The Colas c19.2

c19.2

Under Rājarāja I, the real founder of the Cōḷa empire, and his talented son Rājēndra I, the usual line of conquest, which was from North to South, had been reversed, and the victorious tiger-banner carried far into the North. Rājēndra's sons, three of whom succeeded their father, one after another, on the Cōḷa throne, inherited an extensive empire, and on the whole, ably maintained its extent and prestige during their reigns. There was much hard, and occasionally fierce fighting, particularly against the Cāḷukẏas across the Tungabhadrā frontier, and the first of these three kings died on a battlefield in which the second was crowned immediately after his steadiness and valour had converted an almost certain defeat into a brilliant victory. There was trouble also from the south, the Pāṇḍya and Kēraḷa being always in league with the Ceylonese rulers, and waiting to take the fullest advantage of the difficulties that beset their suzerains elsewhere. Towards the end of this period, these troubles, together with others of a dynastic and possibly religious nature, brought about a political revolution which proved the salvation of the empire for well over a century thereafter. As will be shewn later, the exact circumstances under which the Cāḷukya-Cōḷa, Rājēndra, came to occupy the imperial Cōḷa throne are not easily determined; but there can be no two opinions on the consequences to the Cōḷa power of this turn of events. By introducing a fresh, and possibly more vigorous, yet closely related stock of kings to the rule of the empire, and by amalgamating, at a critical time the resources of the Eastern Cāḷukya kingdom with the Cōḷa, it ensured a continuous and active life for the empire of Rājarāja at a time when his descendants in the main line were overwhelmed in desperate conflicts of which they saw no end.