Raja Raja Cholan, The Great South Indian Tamil King

[Shaitan]

Wonder what the Indian history would have been if he had turned North rather than South East.

Nah they did.. Chola inscriptions also said they went to Sindhu(Indus river) under Rajendra Chola..

With both the Western and Eastern Chalukya fronts subdued, Rajendra's armies undertook an extraordinary expedition. C. 1019 CE Rajendra's forces continued to march through Kalinga to the river Ganges. The Emperor himself advanced up to the river Godavari to protect the rear of the expeditionary force. The Chola army eventually reach the Pala kingdom of Bengal where they met Mahipala and defeated him.

According to the Tiruvalangadu Plates, the campaign lasted less than two years in which many kingdoms of the north felt the might of the Chola army. The inscriptions further claim that Rajendra defeated '"¦the armies of Ranasura and entered the land of Dharmapala and subdued him and thereby he reached the Ganges and caused the water river to be brought by the conquered kings' back to the Chola country. The new conquests opened up new roots for the Cholas to head for distant lands like Burma by land (through what are now modern Orissa, West Bengal, Assam and Bangladesh). Many inscriptions of chola do refer to the chola control over provinces of north like mathura(vadamadurai), kanyakubja(kannaikucchi or kannauj) and sindhu(sind). This is possible because of chola domination of both the seas on east and west.

It is true that Rajendra's army defeated the kings of Sakkarakottam and Dhandabhukti and Mahipala. These territories were initially added to the kingdom, while later they had the status of tribute paying subordinates and trade partners with the Chola Kingdom, an arrangement that lasted till the times of Kulothunga-III and to a limited extent, of Raja Raja-III too. It was undoubtedly an exhibition of the power and might of the Chola empire to the northern kingdoms. But the benevolent leadership of the Cholas treated them in a benevolent manner and did not permanently annexe them to the Chola dominions, while at the same time acting firmly to nip in the bud any ill-treatment of people from Tamil country.

 

[Sridhar]

Kangai Konda chola puram

Dailymotion - Gangaikonda Cholapuram - a Arts video

Dailymotion - Gangaikonda Cholapuram Part 2 - Large - a Arts video

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chola_military

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chola_Navy

 

[Sabir]

Wonder what the Indian history would have been if he had turned North rather than South East.

Not only Rajendra Chola, even the Rashtrakuta kings had the opportunity too. They defeated the Gurjara-Pratiharas and the Palas but turned back to South after their victory. Otherwise there would have been no 'Pala era' in Aryavarta.

 

[Sabir]

It is not always the size of the army but the organization and strategy to use them becomes important. As an example the Mongols used to terrorize every kingdoms because of their swiftness of their attack. Though much less in number these horsemen were capable to cover large distance in very small time. They used to be up on the enemy before he could organize his army. One historian mentioned Mongol attack during Ala-ud-din Khilji like this ..." they reach Delhi like shadow..." and forced the mighty Khilji to take shelter in Siri fort. Al-ud-din had a standing army of 4,50,000 (yess, standing army) at center while those Mongols were only l8,000 approximately.

 

[Vinod2070]

Mongols were in a league of their own. There have been few warrirors like them in history.

They were exceedingly brave and disciplined but also exceedingly cunning. For them winning a war with cunning and deceit was more honorable than winning a straight war. The brutality was part of the strategy to not have to fight more than needed.

 

[Phenom]

One of the best thing about Cholas is their aggressive nature. They were not like normal Indian kingdoms that were content with staying within their own borders. Chola aggressively expanded the border and consolidated any gains made after battle. They maintained large standing army and where often able to defeat multiple kingdoms allied against them. Another thing I like about the Cholas, is their focus on the navy, probably the only Indian kingdom to have given so much importance to the navy. They were even capable of launching an sea borne attack on srivijaya kingdoms.

Overall Cholas are one of those kingdoms that deserve far more focus from Indian history books than what they are currently given.

 

[navida]

The Hindu belief was against sea faring. But the Cholas defied it.
Here is something interesting. The Tamil bell in Austraila. The ancient Tamils could have had links with Australia before the colonial period.
Tamil bell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
File:Tamilbell2.JPG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia