History Optional (Medieval India: Chola Empire) by Shivlal Gupta

Model Answer

Question #1.“The Chola rulers were not only mighty conquerors, efficient administrator but also builders of fine temples”. Comment. 10 marks (150 words)

Approach:

• Briefly discuss origin of Chola empire
• Discuss war fought by chola rulers and elaborate their administrative structures
• Discuss temple architecture
• Conclusion

Hints:

Introduction:

• The period from the eighth to the twelfth century was not only remarkable for the growth of regional kingdoms and regional integration, but was also a period of cultural growth, and the development of trade and commerce and agriculture in south India.
• Powerful kingdoms had risen in south India during the sixth and eighth centuries. The most important among them were the Pallavas and the Pandyas who dominated modern Tamil Nadu, the Cheras of modern Kerala,and the Chalukyas who dominated the Maharashtra area or the Deccan.
• The Cholaempire which arose in the ninth century brought under its control a large part of the The Cholas developed a powerful navy which enabled them to conquer Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
• Its impact was felt even by the countries of Southeast TheChola empire may be said to mark a climax in south Indian history.

Body

Political expansion

• The founder of the Cholaempire was Vijayalaya, who was at first a feudatory of the Pallavas.
• He captured Tanjore in AD And by the end of the ninth century, the Cholas had defeated both the Pallavas of Kanchi(Tondaimandalam) and weakened the Pandyas, bringing the southern Tamil country under their control
• The greatest Chola rulers were Rajaraja (985–1014) and his son Rajendra I (1014–1044). Rajaraja destroyed the Chera navy at Trivandrum, and attacked Quilon.
• He then conquered Madurai and captured the PandyanHe also invaded Sri Lanka and annexed its northern part to his empire.
• These moves were partly motivated by his desire to bring the trade with the Southeast Asian countries under his control.
• The Coromandel coast and Malabar were the centres for India’s trade with the countries of Southeast One of his naval exploits was the conquest of the Maldives. Rajaraja, annexed the northwestern parts of the Ganga kingdom in Karnataka, and overran Vengi.
• One of the most remarkable exploits in the reign of Rajendra I was the march across Kalinga to Bengal in which the Chola armies crossed the river Ganga, and defeated two local kings. This expedition, which was led by a Chola general, took place in 1022 and followed in reverse the same route which the great conqueror Samudragupta had followed.
• To commemorate this occasion, Rajendra I assumed the title of Gangaikondachola (‘the Chola who conquered the Ganga’). He built a new capital near the  mouth  of  the  Kaveri  river  and called it Gangaikondacholapuram (‘the city of the Chola who conquered the Ganga’).
• The Chola rulers fought constantly with the Chalukyas who had succeeded the Rashtrakutas. These are called the later Chalukyas and their capital was at Kalyani. 
• The Cholas and the later Chalukyas clashed for the overlordship of Vengi (Rayalaseema), the Tungabhadra doab, and the Ganga ruled country in northwest Karnataka.
• Neither side was able to gain a decisive victory in this contest and ultimately it exhausted both the kingdoms.

Temple architecture

• Temple architecture in the south attained its climax under the The style of architecture which came into vogue during this period is called Dravida, because it was confined largely to south India.
• The main feature of this style was the building of many storeys above the garbhagriha (the innermost chamber where the chief deity resides).
• The number of storeys varied from five to seven, and they had a typical style which came to be called vimana.
• A pillared hall called mandap, with elaborately carved pillars and a flat roof was generally placed in front of the sanctum.
• It acted as an audience hall and was a place for various other activities such  as  ceremonial dances which were performed by the devadasis—the women dedicated to the service of the Sometimes, a passage ran around the sanctum so that the devotees could go round it. Images of many other gods could be put in this passage.
• This entire structure was enclosed in a courtyard surrounded by high walls, which were pierced by lofty gates called gopurams. In course of time, the vimanas rose higher and higher, the number of courtyards were increased to two or three, and the gopurams also became more and more
• Thus the temple became a miniature city or a palace, with living-rooms for priests and many others being provided in it. The temples generally enjoyed revenue-free grants of lands for their They also received grants and rich donations from wealthy merchants.
• Some of the temples became so rich that they entered business, lent money, and took part in business enterprises. They also spent money on improving cultivation, digging tanks, wells, etc., and providing irrigation
• An early example of the Dravida style of temple architecture is the eighth century temple of Kailasanath at
• One of the finest and most elaborate examples of the style is, however, provided by the Brihadiswara temple at Tanjore built by Rajaraja
• This is also called the Rajaraja temple because the Cholas were in the habit of installing images of kings and queens in the courtyards of the
• The temple at Gangaikondacholapuram,though in a dilapidated condition, is another fine example of temple architecture under the
• A large number of temples were also built at other places in south However, it may be well to remember that the proceeds for some of these activities were obtained from the plunder of the population of the neighbouring areas by the Chola rulers.
• After the fall of the Cholas, temple building activity continued under the Chalukyas of Kalyani and the

