Rajendra Chola I

Rajendra Chola I (971 CE – 1044 CE), often referred to as Rajendra the Great, and also known as Gangaikonda Chola (The Bringer of the Ganges), was a Chola Emperor who reigned between 1014 and 1044 CE. Rajendra was one of the few Indian monarchs to conquer territory outside the Indian Subcontinent. Under his reign, the Chola Dynasty was expanded to its greatest extent, dominating trade throughout the Indian Ocean.

Quotes about Rajendra Chola I

 * In the 8th year of the reign of Kopparakesarivanmar sri Rajendra Sola Deva, who, while the goddess of Fortune, having become constant, increased, and while the goddess of the great Earth, the goddess of victory in battle and the matchless goddess of Fame, having become his great queens, rejoiced-that in his extended lifetime, conquered with his great war-like army Idaiturai-nadu, Vanavasi shut in by a fence of continuous forests; Kollipakkai, whose walls were surrounded by sulli trees; Mannaikkadakkam whose fortification was unapproachable.
 * Epigraphia Carnatica, Volume 10, Part 1, p. 32.


 * When Rajendra Chola completed 1000 years of his rule (in 2014), no one celebrated it. So we are a marginalised history of India.
 * Santishree Pandit quoted in


 * Rajendra I ruled jointly with his father for two years, succeeding him in 1014. The policy of expansion continued with the annexation of the southern provinces of the Chalukyas, the rich Raichur doab and Vengi. Campaigns against Sri Lanka and Kerala were also renewed. But Rajendra’s ambitions had turned northwards. An expedition set out, marching through Orissa to reach the banks of the Ganges. From there, it is said, holy water from the river was carried back to the Chola capital. Bringing back the water through conquest symbolized ascendancy over the north. But Rajendra did not hold the northern regions for long, a situation parallel to that of Samudra Gupta’s campaign in the south almost 700 years earlier.
 * Romila Thapar, Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300, Penguin Books (2002), p. 365.