-Marxist cabal to suit their ideological narrative.
Cholas-Mighty Empire
The Cholas ruled from 850-1200 A.D. They started as feudatories of the Pallava dynasty, but later on Vijayalaya Chola founded the kingdom.
It was his son Aditya Chola who managed to overthrow the Pallava suzerainty and established Cholas as an independent power.
The Cholas slowly grew in strength.
It was during the reign of the three legendary kings-Rajaraja-I or Arunmolivarman, Rajendra-I and Rajadhiraja Chola that the Cholas reached the peak of their power.
Rajaraja-I conquered Maldives, it was he who built the Chola Navy.
His son Rajendra Chola brought Sri Lanka under Bharatiya control. This great conqueror in 1022 CE followed the same route as Samudragupta and conquered a vast area in the Ganga plains and styled himself as “Gangaikondachola“.
His son Rajendra Chola sacked Chalukyan cities like Kalyani and planted a ‘vijayastambh’ at Yadgir.
Strong Navy
The Cholas had the strongest navy in the Indian Ocean in the 9-11th centuries.
In fact the Bay of Bengal was known as the ‘Chola lake’. With the potent navy the Cholas conquered Sri Lanka and Maldives and also brought to its knees the Sailendra Empire in Java, Malaya and Sumatra.
The navy formed the basis of the Cholas’ prosperous maritime trade, especially with China.
Magnificent Temple Builders
Temple architecture in the 9th-10th centuries reached its climax under the Cholas.
The Chola pioneered the Dravida style of architecture marked by the building of elaborate structures inside the main deity room. They constructed massive pillared halls called mandapas & massive gates known as gopurams.
Some of the magnificent temples of this period are the Brihadeshwara temple built by Rajaraja I in 1010 CE and the Kailashnatha temple at Kanchipuram.
Therefore, with such a magnificent track record and rich history it can be said that the The Cholas-the Pride of India.
