Southern Kingdoms and the Cholas

Prerequisites: Northern Kingdoms and the Tripartite Struggle · Chapter overview

The Hook: Elections by Lot, a Thousand Years Ago

The Core Concept

The Pallavas of Kanchipuram (c. 6th–9th centuries)

Mahabalipuram (UNESCO World Heritage Site, 1984) shows the whole evolution: rock-cut mandapas (Mahishasuramardini, Varaha), monolithic Pancha Rathas (named after the Pandavas and Draupadi), the great open-air relief known as Arjuna’s Penance or the Descent of the Ganga, and the structural Shore Temple.

The Chalukyas

Chalukyas of Badami (Vatapi), c. 6th–8th centuries

• Pulakeshin I founded the dynasty and performed the ashvamedha.
• Pulakeshin II (c. 610–642) defeated Harsha on the Narmada; his Aihole inscription (634 CE), composed by the Jain poet Ravikirti, records his achievements. He was killed when Narasimhavarman I took Vatapi.
• Vikramaditya II occupied Kanchi; his queen Lokamahadevi built the Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal (c. 740), modelled on the Kailasanatha temple of Kanchi.
• The Rashtrakuta Dantidurga overthrew the dynasty in the mid-eighth century.

Temples: Aihole — “a cradle of Indian temple architecture” (Lad Khan, the apsidal Durga temple); Badami — rock-cut cave temples (Brahmanical and Jain); Pattadakal (UNESCO World Heritage Site, 1987) — Nagara temples (such as Galaganatha) and Dravida temples (Virupaksha, Mallikarjuna) side by side.

Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi — founded by Pulakeshin II’s brother; later linked to the Cholas by marriage.

Chalukyas of Kalyani (Later Chalukyas), c. 10th–12th centuries — rose after the Rashtrakutas. Vikramaditya VI (1076–1126) began the Chalukya-Vikrama era; his court included Bilhana (Vikramankadevacharita) and Vijnaneshvara, whose Mitakshara — a commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smriti — became the leading Hindu law text on inheritance outside Bengal (where Jimutavahana’s Dayabhaga prevailed).

The Cholas (c. 850–1279)

The Cholas declined in the thirteenth century under pressure from the Pandyas and Hoysalas.

Chola administration

• Territorial units: mandalam (province) → valanadu → nadu → village. The nadu, a cluster of villages, had its own assembly of peasant leaders.
• Village assemblies:

• Committees (variyams): for annual administration (samvatsara variyam), gardens (thotta variyam), tanks and irrigation (eri variyam), and others — handling justice, revenue collection and public works.
• Uttaramerur rules (as recorded): members had to own tax-paying land and a house on their own site, be of a prescribed age (35 to 70), and have learning; those who had failed to render accounts — and their relatives — were barred. Selection was by kudavolai (lot).
• Land categories: vellanvagai (land of non-brahmin peasants), brahmadeya (gifted to brahmanas), shalabhoga (to maintain a school), devadana (gifted to temples), pallichchhandam (gifted to Jain institutions).
• Temples were economic hubs — landowners, employers, banks and centres of learning and the arts.

Chola art

• Temples (Dravida style): a towering vimana over the sanctum, enclosure walls, gopuram gateways and a water tank. The Great Living Chola Temples — Brihadisvara (Thanjavur), Gangaikondacholisvaram and Airavatesvara (Darasuram) — form a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Thanjavur listed in 1987; extended in 2004).
• Bronzes: cast by the lost-wax (cire perdue) method; the Nataraja — Shiva’s cosmic dance within a ring of fire — is the most famous.
• Literature: Kamban’s Tamil Ramavataram; Sekkilar’s Periyapuranam (lives of the 63 Shaiva Nayanars); the compilation of Shaiva hymns into the Tirumurai.

Other southern and Deccan dynasties (12th–14th centuries)

Temple styles at a glance

graph TD
    A[Pallavas: rock-cut to structural] --> B[Shore Temple, Kailasanatha]
    C[Chalukyas of Badami] --> D[Aihole, Badami, Pattadakal]
    B --> E[Chola Dravida temples]
    D --> F[Vesara: Later Chalukyas, Hoysalas]
    E --> G[Brihadisvara, Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Darasuram]

Memory Anchors

Chola greats in order: “Very Powerful Rulers Reached Kadaram” → Vijayalaya, Parantaka I, Rajaraja I, Rajendra I, Kulottunga I (and Rajendra’s raid on Kadaram).

Three assemblies: “Usual, Sacred, New-money” → Ur (ordinary villages), Sabha (brahmadeya), Nagaram (merchants).

Builders: Shore Temple — Rajasimha; Virupaksha, Pattadakal — Lokamahadevi; Kailasa, Ellora — Krishna I; Brihadisvara — Rajaraja I; Darasuram — Rajaraja II.

For Prelims

For Mains

• Dimensions: local self-government and accountability; temples as economic and cultural institutions; maritime power and links with South-East Asia; the evolution of Dravida and Vesara architecture; bronze casting; Bhakti literature in Tamil.
• Keywords: brahmadeya, nadu, variyam, kudavolai, vimana, gopuram, lost-wax casting, segmentary state (Burton Stein’s interpretation of the Chola state).
• Value-addition: the Uttaramerur rules on disqualification for not rendering accounts — an early accountability norm; Rajendra I’s naval reach to South-East Asia as historical context for India’s maritime outlook; the Nataraja as a symbol of Indian art.

Common Traps

In the News

• September 2023 — the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas (Belur, Halebidu, Somanathapura) inscribed on the World Heritage List.
• July 2021 — the Kakatiya Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple, Telangana, inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Practice

Prelims

Mains

Quick Revision

Key Takeaways

Related Topics

• Northern Kingdoms and the Tripartite Struggle
• Early Medieval India — quick revision
• Early Medieval India — practice questions
• Indian Art and Architecture
• Local Government