Administrative structures

• The Chola state included area of central control, and loosely administered areas under different types of local control.
• The state was interspersed with hill people and tribes.
• The basic unit of administration was the nadu which consisted of a number of villages having close kinship ties and other close associations.
• The number of nadus increased as fresh lands were brought under cultivation by means of irrigation works such as ponds, wells, , and by converting hill or tribal people into agriculturists. Grants to Brahmans and temples increased, both of which helped in expanding cultivation.
• In the Chola kingdom, naduswere grouped into The Chola state was divided into four mandalams or provinces.
• Sometimes, princes of the royal family were appointed governors of provinces. Officials were generally paid by giving them assignments of revenue- bearing lands.
• The self-government enjoyed by these Chola villages was a very fine system. To some extent this system worked in the other villages as well.
• However, the growth of feudalism which is discussed in an earlier chapter,restricted their autonomy. 

Conclusion:

• The Chola empire continued to flourish during the twelfth century, but it declined during the early part of the thirteenth century
• The later Chalukyanempire in the Maharashtra area had also come to an end during the twelfth Century.
• The place of the Cholas was taken by the Pandyas and the Hoysalas in the south, and the later Chalukyas were replaced by the Yadavas and the Kakatiyas.

All these states extended patronage to arts and architecture. Unfortunately, they weakened themselves by continually fighting against each other, Ultimately, they were destroyed by the sultans of Delhi at the beginning of the fourteenth century.

Question #2. Evaluating various theories regarding the Chola State, throw light on its village assemblies. 15 marks (250 words)
 Approach:

• Briefly introduce the Chola
• Discuss various theories regarding the Chola
• Discuss village assemblies of the Chola
• Conclusion

Hints:

The Cholas were the most dominant rulers in South India (present day Tamil Nadu) in the early medieval period, from the 9thto the 13thcentury. The major core of the Chola political authority was in the Kaveri Basin, with secondary ‘central zones’ of the Chola state in other river valleys of the Southern peninsula: the Ponnaiyar and Cheyyar in the northern Tamil plain, and the Vaigai and Tambraparni valleys in the South. The Chola state is believed to have had an elaborate administrative structure which dealt with a large number of autonomous lower level political units such as the mandala –province, valanadu – district and nadu – group of villages.

• Highly centralised state
  • The first systematic attempt to describe the nature of the Chola state was made by A.NilakantaSastri in the 1920s and 30s. He viewed the Chola state to be a  highly centralized, bureaucratic empire bulwarked by an efficient bureaucracy and sustained,  on one side, by a comprehensive revenue system and, on the other, by a strong coercive power. It was founded on the model of post Gupta north Indian kingdoms which had strong brahmanical elements and a well organized central, provincial and local administration. However, within this polity Sastri also identified a large number of autonomous villages. The accommodation of two contradictory forces i.e. imperial centralization and local autonomy suggests that his conception of the Chola state was not faultless.

• Feudal State
  • Second state model is Feudal which was produced by S. Sharma and his follower such as D.N. Jha, B.N.S. Yadav and R.N. Nandi focusing on production relations in the fief and the decline of trade in medieval period. According to Sharma, a major cause of feudalism in India was the land grants to Brahmans, religious institutions and officials with the given the rights of ownership with the legal action and freedom from taxation. They encroached on communal lands of villages and slowly reduced these villagers to serfdom. This development was partly caused and further aggravated by a decline of urbanism and trade.

