Sunday, March 21, 2021

The Chola Dynasty and Coins

 

The Chola Dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India, one of the longest ruling dynasties in the world's history. The earliest references to the Chola are in inscriptions from the third century BC, left by Ashoka of the Maurya Empire. As one of the Three Crowned Kings of Tamilakam, along with the Chera and the Pandya, the dynasty continued to govern over varying territory until the 13th century AD. 

                                             

                         Uttama Chola 
 

The flag of Chola was a jumping Tiger.

                                             

 
                                     Flag
 

 Despite these ancient origins, the period the appropriate "Chola Empire" only begins with the medieval Cholas in the mid 9th century AD.

                                           

                         South India 300 BC
                               

                                      

The history of the Cholas falls into four periods: the early Cholas of the Sangam literature, the interregnum between the fall of the Sangam Cholas and the rise of the Imperial medieval Cholas under Vijayalaya, and finally the Later Chola dynasty of Kulothunga Chola I from third quarter of the 11th century.                                          

The main source of information of the early Cholas is the Tamil literature of the Sangam period. There are also brief notices furnished by the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, and in slightly later work of Ptolemy. Urayur (now a part of Thiruchirapalli) was their earliest capital. The Mahavamsa mentions that Sri Lanka was invaded in 235 BC by a Chola prince Ellalan and captured.

Little is known of the Cholas during the next few centuries until the accession of Vijayalaya in the second quarter of the 9th century.

                                           

    Chola dynasty 3rd century BC to 1279 AD

The heartland of the Cholas was the fertile valley of the Kaveri River, but they ruled a significantly larger area at the height of their power from the latter half of the 9th to the beginning of the 13th century. The whole country south of the Tungabhadra was united and held as one State for a period of three centuries between 907 and 1215 AD. Under Rajaraja Chola I and his successors Rajendra Chola, Virarajendra Chola and  Kulothunga Chola I, the dynasty became a military and economic power in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The Chola fleet represented the zenith of ancient Indian sea power.

                                             

               During the zenith of sea power


Rajendra Chola I, conquered Odisha and reached the Ganges River. His name is mentioned in corrupted form as Raja Chulan in medieval Malay chronicle Sejarah Melayu.

                                           

Rajaraja Chola statue at Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur

During 1010-1153, Chola territories stretched from Maldives to Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh. In 1025, he successfully invaded cities of Sriviaya of Malaysia and Indonesia. The later Cholas 1070-1279 AD would still rule almost all of Sri Lanka. The overseas conquests include southern Thailand, Burma and Kedah too.

                                               

     Brihadishvara Chola temple, Thanjavur
   

                                            

King Rajendra Chola I's ode to Shiva: Clockwise from top left: Shiva as Nataraja, surrounded with dancing deities: Shiva garlanding him: Ardhanarishvara, Shiva and Parvati as one: and Shiva as Gangadhara appeasing Devi.

                      
The Chola dynasty went into decline at the beginning of the 13th century with the rise of Pandian Dynasty, however they left a lasting legacy. Tamil literature and building of temples flourished in their times. Economy developed and so did art with a centralized form of government and disciplined bureaucracy.                                                  

                                            

Shiva as Chandesanugrahamurti with Parvati by his side


Chola Coinage. In the later part of the 10th century, the kingdom adopted coinage after a break of four centuries. It triggered off with gold coinage. Soon silver and copper coinage were minted in plenty. Raja raja Chola struck coins both in Sri Lanka and India. They differed in fabric, style and in the gold purity. In Tamilnadu, Cholas They adopted "Tiger facing two fishes" as their emblem on the coinage. Chola's coinage issues were in all three metals Gold, Silver and Copper. Gold fanams were struck by Raja raja.  

                                        

 Chola, one kahavanu, 985-1014 AD, weight 4.3 gm, Ceylon type issue (after conquest of Ceylon)
Obverse: seated king facing right with legend on right, beneath his raised arm, Sri Raja Raja
Reverse: standing king with lotus on left group of spheres on right, surmounted by crescent


                                            

Chola, Slater, 840-1295 AD, weight 0.5 g
obverse has ruler standing and reverse sitting.


                                             

Chola, Rajaraja I, 985-1014 AD, Stater, weight 4.5 g
Obverse: Stylized figures dancing around King standing and holding torch. 4 spheres under a crescent on the right
Reverse: King on throne, nagari lettering


                                             

Uttama Chola, Rajendra I, (1012-1044 AD), weight 4.10 g
Obverse: Tiger (Chola symbol) seated right faces towards two upright fishes (Pandya symbol) with bow (Chera symbol), behind and above, umbrella
Reverse: Uttama Chola in nagari script


                                           

Chola, Rajarama, debase gold, 1/8 Kahavanu, weight 0.6 g
Obverse: Chola insignia, a bow, seated tiger, pair of fish below umbrella
Reverse:Nagari legend "yuddha/malla" inteo lines, dotted border


                                         
Ceylon, Rajaraja Chola, 985-1014 AD, kahavanu, weight 4.2g
Obverse: standing figure, holding a flower right, lamp stand under arm in left field, four annulets
Reverse: figure seated right, holding a conch, devanagari legend in right field, Sri Rajaraja


                                           
Chola, 2nd Century BC, weight 1.3 g
Obverse: Tiger standing facing left
Reverse: Elephant standing left, horse behind, Srivatsa symbol above, and an umbrella.


Postage Stamps                                     
    

                                           
 2015, Indian Ocean and Rajendra Chola I, 500 Paisa
 

                                           
   2010, Brihadisvara Temple, 500 paisa



                                           
First Day Cover, and Brochure, Indian Ocean and Rajendra Chola I, 20th March 2015.



                                     
                     Nataraj, 2 Annas,



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