The Colas c17.29

c17.29

The last of the conquests, mentioned only in the latest inscriptions of Rājarāja, is that of the 'old islands of the sea numbering 12,000,' the Maldives.⁷² This naval conquest, of which we have no details, is sufficient indication that the navy which, as we shall see, Rājēndra used so effectively some years later, had been organised under his great father who stands in many ways in the same relation to Rājēndra as Philip of Macedon to Alexander the Great. An earlier occasion in Rājarāja's reign in which the navy played a part was the conquest of Ceylon. In this increasing realisation of the importance of a good navy, we may find a reason for holding that the expedition against Kāndaḷūr in the early years of Rājarāja's rule was primarily intended to sterilise the naval power of the Cēras.