• • Politically, this development was characterized by a continuous process of fragmentation and decentralization caused by the widespread practice of granting territories to vassals and officials who established themselves as independent Socially,  this  period was characterized by a proliferation of castes and the gradual decay of the economic and social status of the Vaishyas and Shudras. These two Varnas eventually became indistinguishable from each other, while the Kshatriyas and Brahmins became akin to the feudal lords of Europe.

• C. Sirkarcritiques that the Indian Feudalism Model defended its argument that the Brahmins performed the same tasks as the military officials in Europe but only in a different approach. Thus, Brahmins provided legitimisation to their rulers in several ways.

• The Segmentary State
  • The Segmentary State is an anthropological model developed by Burton Stein utilized this model to describe the state formation under the Cholas and the Pallavas. Southall describes the Segmentary State as a state where the spheres of ritual suzerainty and political sovereignty do not coincide. The former extends widely towards a flexible changing periphery. The latter is confined to the central core domain. The Stein divided into 3 zone- centre, intermediate and peripheral. He divides the entire territory on the basis of inscription.
  • In this theory, the king as having enjoyed only limited territorial sovereignty. The element of centrality existed only in the core area even where the presence of semi-autonomous foci of administration was tolerated by the He had no political authority over the surrounding segments. The real foci of power are suggested to have been the locality level centres or Nadus. He also denied the existence of a Chola standing army, arguing that military power was distributed among various groups including peasants, merchants and artisans.
  • Southall criticized the points of Stein’s denial of the king’s political authority over segments other than his According to him, a king has political authority was combined with his ritual authority in the case of Hindu Kingdoms. For e.g.the temple of Rajarajeshwara shows his own greatness and the unchallenged prestige of the state by building this temple.
  • It depicts the ritual sovereignty of the king over the whole country. Rajaraja granted to the temple state revenue accruing from as many as 40 villages in Cholamandalam, the core area of the state and 16 villages in the conquered area (Karnataka, Sri Lanka). It shows also well- developed bureaucracy for revenue collection. The various departments called puravwari comprised various offices, functions and feature. They invoked the Siva cult by constructing temples across the
  • He view that the peasant society of the Cholas, which was presented as united structured one, on the primary bonds being those of kingship and marriage, was in effect an extremely stratified society, vertically divided into numerous These segments created a highly pyramidal which encourage the series of relationships between the centre and the peripheries. Each of these segments had a specialised administrative staff. It also had a large amount of centres, and all the features of a dual sovereignty consisting of political as well as ritual sovereignty.
  • Stein distinguishes sharply between actual political control on one side and ritual sovereignty on the other. All the centres of the segmentary state do exercise actual political control over their own parts or segmentary but only one centre of extending ritual sovereignty beyond its own
  • Stein’s description of the early medieval south Indian state as a peasant state is even more questionable and seems to represent an extreme reaction to the idea of highly centralized monarch. The existence of corporate village organizations does not indicate that peasants exercised political power at a high level.
  • Hermann Kulke has questioned Stein’s concept of ritual sovereignty. According to him, in a traditional society, particularly in India, ritual sovereignty seems to be an integral part and sometimes even a pace maker of political power. These inscriptions were documents of a systematic ritual policy which was as much a part of the general “power policy” as for instance, economic or military
  • A key of the segmentary state theory was also the so calledBrahaman peasant alliance at the The peasant is always known to have been exploited by the Brahaman and Kshatriya combination. The creation of Valanadu (larger than the nadu but smaller than a mandalam) by RajaRaja and kulottunga I is an indicator of the administration innovation and hence direct intervention by the Chola Central authority.

