page_title: Kulottunga I
section_title: Pandya and Chera campaigns
hierarchical_section_title: Kulottunga I / Military campaigns / Pandya and Chera campaigns
caption_attribution_description: English: Map_of_the_Pearl_Fishery_Coast_1889
context_page_description: Chakravarti Kulottunga Choladeva was an 11th-century monarch of the Chola Empire of South India. He was one of the sovereigns who bore the title "Kulottunga", literally meaning "the exalter of his race" in Tamil. He did not belong to the main line of Cholas but was rather a prince of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty. His mother, Ammangaidevi, was a Chola princess and the daughter of emperor Rajendra Chola I. His father was king Rajaraja Narendra of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty who was the nephew of Rajendra Chola I and maternal grandson of Rajaraja Chola I. According to historian Sailendra Nath Sen, his accession marked the beginning of a new era and ushered in a period of internal peace and benevolent administration.
  Kulottunga had diplomatic relations with the north Indian city Kanauj and also with distant countries like Cambodia, Sri Vijaya, Khmer empire, kingdom of Pagan and China. He established Chola overlordship over the Sri Vijaya province Kedah in Malaysia. An inscription in a Taoist temple in Guangzhou, dated to 1079 AD, declares Kulottunga, King of Chulien to be the supreme chief of the Land of San-fo-tsi.
context_section_description: Once he finished dealing with Vikramaditya VI, Kulottunga turned his attention to the south and first took up the cause of bringing the ancient Pandimandalam, the country of the Pandyas, into his fold. The Pandya country never reconciled to the Chola overlordship and its rulers were a constant source of trouble for the Chola emperors. The Pandyas made use of the confusion in the Chola country during the accession of Kulottunga and tried once again to reassert their independence.
  Back in the days of Rajendra Chola I, the Pandya country was ruled over by Chola-Pandya viceroys, but by the time of Kulottunga, this system had ceased to exist and "Five Pandya" princes from the old line rose against the king. Kulottunga could not take this situation lightly as the loss of the Pandya territories meant a serious threat to the existence of the Chola kingdom itself. As soon as the Chalukyan war ended, Kulottunga turned all his energy to the suppression of the revolts in the Pandya territory (c. 1077-1081 AD). According to the Cholapuram inscription (1100 AD) the Cholas marched south with a huge army, conquered the Pandya country, the forests were the Five Pandya entered as refugees, the Pearl Fisheries, the Podiyil and Sahya Mountains, and Kanya Kumari and fixed the boundaries of the South Country (the Pandya country) at Kottar. Another inscription of his, in Sanskrit (undated) from Chidambaram, gives a similar account, where the king is said to have overcome the Five Pandyas with the help of a huge army, burnt down the fort at Kottar, and erected a pillar of victory at Kanya Kumari (and thus making the rebel vassal kings obedient).
  Kulottunga's south Kerala campaign is now dated c. 1097 AD (it was initially assumed that the 1077-81 campaign also covered the rebelling Keralas).  The Chera Perumal kings, who like their Pandyan neighbours, had followed suit and rebelled against their Chola overlords. Naralokavira Kalinga Rayan, a commander of the Pandya-Chola forces, lead a Chola thrust into southern Kerala and conquered the Chera country up to the port of Quilon (c. 1097 AD, "subdued the numerous forces of the Keralas"). A record of Jatavarman Srivallabha Pandya (dated to 1101 AD) praises his overlord Kulottunga as the "Conqueror of Quilon". Kantalur Salai and Vizhinjam, located in ancient Ay country and under the influence of the Cheras, also came under the Chola rule. It seems that the Chera Perumals managed to recover the Kollam-Trivandrum-Nagercoil region around 1100/02 AD. According to the Cholapuram record (1100 AD), the eventual southern boundary of the Chola influence was located at Kottar ("fixing of the boundaries of the southern country"). The Kollam-Trivandrum-Nagercoil region was later (c. 1102-1118 AD) reconquered by Jatavarman Parakrama Pandya for his overlord Vikrama Chola.
  By c. 1100 AD, Kulottunga had successfully subjugated rebelling southern regions as far as the Pandya country, annexed the Pearl Fishery Coast, the ancient Podiyil mountains (in present-day Tirunelveli), and "fixed his southern boundary" at Kottar. He did away with the old system of appointing Chola-Pandya viceroys and instead built multiple cantonments as far south as Kottar, and heavily garrisoned the strategically important locations of the southern dominions. These units were in charge of protecting his interests and collecting tribute but did not interfere with the internal administration of the conquered territories, a responsibility which he left to the native chiefs and feudatories. His inscriptions belonging to this period are found in Cholapuram, Agastheeswaram, Suchindram, Variyur, Kanyakumari and Kottar.
caption: Map of the Pearl Fishery Coast, on the southeast portion of the Indian peninsula.
exif: {}