A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c14.16

c14.16

The real greatness of the Chola empire dates, however, from the accession of Arumolivarman, who crowned himself as Rājarāja in the middle of 985. The thirty years of his rule constitute the formative period of Chola imperialism. A relatively small state at his accession, hardly recovering from the effects of the Rāshtrakūta invasion, the Chola kingdom grew under him into an extensive and well-knit empire efficiently organized and administered, rich in resources, and possessed of a powerful standing army and navy, well tried and equal to the greatest enterprises.