• Integrated polity model
  • Another model proposed by D. Chattopadhyayawas called the integrated polity model. In this model, he interprets the early medieval period as a ‘period of state formation’ not disintegration. It means the transformation of pre-state polities into state polities, thus the integration of local polities into structures that transcended the bounds of local polities.
  • This integrative development was based on and accompanied by a series of processes like peasantization the emergence and spatial extending of ruling lineages by processes called Kshatriya; interspersing the dynastic domain and its hinterlands with network of royally patronized religious institutions and land assignments to officials, Moreover, state formation implies that there was an existence of resources capable of generating surplus.
  • Chattopadhyaya further argues that while land grants were important in country, they did not represent a complete breakdown of imperial authority. He further argued that land- grants gave too much importance under the Indian Feudalism model while other factors such as the frequent invasions and continuing authority of the kings had been
  • According to Hermann Kulke, The multiplicity of local and regional power is the result of the extension of monarchical state society into areas and communities tribal, non-monarchical

• Alternative model:
  • Noboru Karashima and KesavanVeluthat have attempted an alternative model for understanding the nature of the Chola They have attempted a systematic application of the idea of feudalism to the socio-economic formation in the early medieval period in south India and have called it a “Feudal State”. The research of Karashima indicates that several titles in Chola inscriptions refer to administrative offices and that the Chola kings made certain attempts to centralized their administration.
  • James Heitzman and Y. Subbarayaluhas preferred to call the Chola state an ‘Early State’. According to this model, the Chola state was a centralised socio-political organisation, in a complex stratified and extremely unequal society, which consisted of the rulers and  theHeitzman says that royal political unification took place under the Cholas. The Chola kings remained ritual leaders but aspired to be managers in the Arthashastra style.

Heitzman says that the success of royal integrative policies depended on local variables of geography. The most striking feature of the Chola rule was the rapid decline of royal influence with increasing trend towards decentralized. James Heitzman elaborates that the underlying dynamics of state formation rested on the ability of these agencies to give direction to the aspirations of the village elite. Political and economic leadership, within a predominantly agrarian economy, rested on the possession of land or came from control exercised over profits accruing from land. Heitzman the Chola polity was an ‘Early State’ since its agrarian base and the political power of its landed elite were at a rather nascent stage of development.

Village assemblies of the Chola:

1. Village (local self) Administration : An important feature of the Chola administration was the village People of a village looked after administration through their own elected bodies. The Chola inscriptions mention the existence of two types of villages Ur and Brahmadeya Villages. Ur had its own local assembly, consisting of all the male members of the village excluding untouchables.

It looked after all aspects of the village administration. The Brahmadeya villages (Agraharas) were granted by the King to learned brahmins. They had their own assemblies called Mahasabhas, which had complete freedom in governance.

Uttarameruru inscription of Paratanka – I, gives us detailed information about the village administration. (Uttarameruru is in the Chengulpet district of Tamilnadu). The villages enjoyed complete independence in the management of local affairs. Two kinds of assemblies existed which were.

Ur or Urar (kuri) and TheMahasabha.

According to the Uttarameruru inscription, Uttarameruru village was divided into 30 parts (Kudumbu). One member from each unit was elected for a period of one year. The representatives of the people were elected through a lucky draw (Kuduvalai) system.

Villagers assembled in the temple and conducted an election through a lucky draw. The names of the candidates were written on palm leaves and put in a pot. Then a small boy was asked to pick out the leaves one after the other in the presence of the people and thus the representatives were elected.

Elected representatives had to work in the Annual, Garden (Tottavariyam) and Tank Bund (Erivariyam) committees called ‘VariyamsUThe representatives were called ‘VariyaPerumakka P. The village assemblies were autonomous and democratic institutions.

2. Duties of the committees: The village committees performed duties like the protection of the village properties, collection of taxes and the protection of temples, lakes, groves, and forests, etc. The resolutions of the committees were written The central administration did not interfere in the village administration.
3. Minimum qualifications of members: The Uttarameruru inscription deals with rules and regulations regarding the election, the qualifications and disqualifications of These committees worked for 360 days when fresh elections were held.

• • Qualifications needed for a member to be elected:
  • The candidate should possess a minimum of 1/2 acre of taxable
  • He should reside in his own house built on his own
  • Candidate should be more than 35 years old and less than 70 years of
  • Candidate should have knowledge of Vedas, Brahmanakas, and
  • Candidate should possess a good

4. Disqualifications of members : A member was disqualified for reelection, if he had been a member of any committee continuously for the previous 3 years. Those who were in the committee and who had not submitted accounts and their close relatives. Persons who were wicked, cheats, alcoholics, thieves, accused of murdering brahmins and committing

This way, certain minimum qualifications, and disqualifications were enforced in the village administration. Scholars have termed the Chola village administration as “Small Democratic States”.