The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c7.s8.t3.2

c7.s8.t3.2

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."