The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c7.s8.t3: V. The Kingdom of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas in the Deccan (eighth to fourteenth century A.C.)
The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c7.s8.t3
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V. The Kingdom of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas in the Deccan (eighth to fourteenth century A.C.)
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²⁴ For an account of the Pallava, Chola, Chālukya, Rāṣṭrakūṭa and other kingdoms in South India, see Aiyangar's *Ancient India*, pp. 31-38, 158-191; A. S. Altekar; *The Rāṣṭrakūṭas and their Times* (Poona 1934).
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VI. The Empire of the Cholas in Southern India beyond the Deccan (ninth to fourteenth century A.C.) "The Chola dynasty was singularly prolific in kings of more than ordinary capacity," says Smith in his Introduction to Aiyangar's *Ancient India*, "from the middle of the ninth century to the end of the reign of Kulottūṅga in A.D. 1118. It is clear from the details on record that the administration of the kingdom was 'highly systematised' from an early date. For instance, there is abundant evidence that the lands under cultivation were carefully surveyed and holdings registered at least a century before the famous Domesday record of William the Conqueror. The re-survey of 1086 was exactly contemporaneous with the English record. The Cholas were great builders; not only of cities and temples but also of irrigation works."
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According to Aiyangar this is the period of high water-mark of Hindu progress all round. Modern Hinduism assumed the shape in which we find it today. The indigenous literature as well as classical Sanskrit received considerable patronage. Religion had been re-adjusted to the requirements of the masses, and administration had come to be highly organised upon surprisingly modern lines. Revivalism in religion and reinvigoration were the order of the day. The story of one of the greatest monarchs of this period, Rājendra Chola (1013-1042), the son of Rājarāja the Great, who, according to the inscriptions, carried his arms successfully across Kaliṅgam, subdued Dakkana Lāṭam, Vāngāladeśam and the territory of Dharmapāla, fought battles on the Ganges and in Burma, and earned the proud surname of Gaṅgāikoṇḍa Chola, has been preserved in the Kanarese work, *Rājaśekhara-Vilāsam*. At the commencement of the 13th century the great Chola Empire was dismembered between the Yādavas of Deogiri, Kākātīyās of Orangal, Hoysālās of Dvārsamudra and other petty chieftains.