A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c13.s5.t1.18

c13.s5.t1.18

The Cholas, who succeeded the Pallavas as the paramount power in the South, may be said to have filled the principal places in the Tamil countries with their edifices, religious and secular, all richly sculptured. Rājarāja the Great (985-1018), the most famous king of a capable dynasty, extended his power over nearly the whole of the Madras Presidency, Ceylon, and a large part of Mysore, while his navy ranged as far as the Laccadive and Maldive islands. A king so powerful and wealthy naturally spent freely on building, and the world owes to him the temple at Tanjore, his capital, the best designed of all the great South Indian temples (*ante*, p. 38).