A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c14.50

c14.50

Thus Kulottunga sustained another curtailment of his empire which by the end of his reign was practically confined to the Tamil country and a relatively small area of the adjoining Telugu districts. All the same Kulottunga must take rank among the great Chola monarchs. His long reign was, for the best part, characterized by unparalleled success and prosperity. He avoided unnecessary wars, and the permanent results of his policy appeared under his successors. Until the end of Kulottunga III’s reign (1216), for about a century, the empire, though not so extensive as in the eleventh century, held well together, and there was on the whole less of the chronic warfare of the period before the accession of Kulottunga I. The wisdom of Kulottunga’s statesmanship lay in adjusting his aims to his resources and in preferring the well-being of his subjects to the satisfaction of his personal vanity. Tradition and epigraphy alike give him the title ‘Śungam tavirtta’ (He who abolished the tolls), but there is no account of the nature and scope of this reform.